Random Chusses…

For the first time King George II of the USA had the pleasure of meeting a non-dictator ruler from Pakistan. Earlier, US had been dealing directly with General Musharraf who took over Pakistan in a coup in 1999. He’s retired now, living peacefully in the President’s house in Islamabad chilling out with his buddies smoking cigars and playing poker. Yousuf Raza of the Gillani clan of Punjab is now Pakistan’s accidental Prime Minister. In yesterday’s meeting King George was mostly pleased with Pakistan’s efforts calling it a ’strong ally’ after a ‘constructive morning in the oval office’. They agreed that they needed to fight the extremists who were ‘very dangerous people’. America obviously likes to deal with dictators because they’re easier to influence and can also keep their people in check. Democratically elected governments are in principle dangerous for super powers like the US because they don’t like to see smaller countries standing up to them and dictators need external support to keep them in power.

Pakistan has a long and distinguished history of army supervision consisting of long periods of military rule followed by short bursts of ‘civilian’ rule. This time its a bit different because we have a retired army chief as president so its not strictly military rule as such. Although most believe that the PPP government is still getting orders from the President house. Anyway this ‘meeting’ was obviously very interesting for everyone. The item on agenda was of course the porous border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The border that needs to be closed, and Pakistan needs to do more. Of course everyone knows the only way these tribes can be subdued is to kill them all and wipe out the entire area. God has once again given them a chance to do ‘Jihad’ against the ‘infidels’ by bringing them to Afghanistan. Its a God send oppurtunity for them. As long as there are US forces in Afghanistan they are not going to lay down their arms. US on the other hand wants to stay in Afghanistan and as some analysts say is fueling the Jihadis, so its a win-win situation for both parties. Regular US cross border missile strikes into Pakistan which kill civilians help produce more fighters for the Taleban type organisations operating in the tribal area. There aren’t any economic prospects or jobs there and these ‘local taleban’ pay a lot better. What better way to start a promising career than to make a name for yourself fighting the ‘infidels’.

But what is the opinion of the people of Pakistan regarding ways to deal with the other people of Pakistan. They may live the tribal lawless area without paying taxes or paying for the electricity but they are Pakistanis. A vast majority is in favour of negotiating with the tribals and to use military only as a last resort. But then there are some who believe military should join hands with these people against the US forces. This is such a huge and interesting topic I could rant on all day but I’m going to stop now. This ‘war on terror’ isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Lets just see what Gillani sahib can bring back from this tour and how it will affect his efforts to bring peace to Pakistan.

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