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Self-promoted 'best bet' of the West

Self-promoted 'best bet' of the West

Author: B Raman
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 19, 2002

After me, the fundamentalist deluge in Pakistan." That is the fear General Pervez Musharraf, the military dictator, has successfully planted in the minds of many policy-makers and moulders of public opinion in the US by skillfully projecting before them carefully cultivated images of himself as an anti- terrorist warrior, who has taken upon himself, at tremendous risk to himself and his political future, a courageous fight against religious extremism and international terrorism.

He is consolidating his position by waving before them the spectre of Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)-wielding terrorists assuming control of Pakistan were he to be thwarted in his efforts to continue in power by hook or by crook and were he to be pressurised to totally give up his use of terrorism as a weapon to achieve Pakistan's strategic objective of annexing Jammu & Kashmir.

One was reminded of another military dictator - General Pinochet - who held American political and public opinion to ransom for years by creating in them the fear of "after me, the Communist deluge". Apprehending a Communist takeover if he were discarded, the US blindly supported his massacre of democracy under the garb of saving democracy from Communism.

Similarly, one could discern an anxiety to support General Pervez Musharraf right or wrong, lest undue pressure on him weaken his perceived (in US eyes) contribution to the war against terrorism being waged by the international coalition led by the US. The creator of WMD-threatening terrorism in Afghanistan and Pakistan continues to be supported in the name of saving the civilised world from religious terrorism!

However, the support to General Pervez Musharraf, though still as strong as in February, 2002, is no longer as blind as it was then. During my discussions with interlocutors in February one had said: "You are fighting the war against terrorism with your eyes half-closed. You are afraid of opening your eyes fully, lest you start seeing General Pervez Musharraf for what he really is - the instigator and the sponsor of terrorism in the name of freedom-struggle. Unless and until you open your eyes fully, you will go nowhere in your war against terrorism".

Nevertheless, one is gratified by a willingness to admit in tete-a-tete discussions that the war against terrorism cannot be decisively won unless and until the terrorist infrastructure in Pakistani territory - whether directed against India, the US, Israel or the rest of the world is destroyed truly and permanently.

Unfortunately, this greater openness and receptivity to India's case has not yet led to a realisation that in its charge against terrorism, the US is riding the wrong horse. Despite all his deformities, General Pervez Musharraf is still the best horse available. That continues to be the prevailing wisdom in Washington. That the alternative to General Pervez Musharraf can or will be worse, is the fear still influencing opinion and decision-making in the US. Despite his post-January 12 perfidy, there is still a readiness to see him as a genuinely-reformed man who wants to put an end to terrorism in Pakistani territory.

The argument that if Pakistan has to be decontaminated of the virus of terrorism, the Army has to go back to the barracks and General Musharraf sent on his long overdue superannuation, does not have many takers. Statistics prove that Pakistan-sponsored terrorism goes up when the military is in power. Not to forget that all the seven hijackings against India were carried out by Pakistan-sheltered terrorists when the Army was in power.

Despite this, India should keep up its efforts to let the US see the reality. The brutal murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl, the grenade attack inside an Islamabad church, the murder of 11 French experts and the latest explosion outside the US Consulate in Karachi have all caused the incipient signs of unease in the US over Pakistan and Gen Musharraf.

At the same time, there is still considerable reluctance to come to terms with reality. To make that happen should continue to be our principal concern.

(ADNI)
 


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