THE DAY OF THE VAMPIRES

Crunch time for Pakistan


December 16, 2009 was a day of celebration for Pakistanis. The 17 judges of Pakistan’s Supreme Court had unanimously struck down the abominable presidential ordinance NRO, popularly known as the National Robbers Organisation though its creators, the wretched Musharraf in collaboration with his foreign backers, had given this national disgrace an altogether more lofty title. People rejoiced as they sensed deliverance from the clutches of corrupt and greedy rulers, the blood sucking vampires who wallowed in obscene wealth and luxury amid the widespread poverty of Pakistan. Following the Supreme Court’s decision the vampires looked shaken and ashen faced as they sat hugging their seats of power.

The question that was uppermost in people’s minds was one of justice being seen to be done. Is it possible for an accused minister to prosecute himself fairly? The expectation was that all those accused of criminal acts would resign and defend themselves in court - they would resume their duties only if they were declared innocent.

A few days later the situation looks quite different. Sensing the discomfort of the vampires who faithfully serve American interests, the American ambassador in Pakistan is said to have swung into action. The Pakistani press has commented on the meetings she has held with various politicians - possibly to breathe new life into the anaemic vampires and fortify them with a potent dose of fresh blood. We now hear that our billionaire president and ministers have declared themselves to be innocent and they are casting aspersions on the motives of the Supreme Court judges. No one is resigning, and it is implied that the Supreme Court’s decision to declare the corruption-sustaining ordinance null and void is a politically motivated act!  

Pakistan’s second largest political party, which had campaigned for an independent judiciary earlier this year and had played a pivotal role in the restoration of the Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, is strangely silent. It is said that it now regrets having campaigned for an independent judiciary, which has turned out to be exactly that: truly independent, above politics and beholden to no one. The opposition leader is said to be fearful that if he lends his support to those who seek fair and open trials for the vampires in powerful government posts then those vampires will hit back and give him as good as they get (yes, his reputation for similar orgies of blood sucking in the past refuses to lie down).

Things seem to be heading towards a mighty showdown between the judiciary and the government. This is the last thing we need at a time of grave danger to the very existence of Pakistan when terrorist acts of the utmost savagery are common and Pakistan’s armed forces have their hands full fighting foreign-backed rebels and mercenaries in Swat, South Waziristan and the adjoining tribal areas.

In the meantime, the Americans are piling on pressure for Pakistan to “do more” when it is already fully stretched and is hardly in a position to fight the Afghan Resistance against the Americans. The USA forces have lost fewer than 1000 lives in Afghanistan while Pakistan’s army has lost well over 20,000 officers and javaans. The wave of terrorism in Pakistan’s cities in the last two months alone has resulted in 500 deaths while the spate of illegal drone attacks in Waziristan has caused the deaths of hundreds, possibly thousands, of innocent citizens. According to Jeremy Scahill, an American investigative journalist who revealed the covert CIA/military operations in Pakistan in his breathtaking article ‘Blackwater’s Secret War in Pakistan’, “drone strikes are sometimes done with very little regard for how many civilians may die in the pursuit of one ‘bad guy’ - in fact, my military intelligence source said to me if there’s one guy we’re trying to hit and there are 34 other people in the building, 35 people are going to die that day.” Can you imagine anything more chilling than this? So much for the “civilized” and “humanitarian” Americans! Pakistani lives are dirt cheap while a great hue and cry goes up each time an American soldier dies in Afghanistan in pursuit of the selfish designs of the USA government!

As a result of revelations by American investigative journalists, and the evidence collected by Pakistan’s army in Swat and South Waziristan, there appears little doubt that the USA and India are pursuing a policy of destabilising Pakistan. Another journalist, Seymour Hersh, has gone so far as to say that a team of American commandos is already in Pakistan with the sole object of taking possession of Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal once the country is sufficiently destabilised.  

Any remaining doubts about American designs on Pakistan have been removed by Declan Walsh’s article in ‘The Guardian’ on 21 December, 2009. The article recounts the revelations of a former NATO officer talking about the USA military’s clandestine raids on Pakistani territory. Walsh quotes his source as saying, “The Pakistanis were kept entirely in the dark about it. It was one of those things we wouldn't confirm officially with them"!

In addition to the ongoing war between the Pakistani state and the collection of rebels and mercenaries known as ‘Pakistani Taliban’, trained and funded by foreign powers, two further scenarios of immense importance to Pakistan appear to be taking shape:

1.  1.  A confrontation between Pakistan’s Judiciary and the Executive, the latter enjoying the support of foreign elements.

2.  2.  A two-fold confrontation between the USA military and Pakistan’s armed forces: one, as the American drones attack a major city, Quetta, allegedly to wipe out what the Americans call “the Quetta Shura”, there will be tremendous pressure on our armed forces to shoot down the drones; two, as the USA’s “troops surge” translates into raids into Pakistani territory, Pakistan’s armed forces will be forced to retaliate.