Why should Pakistan fight America’s War?

Attention all democracy lovers: this post is dedicated to you.

The US’s latest strikes on Pakistani territory killed 12 people. Local people report that many were women and children, but I suspect most people reading this will dismiss these as unconfirmed reports.

It’s hard to count accurately the number of lives taken by the US strikes (most of which have previously been carried out by unmanned planes). But I think we can safely assume there were at least a few innocent civilians killed by the US’s terrorist army. Washington and its clones would probably class this as ‘collateral damage’, but I would ask any decent person out there: Why should Pakistan even risk the life of a single civilian in a war that doesn’t serve its interest or purpose? Why should the Pakistani army be deployed to attack America’s enemies? And why oh why should the government be expected to do so when its people don’t want to?

To the democracy pundits: is this not a violation of your sacred democratic principle that the people decide? Isn’t this the reason why America’s at war with Iraq and Afghanistan- to establish democracy? And since the westerners out there are so confident of their democracies in their own countries, that they seem to want to tell the rest of the world to get in line, why don’t you go and convince your democratic governments to leave Pakistan alone and stop meddling in its affairs, domestic or foreign?

If the Pakistanis want peaceful relations with the Taliban, then so be it, and the Pakistani government should accept that. And before any of you come back on this one with raging comments, please consider how your own governments support numerous dictatorships: Uzbekistan is a good example, although trust me, there’s plenty more where that came from.

I’m actually quite sick of the way the media has been reporting this. All this emphasis that Pakistan’s new government’s greatest challenge is to keep away the terrorists… Will someone please educate the journalists and let them know that Pakistan never had this problem before. It had other problems yes, but it has always had amicable relations with this neighbour. It’s the US that has created this problem and it’s not going to go away unless the west stops sticking its nose in the business of other countries. So any westerner reading this, please tell your respective democratic governments to keep away… oh and please let me know how far you get.

Thanks.

Mugabe and Musharraf: two sides of the same coin

Mugabe is a dictator. Most people believe this statement to be true and feel strongly about it. And most, if not all, have come to this conclusion through information fed to them through the western press. Regardless of the petty successes some may site, a dictator never deserves support and excuses are very rarely made for Mugabe’s actions.

Musharraf is also a dictator. Many people do not have a strong opinion about this statement. And most, if not all, have come to this conclusion through information fed to them through the western press. His petty successes are sited to justify his rule and excuses often made for his actions.

Managed to spot the difference? I’m sure you did.

US Double Standards: the sequel

There’s an expression frequently used in the Muslim world to describe the west, it is the all too familiar words, ‘double standards’.

Speaking in London about the inflamed tensions between Mr Karzai and Islamabad, Mr Bush said “Obviously it’s a testy situation there… And if I’m the president of a country and people are coming from one country to another — allegedly coming from one country to another — to kill innocent civilians on my side, I’d be concerned about it. But we can help. We can help calm the situation down and develop a strategy that will prevent these extremists from, you know, from developing safe haven and having freedom of movement.”

I suppose the US strikes on Pakistani soil are different in the eyes of Mr. Bush and others who choose to stand behind him.

Yes obviously Mr Bush, it is a testy situation. And Pakistanis are concerned about it. But you can’t help because it is your government that’s the problem. And yes, Pakistanis can calm the situation and should develop a strategy that will prevent the ‘extremist US army’ from developing a safe haven in Pakistan and having the freedom of movement to kill their own people.