http://www.frontierpost.com.pk/articles.asp?id=5&date1=12/6/2001
OPINION
Jihadis owe an
explanation
Masood Ahmad
Updated on 12/6/2001 10:22:27 AM
The
recent events in Afghanistan routing the Taliban regime from
almost all the major provinces of the war-ravaged country have
sent a feeling of chill among the supporters of the Taliban in
Pakistan.
The events have, in fact, exposed the hollowness of
claims of the so-called “jihadis” who were oblivious to the
international feeling on such activities as were perceived
harbouring of terrorism by the fundamentalist regime in
Afghanistan.
Starting from the indifference to its only ally,
Pakistan, the Taliban had completely ignored all advice from
Pakistan.
Rather it expected Pakistan too to face the music
and not side with the international community .
The proponents of the jihad in Pakistan must be
miserably shocked now over the reports that the fleeing Taliban
did not care to inform their allied combatants from the Pakistani,
Chechen and Arab groups to retreat against the enemy attacks.
The Taliban played the traditional treacherous
Afghan gimmick in quick retreat and left its foreign fighters at
the mercy of the capricious Northern Alliance troops who
mercilessly massacred whoever came their way .The Afghan Jihad
Council in Pakistan which has been championing the cause of the
Taliban owes an explanation to the people of Pakistan why it
raised the bogey of jihad in Afghanistan and lured the simple-
hearted Pakistani zealots to cross over to fight in support of the
Taliban.
Mr. Osama Bin Laden and Mullah Omar should also
explain how would they win against the mighty super power.
So far, the coalition forces are brimming with
optimism to altogether eliminate them.
The fear of an Islamic invasion by Taliban regime
in Afghanistan had long scared the neighbouring Kirghizistan and
Tajikistan..
These frightened governments sighed a sense of
relief when the only super power, America had declared war on
Afghanistan in the wake of September 11 terrorist attacks on WTC
and Pentagon.
The United States of America categorically made it
clear to Pakistan, the only supporter of the Taliban, to either
side with the terrorists or the world community.
The choice was clear.
Pakistan sent its missionaries to Kandhar to
convince the Taliban leadership to see the writing on the wall.
Its advice fell on deaf ears.
Pakistani delegation had to cut a sorry figure.
They were instead sermonised on the need for
joining the so-called jihad waged by the Taliban.
The support extended by Pakistan in the
international arena from time to time to impress upon the world to
engage the Taliban into a process of dialogue was not appreciated
by the Taliban.
They never even obliged Pakistan to return its hard
core criminals like Riaz Basra who sought sanctuary in the
mountains of Afghanistan.
The defiant posture adopted by the Taliban against
the global coalition resolved firmly to eliminate terrorism across
the globe left no room for Pakistan to broker negotiations to
obtain a face-saving way out for the Taliban.
The Pervez Musharraf regime in Pakistan earned
reprieve from the religious parties in the country.
They staged series of demonstrations in the two
provinces- NWFP and Balochistan provinces and whip up rhetoric for
jihad.
Their calls were mainly ignored by the silent
majority people in Pakistan.
However, the Madrassa clientele and the likes of
Sufi Muhammad responded.
Some few thousand jihadi fighters stealthily
crossed over to Afghanistan taking advantage of the long unguarded
porous border between the two countries.
The gory incident at Mazar-e-Sharif, which resulted
in untold atrocities on foreign fighters, has naturally caused a
grim and sullen felling of grief and sorrow throughout the
country.
It calls for introspection at the national level.
More than the government itself, the religious
groups in general and the constituent parties of the
Pakistan-Afghanistan Jihad Council need to review their policies.
The cardinal question is: could Pakistan afford a
confrontation with the international community? It is high time
the country decided once and for all that Pakistan is not meant to
be a theocratic state.
The past mistakes committed by Gen Zia-ul- Haq to
prop up the religious groups need to be corrected.
If Pakistan has to survive, it has to behave as a
responsible, tolerant and a modern state.
Those who consider that Pakistan has been sidelined
from any role in the region must realise that Pakistan’s own
interests are the first and the foremost.
The outside world, the west and the US understand
and appreciate the role played by Pakistan in the Afghan crisis.
The recent statements from US leaders like Ms. Rice
and Rumsfeld are a testimony to continued relationship with
Pakistan.
Pakistan has paid heavy price to sustain the brunt
of the world’s single largest group of refugees since 1979.
Pakistan should plead its case for rehabilitation
of these refugees well inside Afghanistan after a multi ethnic and
broad- based government is installed in Kabul.
As there are no permanent allies or foes, the
policy makers in Islamabad should exploit the inevitability of
Afghan transit trade through Pakistan and mend its fences with the
erstwhile adversaries in Afghanistan i.e.
the Northern Alliance.
Pakistan should also exploit its commendable role
in fighting the menace of cultivation of poppy and smuggling of
its end-product, heroine.
Pakistan’s cooperation to the international efforts
to clamp a crackdown on narcotics trade and trafficking would be
most sought after by the international community.
Peace in Afghanistan is a pre- requisite to the
international agencies helping the war torn Afghanistan in
rehabilitation and reconstruction.
As the international media reports indicate, the US
would like to make a head start in building a pipeline across
southern Afghanistan and Pakistan to exploit the rich gas and oil
reserves from the central Asian States.
Peace in Afghanistan holds enormous reward for
Pakistan too.
The projected demand for the gas imports of South
Asia will reach more than half that of western Europe and twenty
times that of china by 2020.
Desperate to find a hard currency market for the
vast reserves of gas lying un-tapped beneath its desert, the
Central Asian states like Turkmenistan would certainly like to
kick start the trans-Afghanistan pipeline project.
The Indian eye for a pie in the future Afghan
government should not disturb Pakistan as the complementary nature
of common economic interests holds an olive branch for good
neighbourly relations between India and Pakistan.
We must realise that economic progress alone
ensures survival and security of the nation-states as mere
rhetoric to whip up religious feelings does not offer bread or
butter to the teeming millions of people in third world countries
like Pakistan.
