Raymond Davis Saga and Bold Judgment

By BrigGen (Retd) Muhammad Aslam Khan, PhD

Raymond Davis has been acquitted by a lower court in Pakistan from the alleged charges of committing a felony in broad day light on a busy road in the provincial metropolis, Lahore. The shock decision has left the nation floundering in the deep sea of turmoil and anguish. The frenzy of debate about pros and cons has touched a new crescendo but is destined to die off. The tragic murders of Faheem, Faizan and Ebad were also ominous that swept our foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, off his portfolio for his reticence in not yielding to the official stance and later lobbing a leading statement that Raymond did not enjoy diplomatic immunity. The statement was embarrassment for the U.S. as well as Pakistan. His post resignation discrete bitterness was palpable as he embarked on yet another imprudent phase of public discourse. Foreign policy is not a mob politics, a fact he utterly failed to reckon. The visiting U.S. emissaries paid him visits too to afford him a chance of rescuing his image and heal the dent caused to his vanity. However the damage had been done.

Within hours, we stood thoroughly polarized as a nation when government lost entire maneuver space for public diplomacy though it made several overtures that Raymond case was within the ambit of mutual diplomatic protocols. By implication, Pakistan pursued double track diplomacy. On one hand, it assured U.S. that the margin for return of the accused could be explored, even after allowing the law of the country to take its course. On the other hand, our Prime Minister led the campaign to dampen public angst, assuring that we would behave like a proud sovereign state and stand by the grieved families. It was a statement of several dimensions. Concept of sovereignty in globalized politics has under gone a tremendous adjustment but our masses were never educated about it at any stage.

The way Raymond gunned down the victims, was a clear illustration of his hubris. To top it all, U.S. Consulate rescue vehicle crushed Ebad to death in an attempt to reach beleaguered Raymond, adding fury to the fire. Public resentment further inflated to become a tsunami of hate, particularly after U.S. insisted upon release of the accused, flaunting his disputed diplomatic immunity card, when deceaseds’ blood had yet not dried up.

Pakistan government at provincial and federal levels took a marvelous stand at such a crucial juncture and let the legal formalities proceed by detaining Raymond in the jail who did not expect detention for a moment but had to face incarceration for several weeks. Yet under the barrage of media hype and threats from some intolerant segments of civil society, dispassionate opinion never surfaced that would have informed the masses that dispensation of ‘justice’ also needs conducive environments and restraining of emotions at least until the court’s verdict. Media failed to project a point that courts are not the bodies, which go by the public agitation to execute the accused summarily. Universal hallmark of the justice remains that a criminal be let off the hook for want of evidence once a while but never ever an innocent be dispatched to gallows.

On certain scores, we as a civilized nation have been out rightly the losers. The moment news flashed on the electronic media about acquittal of Raymond, reactionary sentiments swelled up to match Himalayan peak. In the wake of carefully orchestrated ‘threaten and scare’ campaign by some non-integral parties to the episode but with vested interests, no one was prepared to believe the impartiality of the judicial organ that goes by the norms of justice and not by the nefarious agenda or shenanigan. The fact is the victims’ dependents/heirs have accepted ‘diyat’ (compensation/blood money) while dropping murder prosecution and forgave him. Their act bears legitimacy from all angles and leaves no space whatsoever for protests from any quarter because the heirs availed their right the same way as they did while opting to lodge murder cases against Raymond. Unfortunately, in this land of pure, a draconian trend has sprung like a monster that any trigger happy person, disregard to his credentials has the authority to bring forth the charges and summarily execute the ‘sinner’ at his will. The silent majority is aghast and watches from the periphery. The other day, a woman who opted to seek her marriage dissolution from her husband was slaughtered within the courts premise in full public as well as police view because her husband thought that she was ‘wasting’ his/her time and he had expeditious ‘mode’ of justice to administer.

No one ever brought forth in the media the incidence of several deaths of the foreign dignitaries in alien lands including Pakistan when the norms of courtesy and diplomatic manners were never sacrificed. It was a harsher case in contrast but the way out has absolute backing of law. It would be ridiculous if one fumes from the den over government, Raymond, victims’ heirs or for that matter even over U.S. who secured his release after satisfying all legal and religious impediments. Not being content here, reportedly prosecution proceedings against Raymond have already commenced. In other words, U.S. has been truthful to its earlier pledge when it promised to conduct Raymond’s trial and sure, it is being done though after forgiveness by the victims’ heirs and payment of blood money, they have the margin to omit penalizing him. U.S. Ambassador in Pakistan, Cameron Munter did not celebrate Raymond’s acquittal but sought an opportunity to reach for soothing of the victims’ heirs’ ire instead. So did Senator John Kerry though none of them was obliged to do so at this stage.

Our sovereignty is too fragile and threatened even when a straw moves. Sovereignty is a term easy to use because it fills the mouth and sounds scholarly but scantly understood. Certainly, it endows tremendous status on a state but also encumbers it to measure up for several responsibilities to qualify for the ‘sovereign’ title. On the internal scene, persistent efforts to create a cobweb of intrigues and obfuscations certainly hindered the justice that our brilliant judiciary managed to obviate. A plethora of conspiracy theories, our visionary private TV channel anchors conceived while putting answers in others mouths through leading questions were deplorable. Media is obliged to expose the opposing opinions and views in tandem and helps intelligentsia to make the just choices. Unfortunately, it acted as a big stoker of public frenzy. An anchor also probed the myth of absence of Mian Nawaz Sharif, a prominent opposition leader and Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab Chief Minister, on Raymond’s departure day to give it a mysterious twist. Perhaps at that very moment, Mian Nawaz Sharif was battling for his life under the surgeons’ care in London.

What forced the family to flee the country? Obviously, the incentives may have been U.S. visas, green cards and securing the huge trove of money, they received. However, extensive intimidation and incessant life-threatening bully by their so-called sympathizers have been the actual cause of their fleeing. The bereaved families’ dilemma was rubbished under the malignant cries of nationalism and false ego. No one made any effort to pry into the victim families’ miseries. They obviously exercised their religious as well as legal right to accept blood money but who would call it a justice when Damocles sword was hung on them not to patch up. It was sheer wrongful coercion. Only a handful of true sympathizers and the court rescued them from the dilemma. Talk of the town is that ISI; our supreme intelligence agency played its role. If that were valid, it did wonderful job. For the security fear and any possible backlash, the acquittal and whisking away Raymond and heirs of victims by a USAF plane was a very well synchronized event. Raymond has benefited in the process that he owes it to the magnanimity of the victims’ heirs. No one has any business to resent.

Good news is that we have seen yet another feather added to the pinnacle of our judiciary’s glory and there is glimmering hope of emancipation ahead. Bad news is that our print and electronic media are misusing freedom of speech card. The most powerful group among them, instead of cementing national harmony, tolerance and international consensus, works as an arrogant cartel to agitate the masses further and sponsors opinion blitz, which is dangerously schismatic.

The writer has doctorate in International Relations and an author of a book.(makni49@hotmail.com). Also available at www.presscode.gr, on Modern Diplomacy.

Muslims’ Compassion and Tolerance towards other Religions-A Strategic Deficit?

By BrigGen (Retd) Muhammad Aslam Khan Niazi, PhD

The recorded history of our planet for several thousand years has seen dawn of three major divine religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Each faith showed remarkable progression of individuals’ exclusive penchant for spiritual journey whosoever sought for it at different stages of life and history that belonged to their inner-self. However all religions stretch across the spectrum of ones life to the domains that are also inclusive of societies. Here lies exactly the juncture when religions became the tools of coercion and exploitive forces, particularly towards minorities. Karen Armstrong aptly captured the thesis hubris when she remarked, “They (leaders) fight with members of other faiths, who seem to challenge their claim to a monopoly of absolute truth; they also persecute their co-religionists…. Very often priests, rabbis, imams and shamans are just as consumed by worldly ambitions as regular politicians. But all this is generally seen as an abuse of a sacred ideal.”

While the West addressed the threatening menace of plunder and persecutions of medieval age in the name of religion by separating Church from State, Muslims were ordained to enforce their religion, revealed as a complete code of life and successfully demonstrated by the last Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him:pbuh) and his early companions. Yet all the faiths followers strayed at one stage of the history or the other, particularly during the expanding and contracting phenomenon of empires since 18th Century onwards. The minorities like Christians, Jews and Muslims bore the brunt of massive genocides during action-reaction syndrome when Russian, Ottoman and Hapsburg Empires were contesting Europe-Eurasian arena. The urge of the empires to impose their mythical homogenized cultural, religious and racial order tempted them to commit mass atrocities on their own or captured minorities. By the end of Second World War, millions had perished until Europe-Eurasia emerged from the debris of prolonged but relatively recent conflagration raging since the beginning of the 20th Century. Thereafter the West committed itself to uphold values like respect for human rights, freedom of speech and religious tolerance.

Islam, an epitome of these values as well as main contributor to the Western Renaissance, lost the pace. It was the brilliant charter of Islam that prompted even Mr. Richard Nixon to speak for Muslims when he advised the West, “Just as knowledge from the East helped trigger the ‘Renaissance’ in the West, the time has come for the West to contribute to a renaissance of the Muslim world.” Benevolent essence of Islam fell victim to corrupt political ambitions of its rulers, pushing it to the vortex of crises. Within the design of conduct of international relations, it is a strange paradox that Muslim countries’ governments, friendly towards the Western powers simmer with antagonistic wave despite the latters’ remarkably tolerant policies. Sane people are at loss to comprehend when millions of Muslims draw succor from their fat economies and seeking the Western countries’ citizenship makes a prime nostalgia for them, yet we do not miss any opportunity to target Christain minority in some Muslim countries like Egypt, Nigeria, Iraq, Indonesia and Pakistan. It is also true that Muslims grievances are growing manifold in the wake of rampant regional wars and territorial occupation disputes the world over but among the galaxy of nations, the resolution of the simmering conflicts has to be sought through means recognised by international laws. During U.S. Vice President Mr. Joe Biden’s recent visit to Pakistan, his emphasis that the West does not grudge Islam which is a fast expanding religion in America, is a precursor to the massive awareness permeating through the West. Even the U.S. is being advised to desist from ideological expansive designs of which she is being suspected by some of her antagonists.

On the contrary, Islam that means ‘peace’ has been hijacked by a fraction of radicals and criminals who kill fellow Muslims and minority civilians, women and children, bomb mosques, churches and kidnap people to raise money for sustaining ‘fitna’ that has won Islam universally several titles like millitant Islam, radical Islam, political Islam and barbarian Islam though it is eternally lustrous and glorious which recognizes no other brand. All titles being attributed to it are retaliatory symptoms for which, we ourselves are to blame. Qur’an and authentic ‘hadith’ treatises are laden by the holy verses and narrations that exemplify Islam as the religion which herladed peace, grace, dignity, honour and fraternity among its ardent faithfuls as well as followers of the Abrahamic religions of common ancestry. Holy Quran, being the latest divine revelation to our last Holy Prophet, not only recognizes Bible and Torah but encumbers us, the Muslims, to have faith in them being the divine books, its Prophets and respect their followers.

Recent wave of bombing Christians’ churches and their mass celebration of religious rituals has dented the inter-faiths harmony irreparably. Such violence that struck Indonesian, Nigerian, Iraqi, Pakistani and Egyptian Christians at intervals, has become a matter of grave concern, triggering a serious debate not only among Christians but also among (silent) Muslim majority that stands subdued by the specter of becoming hostage to a misled minority of the religious fanatics. It was this feeling that inspired venerable Shiekh of Jamia al-Azhar to condemn instantly the car-bombing of the Coptic Christians’ church at the dawn of new year in the port city of Alexandria in Egypt, terming it as an odious crime. The Church Priest, whom the Shiekh rushed to meet, advised the mourners to stay calm, reminding them that we, the followers of religions of Abraham are brothers and no one could divide us. Egyptian President also condemned the attack. Within days, an Egyptian court sentenced a murderer to death who had killed three Coptic Christians and a policeman during a shoot out a year earlier on January 6, 2010 in southern Egypt. While such sporadic but violent crimes against the civilian citizens of minorities in Muslim world gravely jeopardise the future sustenance of millions of Muslims earning thier bread and butter in the West, some like Dr.Hubertus Hoffmann express anguish, raising convincing questions to challenge such crimes not through the Christian holy scriptures but emphatically through the verses of Holy Quran that are difficult to refute. Referring to the compassion and tolerance towards other faith by our Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), he befittingly mentions about a delegation of the Christians of Najran visiting Medina, when the Prophet lodged them too in the mosque and permitted them to hold their prayers on one side of the mosque with Muslims on the other side. In this mosque, dialogues between Christians and Muslims were conducted with freedom, respect and tolerance. Would it happen today though compliance of Quran and ‘Sunnah’ is mandatory for all of us and any of our acts to the contrary would render us to be the grievous sinners?

Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann who is a witness to the miseries wrought on the Muslims of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan(FATA) and even Palestine for decades as collateral losses, always takes the principled stand from high moral ground on these issues, would have ordinarily not waxed, had threat to the faiths were not really colossal. He draws our attention to Prophet Muhammad’s (pbuh) Charter of Privileges granted to the monks of St. Catherine's Monastery on Mt. Sinai. It reads "This is a message from Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, near and far: we are with them. Verily I, the servants, the helpers, and my followers defend them, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be removed from their jobs nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, it is not to take place without her approval. She is not to be prevented from visiting her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation (Muslims) is to disobey the covenant till the Last Day."

The charter authenticity could never be in doubt and the Prophets’ companions ensured its implementation from all the angles of interpretation even when the Caliph happened to be the victim. Umar ibne al Khatab (may Allah be pleased with him), the second caliph of great virtues and an icon of Islam, after having been fatally stabbed by a minority-assassin did not have any worry except about the possible breach of the Prophet’s pledge, given to the minorities, as a reactionary commotion and revenge seeking craze by the grieved faithfuls. He preempted an ugly situation through a historic personal example. His message for the Caliph-to-be from the death-bed was, “I urge him to take care of those non-Muslims who are under the protection of Allah and His Apostle (pbuh), in that he should observe the convention agreed upon with them and fight on their behalf (to secure their safety) and he should not overtax them beyond their capability” (Sahih al Bukhari, Hadith: 4.287).”

It becomes imperative therefore, for the ‘silent majority’ of Muslims to act and compensate for the huge strategic deficit while abiding by true spirit of Islam so that glorious Islam shines the way as it did during the Holy Prophet’s era. We would thus achieve greater inter-faiths and intra-faith harmony among the subjects of the state(s).

(Article is also available at 'Modern Diplomacy', www.presscode.gr)

(The writer is a member of WSN International Advisory Board and author of a book, “The New Great Game: Oil and Gas Politics in Central Eurasia” by Dr. Makni (his acronym): makni49@hotmail.com)

Accountability: Real or Flirtatious?

By Brig (Retd) Dr. Muhammad Aslam Khan Niazi

Shakespeare said, “The lunatic, the lover, and the poet are of imagination all compact”. He must have been desperate to even bracket himself. In my country, Pakistan, one can safely add, under the obtaining politically chaotic scene, some ruling politicians. The recent oratories by our arch-leaders while addressing large crowds have settled our apprehensions for the worse. The language they speak is incomprehensible, of defeated minds, waning willpower and manifestly encumbered with heavy baggage of personal guilt. Their efforts to seek crutches through loathsome slogans, which have in the recent history agonizing realities to the contrary, are no longer disguised. With empty hands generally and great sense of loss, their Himalayan blunders are ticking on their conscience like a time bomb. If that is the plight of our leaders, who would wish to grate ones’ ears for interpreting their veiled language as well as guilt, even though their misdeeds qualify them to emerge as Shakespeare stuff.

The official behavior of our top guns is perplexing. When there has been no hurdle in achieving good governance and transparent accountability as ship rudders have been in their firm control for years, one fails to comprehend, why the government itself is bent on rocking the boat. Does it aim at churning out yet another slogan of becoming ‘siyasi shaheed’ (martyr of politics) after the heap of wreckage scatters around them? Such a contemplated slogan would be as repugnant as some of the current ones. Sudden disappearance of the governor, Mr. Salman Taseer from the political scene has left many questions for its own party than to answer by others.

In Punjab, a well intentioned Chief Minister recently broke down emotionally on the rostrum though his blizzard-like reach to the victims and grieved families is known far and wide. Fantastically humane gesture but what he confesses and acknowledges by implication is the prevalence of gargantuan efficiency-jam of entire executive machinery between him and the districts. Who would demand from the bureaucrats setting of high performance standards to nourish ‘accountability’ in whose departments nothing moves and if something moves, it moves on victims’ agonies? Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa, once much cleaner a province, is bubbling with the tales of corruption. Unfortunately the ruling party there is at the worst ever rating nationally as well as internationally despite its claims of bearing the brunt of Taliban attacks in chivalrous ways. Even this stigma could be gulped down for a while but what is frustrating is that the leaders turn around and call the kettle black. In other words, accountability is ordained to remain an orphan.

In Sindh, the accountability is being disgraced in the name of series of ‘Bhutto Martyrs’ whose blood could possibly be found on the sleeves of their own family beneficiaries. In Baluchistan, ruckus about deprivation of civil rights to the Baluchis dominates without reminding them the responsibility, they owe to the motherland. Expecting initiation of any worthwhile accountability there would be a lunatic’s wish. Billions of rupees being siphoned off from the state’s coffers, even cheating the pilgrims mercilessly and rampant injustice have become eternal phenomena. Judiciary’s interventionist role is commendable but it has to stay short of assuming executive’s role per se, particularly after squaring off with ample evidence that Government itself is the sharp wedge to rupture accountability balloon. Army is tight lipped to watch from the periphery. One could guess that fortnightly ‘situation brief’ from GHQ to the Prime Minister, as a past tradition set by Mohtrama Benazir Bhutto from Gen Abdul Wahid Kakar, must have been discontinued because none in present government has the forte to look into mocking mirror of their own follies. Accountability would therefore remain flirtatious as we never made any serious attempt to seek its virtues. Where is the wrong all about? Have we missed any benchmark of enforcing accountability? Yes, we did!
Sad saga of 1971 was clear red line that should have heralded an era of unflinching accountability across the board. The tragedy of dismemberment was deadly and attributable to our fateful political and military architects, more than the ones commonly blamed for. ‘Mukti Bahinis’ and Indians were the later entrants to the arena as a factor to hasten the split that we had firmly set on the track decades earlier. Constitution of Hamood-ur Rehman commission was a brilliant idea but soon it lost relevance. It was mandated by the President to find out, "the circumstances in which the Commander, Eastern Command, surrendered and the members of the Armed Forces of Pakistan under his command lay down their arms and...” Undeniably military lexicon does not have the word ‘surrender’ but it was not a new sting. In 1943 Germans, admittedly the best fighting soldiers, surrendered in even larger number than ours after severely bitten by the vagaries of the extreme weather along with Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus. Similarly, winning the war in erstwhile East Pakistan with severed communication lines and seething hostility all around was inconceivable. In fact, among the prudent echelons, military strategy employed as a possible solution of the crises was reckoned as first casualty. Yet our valiant soldiers fought several pitched battles but were overwhelmingly outnumbered.

On the other hand, with restricted commission’s mandate in Post-71 scenario, the politicians were not prepared to give accountability a chance across the board. Because of its partisan spirit and neutral accounts emerging in the mean time world over, people at the helm of affairs shrewdly appreciated that even if axe was wielded successfully on the would-be scapegoat and his accomplices, the accountability would move in next phase to grip their necks, being equally, if not more, guilty of expediting the fall of East Pakistan. Despite riding on the popularity spectrum, political leadership of 1972 chose to let the commission report rot in heavily guarded files for long time.

Had the precedence been established by rolling some heads of linch-pin actors then, the orientation of flirtatious accountability thus far would have been trimmed to its real recourse. Instances of punishing political leadership as well as military hierarchy abound among the states that have moved on the path of justice and accountability, way ahead of us. Romania, Turkey, U.S, Britain, Germany, China, Iran and Russia are a few relevant references who upheld rule of law. Recently Sri Lanka has impressed the world where former Army Chief, Sarath Foneska, who pioneered smashing of the Tamil Tigers’ insurgency, has been sentenced on treason charges and stripped off of all the benefits and military decorations, he earned during 40 years of his military service.

The fact is that when governing mechanism, to which power is entrusted, is honest and loyal to the state, accountability becomes tangible. It is the moral strength and unwavering justice that enables the leaders to quash any resistance encountered from criminals as well as mafias. We are certainly at the cross-road with little choice but to enforce real accountability, no matter at what cost. Second benchmark that presents itself right now with heaps of white-collar crimes from treason to high profile murders, corruption and swindle is threatening our survival. “We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions," said Mr. Ronald Reagan whose concern was palpable for his citizens. One wonders if our ‘masters’ would move by a bit. And if they move, they must commence ‘jihad’ by roping in the arch-devils first, no matter who they are and move spontaneously downward from top of the pyramid. Enforcement of justice and real accountability is the only panacea for all ills including terrorism that have wreaked havoc on the masses.

(The writer is an author of a book and holds PhD degree in IR: makni49@hotmail.com).

PS: The article also appeared at www.presscode.gr on 13 Jan 2011.

Pakistan's Case of Diplomacy and Glacier Conks

Pakistan’s Case of Diplomacy and Glacier Conks
By Brig (Retd) Dr. Muhammad Aslam Khan Niazi,
Pakistan.

Roedad Khan, quoting him as a metaphor for any Pakistani, has burnt himself out, at least proverbially. His passion remains stuck with stark disappointments as he yearns to see our ‘Quaid’s’(founding father) dreams as achieved. Several icons from our civil society including journalists would soon be hunch-backs under the heap of scandals they expose about massive corruption, nepotism and state conspiracies, to the verge of proving the gluttons committing acts of treason. However, our federal top guns remain soaked in their unholy hobbies on the trajectory of their ill founded domains. Instead of fishing for clues for recovery from public opinion through the media, their genius is consumed by the devices to go more lethal and ambitious in wicked pursuits. In the mean time, our judiciary has been inundated with the burden of their responsibility to often act unilaterally but brilliantly when state’s institutions’ functional credibility is not characterized by their service to the people but by self-glorifying their misdeeds. Where such comparison is within the ‘corrupts’ in competition, the magnitude and tainted colossus of these monsters become immeasurable. It would be absolutely fair to exclude Army from this ominous bracket.

Federation functionaries have the tongue in their cheeks to clamor that democracy is threatened in Pakistan. Wikileaks has thoroughly exposed them as if they are hanging by a cliff and seeking rescue from the external collaborators. The dramatic irony in the whole issue is that the ‘cliff’ is their own making to provoke sympathies among our allies of war on terror. Pakistani coalition government, thoroughly vulnerable to blackmail by its own constituent allies, has devised a nefarious strategy to gobble up themselves and extend absolute impunity to their accomplices. They, amidst the volleys of mutual barbs, cling to each other because they are desperately in the need of a continuing empire to mop up their sins.

Once this humbug goes on, our foreign policy brains have been lax wittingly and unobtrusively from the public eyes on several crucial issues of international relations, which crystallize through the conduct of diplomacy, ‘as a policy instrument possibly in association with other instruments such as economic or military force to enable an international actor to achieve its objectives’ (Baylis & Smith). Thanks to globalization, we are not only an international actor but the geo-strategic location endows us with tremendous significance. If the diplomacy wizards do recognize our inherent vitality which is doubtful, one thing is sure that their recognition has not been supplemented with adequate exterior maneuvers. Our stance is mercurial and not commensurate to the challenges. We tend to buckle under the weight of national and international issues to keep ourselves well aligned to the wishes of external factors which push us to the pitfall of erroneous decisions when our indigenous failings are in no dearth.

Our government attempts to project its weight by ridiculing other pillar(s) of state despite knowing that our deeds or misdeeds are picked up by international community faster than we do, being cast in a crystal. When Army asserted that we would defend our borders employing all means available, certainly it was aimed at India with whom there have been three wars since independence in 1947. However it was not meant to negate the spirit of diplomacy and freedom of dialogues option with our eastern rival. Rather it meant reinforcing the dialogue diplomacy with military support in tandem to lend our negotiations a position of advantage. None else than our ruling party spokesperson spew out a firm denial that these were not the government views, at colossal detriment to the conduct of successful diplomacy.

Mr. Asif Ali Zardari calling Kashmiri freedom fighters as terrorists from as responsible a platform as that of ‘President’ and offering withdrawal from Siachin Glacier in 2008 and 2010 respectively, made our adversary’s stance more stubborn. Did he know the extent of damage he inflict to our foreign policy, strategic implications for India and advantages that accrue to Pakistan when we keep the bull locked by the horns in Siachin with perhaps much lesser comparative, though considerable, cost in men and material? His statements were not only antithesis to the basics of the diplomacy dynamics but also of our valiant men’s and officers’ sacrifices, literally crouching like Dr. Iqbal’s (Poet of the East) legendary ‘shaheens’ (eagles), gasping for each breath, yet resolutely perched on the rocks above 20,000 feet. On the contrary, India has not budged an inch from its reticence beyond fascinating colloquialism occasionally over Kashmir as well as Sir Creek. Instead it has launched a well orchestrated effort to encircle and isolate Pakistan from Afghanistan, the West, Japan, Russia, China, and Middle East. Recognition of India’s role in Afghanistan by U.S., European Union and Russia is a direct set back to the conduct of our foreign policy. Already India is being accused of fomenting instability in Pakistan’s south-western province, Baluchistan and funding a segment of Taliban. Some dissident leaders’ trails by our intelligence agencies are reported to have confirmed this hypothesis. Thus when India claims it stakes for having a role in Afghanistan, it is crystal clear what she exactly means.

India played Mumbai card very shrewdly, depicting Pakistan backing and actively supporting the tragic episode once its voices even feeble, are heard loud and clear for an obvious advantage of its much trumpeted democratic platform versus Pakistan. Murder of 93000 Kashmiris so far has not been able to move the world conscience that seems to be pushed by commercialism more than philosophy of pursuing peace. For the major powers, India is a prolific trade partner and worth billions dollar arms market as well. On our side is a dark picture. Pakistan run by a dictator for nine long years from 1999-2008 has been ravaged beyond repairs. Wikileaks disclosure about Israeli leadership’s continuing concern for President Musharraf’s safety and well being explains the entire myth of his millions dollar bonanza; he is now reaping under the guise of ‘enlightening’ lectures in the West. During his rule, his meetings with Israeli top functionaries are no secrets. The only country declared off limits by Pakistani passport, unfortunately, is Israel. The printed warning it carries ‘this passport is valid for all the countries of the world except Israel’ had obligated him by implication to refrain from such honey-mooning but flouting the norms and ethics had been his favorite slushy slippery ground that he has yet to answer when cold hands of justice would reach him. Not only toppling but throwing a democratically elected Prime Minister, Mr. Mian Nawaz Sharif and the bonafide Chief of Army Staff, Gen Khwaja Zia-ud-Din into black dungeon are the major charges against him, among dozens of other allegations of heinous crimes, he is not likely to wade through clean. How one would have expected such a con man to have stood for national interests? Unfortunately the successor government is also incapable and bent upon adding insult to the injury. Amidst lurking disenchantment of the masses, Pakistan failed to cash upon the vital evidence emanating from Indian sources about setting ‘Samjhauta Express’ ablaze in 2007. The complicity of Indian government officials, in firebombing Pakistan bound train near Panipat (India), with the Hindu terrorists is undeniable. Charred bodies of sixty eight Pakistanis were pulled out and fifty two were injured, most of them critically.

Analysts in India also remembered the moments of the tragedy that preceded it by five years in 2002 at Godhra railway station in Gujarat (India). No evidence could prove that fire attack was preplanned by Muslims when fifty Hindus were killed. One thing is sure that the magnitude of revenge which the majority Hindus unleashed over Muslims next morning was unprecedented. They burnt them alive and killed about 2500 of them. The state’s machinery deliberately stood by, watching the human carnage till there were ashes and stench all around. Mysterious then and later also, the candidate of extremist Hindu party, BJP, which thrives politically on the heaps of hatred towards Muslims, had clean sweep in the coming election. Many observers believe that the train massacre was stage-managed to the logical conclusion, which was consummation of BJP victory. In India such treachery, when it comes to Muslims, is never surprising. Recent comments by a senior Indian Congress leader, DigVijay Singh, likening Indian RSS and BJP hatred for Muslims to that of Nazi’s against Jews, is a stark reality and stigma, BJP carries.

Pakistanis could hope with a sense of loss from our policy wizards that these tragic events could be brought up as an effective counter-lever to parry off Mumbai scathing and consequent dent to our image among the comity of nations. While Mumbai massacre rumbles every now and then, our diplomats perhaps are not even mindful of the butchery meted out to Muslims in India, including Kashmir. Such are the short memories on our side. Absence of flurry of publicized diplomacy offensives usually means all quiet on this front to suggest that our policy pundits are gripped by inertia or inert dreams. Compromises are not welcome because we would be led to demolishing our crucial geo-political pivots. On the other hand we are clear about the hypothesis that India needs peace more than us. It does not need a genius to guess but simple arithmetic that Indian stakes in peace are much more monumental than Pakistan. Yet the reality predominates the scene for both the neighbors that peace-making is the only way through. It should be driving both sides crazy that it has remained elusive for sixty three years until now. While talking to an eastern TV channel, Indian Prime Minister, Mr. Manmohan Singh talked of responding and readjusting to global trends towards multi-polarity and managing the regional environments in Asia in a manner which enhances peace, security and overall development of our societies. He asserted that it is incumbent on all countries of the region to build cooperative partnerships. It is a paradox that in real dynamics of international relations, he appears excluding India from ‘incumbent on all countries of the region’ clause about matters relevant to Pakistan.

India has persisted in achieving threatening posture. She has secured a base in Tajikistan and is doing thriving business in Kazakhstan in energy sector despite presence of a very tough and competitive rival, China. Ajay Patnaik rightly boasts, “Two landmarks signified India’s changing approach. In November 2003 India agreed to renovate and upgrade the Ayni air base in Tajikistan. In August 2005 Indian state-owned company ONGC combined with Mittal Industrial Group to form ONGC Mittal Energy Limited (OMEL) to acquire energy assets in Kazakhstan”. What laurels have we achieved despite our territorial contiguity with Central Asia? Dr. Azmat Hayat Khan, Vice Chancellor, University of Peshawar, is rightly bewildered to observe that in Central Asia, India is every where. While he does not deny their privilege to be there, he maintains, Pakistan is nowhere.

Potentials of the land mass, Pakistan, as a bridge to satiate Indian energy-thirsty but booming economy remain precious bargaining chips during negotiations with India. Transit trade relaxation from Afghanistan to India and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipe Line agreement are some hasty if not ill-thought moves that have left us empty handed when we had an alternative to flaunt Gwadar outlet for the sake of diplomacy. With our hind view about the quality of Indian diplomacy that is consistent and vibrant, at some point in time, we would again be cornered by her as in Afghanistan, and now for Siachin Glacier where India has picked up ‘environments degradation’ card to force our forces pull-out on us. It also shows how India manipulates universal trends to its advantage. Indian burgeoning defense budget and attempts to ditch our economy by choking off rivers inflow prove its relentless pursuits to strike at our survival roots. On the contrary, our foreign office apathy of not launching diplomatic blitz for effective resolution of mother-of-all disputes (Kashmir) is intriguing. Our moral ascendancy has been rendered redundant at international level when poor and reluctant campaigning has resulted in our faltered stance, with emerging impression at times that we are about to ditch Kashmir issue. President Musharraf’s claim to justify Kargil misadventure that it brought Kashmir Issue to the world focus, could not have been more repulsive and loathsome. On the other hand India successfully invaded Junagadh, Goa, Hyderabad, Kashmir and clipped off our wing to the East in 1971 to become Bangla Desh. Through effective diplomacy it has not only managed to wipe off its sins of aggression but has become a standard bearer of the largest democracy in the world. Having licked off its claws after several territorial hunts, it now purrs, a stance more lethal to secure Energy Bridge to link with Central Asia in the absence of which it’s ardently perceived global role would remain a pipe-dream. Playing to Indian tunes, we are eager to oblige without ever exploring the ramifications that would accrue for Pakistan.

The bottom line of the debate is not that diplomacy doors be shut off but made more responsive with cutting edge. An edge that is not reactionary but preemptive, far sighted and to engage our adversary on forward foot. Before the two sides line up nuclear armaments for a devastating conflict in the wake of deep rooted mutual frenzy, there is a need to mobilize world opinion to avert another holocaust. UN silence on this issue, despite the existence of plebiscite-supporting resolutions in its archives, is certainly lamentable. It is also reality that diplomacy in 21st Century is far more complicated particularly when convergence of national interests of the major powers is a foregone conclusion in this region. Yet our foreign policy ‘gurus’ are perhaps not putting the diplomats stationed in our embassies abroad to the optimum utilization whose performance had been traditionally dismal, some exceptions notwithstanding. They may have been led to complacency and lavish lethargy by innate greed but the irony is that no specific goals are given to them to shoulder-push our national interests to fruition. At the same time our government has to recognize that diplomacy, though largely concentrates on international issues, draws succor from state’s internal environments. If the state remains laced with corruption, nepotism and horrible governance, diplomacy limps everywhere it tries to project itself being on fragile roots. Successive failures to plug the yawning gaps would subject us to agonizing arm-twisting by India in sync with other stake holders to squeeze more and yet more from our clattering skeleton As the word ‘Conk’ means a blow to the head, one would implore the rulers to save us from such deadly blows. Conversely ‘conk’ also means fungus growth on decaying wood. One would pray, Pakistan is not destined to such doom.

The writer is a defense analyst and member of WSN International Advisory Board with doctorate in International Relations, (makni49@hotmail.com)

(An abridged version of this opinion article appeared in The News International, 22 December 2010)

Pakistan in Cauldron of Internal Crises

Pakistan in Cauldron of Internal Crises

By BrigGen (Retd) Dr. Muhammad Aslam Khan Niazi, PhD

Though short history of Pakistan since independence in 1947 is riddled with crises, the horrendous storms that lurk now on the horizon of the fragile government create awe and shock among the civil society that so desperately and sincerely yearns for peace, tranquility, rule of law and justice. One would sound refuting the realities of geopolitics and statesmanship if one is enthused by a wishful phenomenon that crises never occurred to sovereign states. The tragedy for Pakistan had been that after the mysterious demise of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, our founding father of the country, the leadership at the helms of affairs could never measure up to the challenges it faced. Woefully the leaders were found sinking in the sloth of their petty self-greed and ambitions. Each came up with charming slogans to keep the country ‘first’ and above ‘self.’ Ironically in my country, ‘first’ has become synonymous to ‘last.’

It is also true that the span of our survival has abundance of patches of military rule. On
the contrary, the plight and performance of politicians had been so pathetic that military
rulers, chastised by civil governments had performed comparatively better and thus were
popular among the masses as well as the world community for reasons beyond national
spectrum. Our traditional ally, U.S. so embroiled in bloc politics during Cold War in post
World War-II scenario and there after in war on terror, embraced our dictators with
open arms. Field Marshal Ayub Khan, General Yahya Khan, General Zia-ul-Haq and
General Pervez Musharraf had been conspicuous in sequential power grab. While first three of the four dictators were afforded an excuse as if the responsibility to ‘dictate’ was imposed on them by the circumstances, the fourth dictator engineered an excuse for the power grab himself.

Our U.S-blue-eyed President (Musharraf) inflicted damage to the country beyond fancy. The U.S found his support for Afghanistan and Iraq expedient and in concert with their expansive agenda. On the home front, he ripped off the constitution, reduced the legislation instruments as meaningless by securing the most greedy and malicious politicians. He never hesitated to eliminate his opponents for personal reasons. He retired some Army officers arbitrarily, without giving them even a hint who reel in post retirement crises till today. The fascinating slogans, he raised after sacking his super ordinate, constitutional and people-mandated Prime Minister, Mr. Nawaz Sharif, in 1999 through a well orchestrated conspiracy, were soon flouted through and through when he declared himself as ‘President’ after a sham referendum. All government employees, federal as well as provincial were instructed to vote for him.

The evil of horse-trading, floor crossing, extra judicial killing, coercing and buying judiciary to sing to his tunes, selling state assets at throw away cost and then shoving mega scandals like sale of Pakistan Steel Mills under carpet, presiding over the cartelism of sugar cartels and engineering heavens for business magnate amidst the dripping misery of the masses are unpardonable crimes he committed to his own people. He holds the shameful distinction of once sacking the sitting Chief Justice of Pakistan and second time the whole of the Supreme Court of Pakistan including Chief Justice, making exception to those who took fresh oath to remain his loyal, only because the Chief Justice of Pakistan had opted to dispense justice, even if it hit Musharraf. While U.S. drew flak of hate from Pakistani masses, major share of it crystallized at middle and lower middle class level, the opinion as well as trend setter of any society who focused on U.S. patronizing of a dictator despite being the flag bearer of the democratic values of the Western societies. It was superb display of dichotomy between its acts and facts.

At the fall of the dictator through blizzard of masses frenzy, in came Mr. Asif Ali Zardari (AAZ) in the power arena in early 2008. Unfortunately, before he stepped in the Presidential Palace in Islamabad, he had already sowed extensive minefield himself, lethal enough to dismantle his least popular rule. Thanks to the ‘friendly opposition’ dominated by the second largest party called PML (N) and tolerant Army Chief who abstained from triggering his self-destructive devices. During two of his spouse’s (Benazir Bhutto) tenures as prime minister, if she faced formidable foes, AAZ was single handedly on top of the list to erode her credibility through his corruption. Soon he was named as Mr. Ten Percent because the deals he would conclude with ‘guests’ in Prime Minister’s house, he would extract his share from them. The corruption charges snow-balled to the extent that she was sacked twice, once by President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, an honest bureaucrat and second time by her own party President, Farooq Ahmed Khan Laghari. Both wielded an axe the way Gen Zia-ul-Haq had crafted it to render his Prime Minister, Muhammad Khan Junejo toothless through notorious 8th Amendment of 1973 Constitution and later removing him in May, 1988.

Assassination of Benazir Bhutto on 27 December 2007, an elegant lady of grace, manners and integrity, in dubious way, afforded AAZ a chance, not only to become party co-chairman but also jumping to presidential slot, dumping old party stalwarts overnight. Ridden by the sense of guilt and crime when even the murder of his spouse is being whispered to have, by implication, traces leading to some top most collusion, he entrenched himself behind controversial Presidential immunity and notorious NRO (National Reconciliation Order), brokered with ex President Musharraf as quid pro quo. In ultimate analysis, it has proved that NRO was an instrument to divide the society in detail, creating a class that was virtually above any kind of accountability whatsoever. The mockery of justice consummated in 21st century by AAZ-Musharraf intrigues had neither any parallel nor any moral justification. It stunned the observers to see Mr. Richard Halbrook, shuttling to Pakistan to ensure unsuccessfully that these devices as well as dictators stay in place, more frequently than he perhaps visits his family. Even more odious sounding comes at the time when U.S. diplomats question Pakistani scholars and diplomats, why do you hate us? A big joke!

In a recent judgment, Supreme Court of Pakistan struck down the entire NRO apparatus. Since then AAZ is on collision course to find out loopholes and neutralize the judiciary that has risen to the occasion, perhaps for the first time since creation of Pakistan. People have come to believe that AAZ, emulating Musharraf, has become worst kind of a civilian dictator, an assumption unfortunate though but not without substance. In other words, he has left his soul at a certain rung against which Dr. Fritz Kraemer had advised, “ My fear regarding the inner corrosion of the very successful politician is not………but that he will leave part of his soul on every rung of the ladder leading him to the top.” His defiance to the highest court decisions is being viewed with concern that could generate a tsunami of events at great risk to the national integrity. Amidst these nifty gritty, selfish maneuvers, he flaunts Sind-card, assuming that people of Sind province he hails from, would support his survival despite his crimes. Fortunately the card has been tested before and is a fired case now. During Zia-ul-Haq regime, PPP, after ZA Bhutto was hanged, stimulated a movement under charming name of MRD (Movement for Restoration of Democracy) in early eighties but other than in a few rural areas of Sind, it could not pick up steam. The Sind-card of early eighties thus flopped and it has no potential to go by AAZ design because Sindhis (people belonging to Sind province) are more Pakistanis than any Pakistani.

Win by PML (N) National Assembly by-election candidate in Rawalpindi constituency from a political stalwart and a crony of General Pervez Musharraf on 24 Feb 2010 by vast margin is not a simple arithmetic. It must send shudder to PPP Government that its soft posturing on the deposed dictator and supporting a candidate that bore stigma of remaining long time in dictator’s kitchen-cabinet have been rejected by the people. Therefore, PML (N) was right to claim that it was a contest of popularity against ‘Ali Baba’ meaning (chief thief) Musharraf and “his forty lesser thieves/companions” that included the colluding leaders of PPP, covertly supporting Sheikh Rashid. The public has stamped the legitimacy of the values whether Government practiced it or not and hence rejected once most sought for Pakistani Nostradamus, Sheikh Rashid who had been tweeting under Musharraf’s wings.

What haunts the common man in Pakistan? It is ever increasing violence in urban areas, a deplorable sense of insecurity, sky-rocketing prices of essential commodities, absence of rule of law, total break down of functional capacity of the institutions (except judiciary and Armed Forces), rampant corruption, nepotism, stray youths, gang wars, cartelism, expanding mafias, alternating scarcity of sugar and flour, energy crisis with constant upward shooting price index, tax evasion by the rich and putting poor in the grind instead, corrupt federal and provincial ministers stashing money for next round of elections(as they openly remark, who knows we would be there tomorrow or not), monstrous traffic jams, unavoidable body and vehicle searches, persisting tussle between the provinces, flouting of court orders by persons as responsible as the President himself and his crony, Salman Taseer who has made mockery of judiciary and the federal symbol he represents as a governor. Yet more, the party corrupt officials take pride like their leaders who beat their chests emotionally and defiantly to claim, “hum nay jailain katee hain’, meaning, “we remained locked up in jails.” Every reasonable citizen knows that to be in jail is not an award winning exercise and gentlemen would loath to enter, let alone taking false pride in it. One is often struck by ominous parallel history has. Lenin to start with and finally Stalin after Lenin’s death had by design ‘Gulag-ized’ the majority of their people through out the country to ensure that even a slightly suspected resistance to the Bolshevik ideology was ruthlessly eliminated. Does People Party has the same agenda and aims turning the whole country in Stalin mode? When expanding monster called ‘hunger’ is gobbling up vast numbers, the country is becoming ripe for Bolshevik-like treatment whether incumbent government admits or not. One hopes, AAZ knows that Russian war casualties in Europe and Far East were in millions but barely one third of the people who perished in Soviets ‘Gulags’ and labor camps at Stalin’s behest. Can we afford a Stalin? Grasp of the answer is certainly well nigh.

The situation in Pakistan is worrisome but not hopeless if one knows the history of world class democracies that dominate the scene today. Britain monarchy gradually transformed itself to a democratic essence. Today it has the best part and that is, it has no written constitution. American democracy emerged through some historic events. Germany sprang twice in 20th Century; not from debris but smoldering ashes. Do we assume that Pakistan would need to fight and emerge from the debris/ashes of civil wars? Should we expect that Oliver Cromwell like leader would arrive to challenge opponents and instill a notion of propriety in their hearts? But when history tell us clearly the circumstances that led to such episodes, why not recover from irresponsibility and make use of past experience, prosperous nations of today learnt through hard trial of follies.

Recommendations
The price of liberty mandates that for the emergence of a peaceful and vibrant society, individual interests must be sacrificed. What would make the present climate recover, perhaps is simple to diagnose but would need bitter decisions by Pakistani nation. See that crises of any sort, proportionate to its intensity are to be given collective response at national level by the government, opposition, political parties large or small who act as watch dog and above all the civil society that must demand an unmatched efficiency from the government at each bend of crises. Without discussing the means that can have several modes and approaches, the ends that Pakistan must achieve:

 If ‘jihad’ is to be declared, take on corruption, drug trafficking, nepotism, mafias, hoarders, poverty and sectarianism to stem out these evils, that eat up the soul and stamina of any society.
 Restore rule of law and dispense justice at every level.
 Enforce a mechanism of accountability across the board, no matter how hard it hits big wigs.
 Establish and promote good practices through self example. Resign from the position of whatever status of the accused is, to allow law of the land take its course till allegations are proved right or wrong.
 The culprits who hold high portfolios should bring back billions of dollars stashed in foreign banks voluntarily.
 Respect judiciary and encourage it to pass non-partisan judgment. Appreciate its role even if an axe falls on ‘self’.
 Never malign the defense forces to cover own follies. Instead keep them in the best state of readiness to counter threats to our national and territorial integrity.
 Discard the politicians who have been involved in any kind of degrading act or crime. Bring new and honest faces to the highest institutions to make difference. Pakistani politicians, some exception apart, are more of opportunists than sticking to any code of ethics. Enforce political ethics in letter and spirit.
 Lastly bring back truly, as I referred earlier, the present crooked ‘last’ to straight ‘first’.

Dr. Makni has doctorate in IR, with focus on Eurasian Studies. Also a member of WSN International Advisory Board and an author of a book: The New Great Game: Oil and Gas Politics in Central Eurasia. dr.makni49@yahoo.com

Choosing Between Compassion or Politics

Written by Dr. Muhammad Aslam Khan Niazi

'The Belsen Trial', that I read second time recently, chronicles the circumstances and entire proceedings of the war crimes trial of Josef Kramer, the Nazi camp commandant at Auschwitz and his forty-four accomplices, wreaking havoc on the inmates that were generally Jews. The questions, also raised by the author, that strike any reader without fail need wider soul searching. For instance, man's horrendous inhumanity to man is inexplicable? Is it quite impossible to believe that a nation that boasted not without reason, of its contribution to science and culture could have sunk to such depths of degradation? Right Hon. Lord Jowitt qualifies the enigma, "....I think, find the answer in the general acceptance of the Fuhrer principle.....oath that all S.S. members took: I swear to you, Adolf Hitler, as Fuhrer and Chancellor of the Reich, faith and steadfastness. I pledge to you and to those whom you trust your orders, unwavering obedience unto death."

However, there were courageous dissenters like Dr. Fritz Kraemer who differed with Hitler's doctrine. Despite not having the compulsion of Jews, he escaped Germany in 1938, fought against Nazis in Battle of Bulge and Battles of Ruhr and Rhineland that won him battlefield commission and Bronze Star in US Army's 84th Infantry Division...the 'Rail-splitter'. Henry Kissinger, widely speculated to have been discovered by Dr. Fritz Kraemer wrote, "Kraemer values were absolute. Like the ancient prophets, he made no concession to human frailty or to historic evolution; he treated intermediate solutions as derogation from principles".

Seeing people like Hitler and Dr. Fritz Kraemer, poles apart, one understands, there is enormous confusion-blitz that pollutes every literate person's mind. Driven by the same urge, in Berlin in September 2000, I picked up Joachim C. Fest's book, 'Hitler' from a book stall which circulated through several hands with queer facial expressions of immigration officers when I was exiting Germany from Hamburg. I found it a remarkable book that, in my view, dealt with Hitler in an absolutely just manner above earthly anger, prejudice, bias, or favor, depicting him as the kind of stuff, he was. One also comes across such comments, "He stands like a statue, grown beyond the measure of an earthly man". Recently a new British editorial project has commenced publishing (Zeitungszeugen) Nazi era news with historical analysis in Berlin, reported ‘The Local’. It would help further dragging out truth from the crevices of bias, prejudice and ignorance. "I am not sure what impact the Zeitungszeugen project will have”, the German Jewish journalist Ralph Giordano told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. "But what is certain is that Hitler might have been militarily defeated, but he hasn't been beaten intellectually even 60 years after his downfall". The project is claimed to be a necessity to educate the young generation.

In another act of transparency, while Germans celebrate fall of Berlin Wall nineteen years thence and that is screening of ‘Swastika’, a film that depicts the personal side of Hitler’s life, has been permitted in Germany. Grumbling by certain quarters is inevitable but perhaps plausible comments have also come forth, pointing that Germany was now mature to handle Nazi legacy and some even recommending that it should be shown in every school.

Conversely, Germans’ miseries that war heaped on them are further unfolding. A justified debate has almost entangled the German foreign minister, Mr. Westerwelle. In an opinion article written for daily Bild, Erika Steinbach, president of the Federation of(WW-II) Expellees accused foreign minister of trying to “buy the confidence” of neighbouring countries at the expense of millions of Germans’ lingering grievances. She is a vociferous campaigner for the rights of about thirteen million Germans expelled from their homes and hearths after WW-II from Eastern Germany, including some territories that are no longer part of post Cold War unified Germany.

In January 2009, a mass grave of Germans, having 1800 corpses, was also unearthed in Polish city of Malbork that was part of Germany before WW-II and known as Marienburg. "They are the remains of women, men and children," public prosecutor Waldemar Zduniak told the paper. "A portion of the corpses display bullet wounds". The entire WW-II events till last day by German soldiers testify that they were never shot down as bunch of partridges ever. In all probability, these were the German prisoners or the civilians whose killing soothed the ire of their captors. Incidentally the mass grave happened to be in the Soviets controlled area. The information is not only enigmatic; it is a riddle to resolve, with a big question mark?

The tragedy, taken up by Erika Steinbach, has been presented euphemistically. The sordid tale actually crystallized after WW-II when 12 million Germans were forced to migrate. It haunts their living posterity even today. Dr.Hubertus Hoffmann, a victim himself, bemoaned "... two million Germans had been killed during the displacement, hundreds of thousands of women were raped, 400,000 civilians were forced by the USSR into slave working camps in Russia, 650,000 were brutally treated in camps in Poland and the Czech Republic, 12 million lost their homeland and family roots, their entire wealth, one third was unemployed, and a great number resided in primitive camps". Such a large chunk of German population living in territories of Silesia, East Prussia, Pomerania, and Sudetenland was afflicted with adroit savagery by the occupation force. Ordinarily and justly though, the whole world should have been clamoring with twice bigger trumpet about such a mega massacre that could be termed safely as 'holocaust'. Thoroughly bruised and embittered by the vagaries of time, it was justified if the victims would have at least sounded hostile but the Charter, 12 million Germans' representatives drew was remarkably benign and courageous. It read,"... We, the expelled persons, renounce revenge and retribution... We have become homeless and foreigners upon this earth. God placed people in their homeland. Separating people from their homeland through use of force means to kill their spirit. We have experienced and suffered this destiny. Therefore, we feel called upon to demand that the right to one's homeland, as one of the fundamental rights given by God, be recognized and realized... The nations must realize that the fate of the German expellees, just as that of all refugees, is a world problem....We call upon all cultures and people of good will to participate actively, so that out of guilt, misfortune, suffering, poverty and affliction, the way to a better future for all may be found". Should it not be assumed that they were and continued to be meted with callous indifference by the world community that has not acted at all for last over six decades? Nothing justifies colossal and willful evasion to bandage a deep wound on the face of humanity and lingering pains of the victims. One salutes the victims for their patience, tolerance and steadfastness. Even though they are grieved and most of them have traveled already to their eternal abode, they renounced 'revenge and retribution' in the opening premise.
Bitter message in the new millennium is, own up your people without any reluctance or burden of conscience. Planting the people back to the ancestral roots is the collective obligation of the parent states/races as well as the world community, no matter in which part of the world catastrophe occurred. The responsibility is great and the issue needs to be addressed straight and square by shunning myopic interests of geo-politics. Erika Steinbach view point does not necessarily mean sacrificing the good neighborly relations but it requires Mr. Westerwelle to address mega human tragedy with equally colossal dexterity of the stature of Castlereagh or Metternich and not sweep 12/13 millions Germans’ woes under the carpet. Erika Steinbach deserves standing ovation anyway for poineering the just and passionate cause of the victims. Still more I would solicit Mr. Ban Ki-moon’s attention to this immeasurable social catastrophe as well.

(first published at http://www.presscode.gr/ ,thanks to Mr.Dimitri Giannakapoulos)

(The author is a retired BrigGen from Pakistan Army, holds PhD degree in IR and author of a book, “The New Great Game: Oil and Gas Politics in Central Eurasia” by Dr. Makni--his acronym. Email: makni49@hotmail.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it )