Terrorism__ the time to redefine

Qudsia Kadri

As American elections draw near, several questions exist in the minds of Government's all over the world, and in particular, in the minds of the American voters. They face a difficult time, economic recession with the dollar falling consistently, and America's imperial adventures under George W. Bush's erratic rule.

Barrack Obama and Hillary Clinton the presidential candidates have bitterly criticized Bush's handling of the fiscal policies. According to Obama, many Americans are angry and frustrated with their leaders for not listening to them, not fighting for them and for not always telling the truth. His statement during one of his campaign speeches is not far from the truth, though presidential candidate's Hillary Clinton and John McCain profusely disagree with Barrack Obama.

However, there is truth to Obama's statements, as American writers such as the American academic Noam Chomsky has often in his writings said that America and its allies "problem lies in the unwillingness to recognize that your own terrorism is terrorism".

Mr. Chomsky has been writing on terrorism since about 25 years, since the days of Ronald Reagan in 1981 when Reagan had declared that the leading focus of his administration's foreign policy was going to be war on terror. And terror indeed it started with the war in Afghanistan to drive out the soviet forces. That is the time General Zia-ul-Haq regime in Pakistan was funded to raise and train militants. It gave Reagan's administration the opportunity to pursue their cold war objectives and they managed with the help of Saudi Arabia to organize the most radical Islamist extremists it could find anywhere in the world and brought them lock, stock, and barrel to Afghanistan to train and then arm them.

It leaves little doubt than, in our minds that what the US has been doing since the late seventies in Pakistan has actually led to what Chomsky calls "state terrorism". The writer also believes that American agenda over the years was to personally harm Pakistan and also to create the international Jihadi movement, of which Osama Bin Laden is a product. And we know of course how the movement spread.

Today, we can quite safely call the various terror-inflicted movements being carried out in Pakistan, a by-product or creation of our friend and supporter the US. The belief and propagation of the misnomer globally today is that all terrorists are Muslims. The concept gets a further boost every time a suicide attack takes place anywhere in the world_____ could be a remote tiny country hardly visible on the world map, the terrorist had to be Muslim and of course in a twisted way a Pakistani…..

Sadly, our present leaders and previous government's have fallen into the trap, a trap which seems like a pitless hole, a dark tunnel, with no light at the end. Because we continue to fall without any semblance of a conscious mind, a mind, which cannot and dangerously will not see the consequences ahead. Today, we are at a crossroad, where our government, our political leaders, our policies all seem to be clueless. We seem to be heading towards a collision, as without rational thinking and with erratic (we seem to have excelled in this area) statements from different party leaders coming forward, the crystal ball is getting murkier by the day, while on the other hand we are getting weaker as our renderings turn into a whisper when we try to make our voices audible, when we profess and claim that all Muslims and Pakistanis are not terrorists.

The recent statements by George Bush donot jolt many of us with shock. The intentions and game plan of the American government have existed long before the 9/11 scenario. We were merely exposed to the sinister offings in the days to come. The statement that the next 9/11 will be at the behest of Pakistan's hidden militants, is worrisome, when the latest blatant interference has been the appointment of Mr. Mehmud Ali Durrani as advisor to the P.M on national security, and the appointment of Hussain Haqqani as US ambassador.

In both the situations the background of the two are quite pertinent, but more than that what has clearly been manifested, is the clear, unambiguous, direct, no questions asked attitude and interference of the US government. And of course President Musharaff's complete acquiescence in most decisions during the past few years and the present government's similar attitude and agreement on perhaps smaller issues now, are all indications of a very dangerous and disturbing scenario which we the people of Pakistan see arising on the horizon, and the troubled times ahead for the country.