It is very natural for the Pakistanis to condemn the decision of their government. The attack is being blamed on the Muslims from the very beginning without providing a solid proof and one could hear mostly the names of Pakistan an Afghanistan on the television. We Pakistanis are mostly Muslims and naturally we have a soft corner for Muslims all over the world. It is thus extremely appalling for us to hear news of Muslims mainly Arab and Pakistani in America. I am not saying that the terrorist could not have been Muslims and neither do I condone Osama Bin Laden or as such Taliban. My point is that even if the terrorists were Islamic fanatics then the world must not make the blunder of blaming Muslims all over the world. I can guarantee that when the news of the Tuesday attacks reached us in Karachi, there was not a single person I know who was rejoiced over the grief of the American people. Every one was sympathizing the Americans for this brutal act of violence. In fact the anti-American sentiments were raised by the Western media, which went about holding the Muslims alone responsible. President Bush went so far as to classify this fight against terrorism as a “CRUSADE” which means Christian war against the Muslim. What then are we people supposed to think? IT must be known that Islam is a religion of peace. Even if Muslims were responsible for this act of violence then they were not true Muslims since Islam strongly condemns terrorism as well as suicide.
Terrorism is a very difficult word to define because what might be terrorism for one group, society or country may not be so for another. I agree totally that this attack on America was one of the most brutal attacks on humanity and a bestial act of violence and terror. But then what name am I supposed to give to the massacre of hundreds of people including babies in Palestine by Israel? Every day Israeli tanks bomb the innocent Palestinians, destroying their homes and disrupting their lives. Is this not terrorism as well?? This has been going on for a year now and yet no such hue and cry was raised for the Palestinians as that rose for the attacks on America. I do not side with people who say that America is reaping the harvest it sowed but I am forced to consider that this might be true. The American policy in the Middle East has made USA an anathema for many Muslim countries. We Muslims are bond together by strong religious bonds and thus it is not surprising for the Pakistani Muslims to harbor unfriendly sentiments against USA.
In Pakistan the Islamic parties has voiced a unanimous demand to President Musharraf not to help America in war against Afghanistan unless concrete evidence is found against Osama bin Laden. If however, Pakistan allows USA to use its base these parties would rebel against the government. This is not because they support Taliban or Osama bin Laden but because they feel that acting against them without a proof would be unjust and the real culprit would still go unpunished. I myself believe that America might be acting in haste at the moment. One might recall the ambience, which gripped the United States when the Alfred P Murrah Federal Building was blown up in Oklahoma in April 1995. Some sections of the media began supplying “evidence” of Arab involvement and theorizing that the terrorist job was done by some Middle Eastern groups. However, later investigation proved that the bombing was done by an American Mc Veigh who was accidentally caught. This time too one can not rule out the possibility of some American anarchist or hate groups, or even some militant opponents of the US-led globalization process being involved in Tuesday’s carnage. Investigation agencies should thus look beyond the obvious names of Palestinians, Arabs, and Osama bin Laden and Afghans to get to the real culprit. Because if one can not out rule the proof that a booklet on instructions to fly an aero plane in Arabic was found or that a passport of a so called hijacker was recovered from the smoldering rubble of WTC (I wonder how it managed to survive when the heat from the fire in the building was sufficient to melt the steel structure!!!!!), then we can also not out rule the fact that 4000 Jews were missing from the WTC that day! 4000 mind you, not 40 or even 400 which could have been ignored as coincidence. In addition, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Shanon postponed his scheduled visit to New York. Sounds fishy doesn’t it!!!!
More over, we all heard about the cell phone calls made by the unfortunate passengers of the planes to their relatives. One such call was made by a lady Olson who described in detail the happenings in the plane, including the descriptions of weapons held by the hijackers. Don’t you think that if she can do this she must have also described the hijackers themselves as to what they looked like or what language they might be speaking? Considering the fact that this was a suicidal attempt and there was no need for the hijackers to be masked. This makes one think that what we are hearing is not the complete truth; a great deal of it is missing.
Finally, people of Pakistan are also scared of the pretext of war since if the USA go to war with Afghanistan its greatest impact would be mainly on Pakistan. This is the main reason why people in Pakistan mainly the Ullemas and religious leaders are against the government’s decision to allow USA to use Pakistan’s air base, since Afghanistan has made it very clear that it would attack any country from where attacks will be launched on its soil. I am sure the last thing people in Pakistan want to do is to fight against our Muslim brothers in Afghanistan. The people are prepared that once solid proof has been found against the suspect the terrorists must be punished but things should not be done in haste like they are being done now. I was talking about this to a friend who suggested that who could guarantee that the USA, once war has started leave Pakistan and Afghanistan fighting against each other and find an easy way out for itself. I have mentioned before and would like to reiterate that people harbor sentiments of suspicion against the USA and that too for very legitimate reasons. Pakistan has been allied for years to the USA and yet this alliance has not proved to be reciprocal in certain cases. In the War of 1965 between Pakistan and India, America refused to help Pakistan and then again in the War of 1971 watched while Indian forces raided the Pakistan territory.
I believe that the United States must keep his head at this crucial moment and consider every step it takes very wisely because any wrong step at this moment can have the most horrendous effects.
BY: -
ABBAS MEHDI
KARACHI,
PAKISTAN
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