"Do more, do more and do more"

By

Hashaam Mahboob

It hasn't been long since the US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was here, in Pakistan. She came with the goal of mending the strategic 'alliance' that had been ruptured by the Bin laden raid. She appeared in the media with big promises of respecting our sovereignty, understanding our security concerns and building a partnership of mutual trust. All the media jumped on her bandwagon, comparing our coalition to that of a mother in law/daughter in law relationship.

But it didn't take long before harsh reality hit home. On the night of 25/26^th November the US and Nato forces unleashed an unprovoked attack on a military check post in the Mohmand region along the border of Afghanistan. This attack resulted in at least 24 of our soldiers embracing shahadat with 13 more being fatally injured. Nato forces used gunships and aircrafts to bombard the check post. Our soldiers responded with the best of their abilities but they were overpowered by the much more advanced weaponry of the Nato forces. All the promises of mutual engagement by Miss Hillary Clinton turned out to be mere shallow words.

This act of aggression constitutes a bigger insult to our sovereignty than the Bin laden raid. An attack of this magnitude on any other nation's territory would have meant a 'casus belli' for them but no; the normal rules of engagement do not apply to Pakistan. The government of Pakistan is always willing to forgive the Americans as long as they keep stashing their pockets with millions of dollars. It makes no difference whether they put our best intellectuals to jail ( Dr Aafia siddiqui ) or kill our unarmed citizens in the streets of Lahore because they are providing us with the so called 'military and economic aid'. Long story short: Our government is selling our nation's prestige in return for millions of dollars that go straight into their Swiss accounts.

The military, on the other hand, continues to console itself by dishing out 'hard looking' statements of strong retaliation in case of another attack. Isn't this exactly what they said after the Bin laden raid? Do not get me wrong here; I do not criticize the 'jawaans' and soldiers of our armed forces. It is because of them that we sleep, peacefully in the cosiness of our beds, every night. My condemnation is directed towards the higher establishment of the military leadership, towards the generals that make all the important decisions. We spend billions of dollars on our military and the military reacts to this provocation by blocking a pathway for goods. Yes, for almost the umpteenth time our government and military have blocked the Nato supply route through Pakistan.  For how long? No one knows. It can't be for more than a week or so because that would run the risk of the American 'aid' being stopped.

I believe that we have finally reached a 'tipping point', a point of no return. Either we go ahead with this alliance and continue to suffer such national humiliation or we terminate all modes of cooperation with the Nato forces. The latter seems a better option to any sane mind, for this alliance has given us no benefits. Terminating all supply lines of Nato permanently will deal a huge blow to the success of their operation in Afghanistan. The only supply route left to them would be through Turkmenistan. This would increase the financial cost of their war by tenfold.

There's still one more point to consider in this situation and that is the role of the educated youth of Pakistan. It's sad to see how dormant a nation we have become. How apathy has take complete hold over us. We sit in cafes and restaurants discussing and gossiping over political matters but stop for a moment, and consider, what was the last thing that we did for the well being of our nation? It's time that we take inspiration from the men of Egypt, from the women of Tunisia and from the children of Libya. It's time that we actually go out there and make a worthwhile difference. The best way to that is to promote awareness among our uneducated masses, to tell them what is best for our country and what is not.

I know I have been blabbering on for too long now but all I want to say is that we have been slaves to one superpower after another for too long now. First, it was the British colonial power and now the nuclear armed US. The time has come for us to show them their actual worth. It's time now for us to tell them that we'll do 'NO more, no more and no more'.