Home truths from abroad
BRIAN CLOUGHLEY
How could Pakistan succeed in "acting decisively against the extremists of al Qaeda" if the United States has not been able to openly charge the 383 dangerous and dedicated terrorists of al Qaeda it holds in solitary confinement and continuously interrogates
It is not often I comment on the internal affairs of Pakistan. Many people do that, and with more pertinence than I, because they are Pakistanis living in Pakistan. Others do it from outside Pakistan, and sometimes I become vexed with them because if things are as bad as many expatriate Pakistanis say they are, my question is: why not return to Pakistan and devote your skills to assisting human development? God knows the country needs doctors, academics, economists, lawyers, teachers and honest politicians, and I greatly admire those who could make a comfortable living overseas and yet stay in Pakistan to help it (I met some at a seminar on Pakistan at Birmingham University last week: take a bow, people). It is easy to pontificate from a distance, but there have been developments recently that prompt me to convey some home truths about how the world sees the Land of the Pure.
Overall, it sees it as pretty impure, and in few places more than in the US whose Washington Post rolled up its sleeves on 15 May and produced a red ink report card. The Post doesn't like President Musharraf; it doesn't like his "consolidation of power at the expense of Pakistani democracy…in a bogus referendum"; and detests his "refusal [to eradicate] concentrations of al Qaeda and Taliban fighters who have taken refuge in [Pakistan's] western provinces." The President, says the Post, will not be supported by Mr Bush if he is going to "lead his regime over a cliff." Worrying stuff. But I take issue with the Post about scragging al Qaeda/Taliban in NWFP and the tribal areas. Just how a country facing a possible full-scale invasion across its eastern frontier could commit thousands of troops to the other side to search for tiny groups of raggy baggies roaming an area the size of peninsular Malaysia presents an intriguing problem.
The Post warns that the US will ditch Pakistan unless President Musharraf "acts decisively against the extremists of al Qaeda and Kashmir and implements the domestic reforms he promised." This is probably the true word from On High, as passed by the White House to the Post, and probably fair enough, because not much has been done in that direction.
Let us consider al Qaeda, because 299 of the "most dangerous and dedicated terrorists in the world", according to Mr Donald Rumsfeld, have been in Cuba at Camp Delta for months, and another 84 blindfolded captives have just arrived. Mr Rumsfeld says they are kept prisoner because he does not want them "to get in more airplanes and have them fly into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center again". A truly disturbing pronouncement.
Mr Rumsfeld's Pentagon information office has floated a story about the Camp Delta prisoners being so clever that they have outwitted their interrogators. The Washington Post reported "a linguist" as saying that "The detainee [under interrogation] is in full control. He's chained up, but he's having fun." So these people, shuttling shackled from solitary confinement to daily interrogation for over three months, are "having fun." Fascinating.
Mr Rumsfeld's dangerous terrorists have not yet been charged. Nobody in authority will define their status, as to whether they are prisoners of war (which seems applicable, having been detained in the "war against terrorism"), or alleged criminals, or possible associates of those involved in terrorist activity. They are permitted neither legal representation nor contact with relatives. They are shackled when taken out of the solitary confinement in which they exist from day to day, save when walking in a yard for thirty minutes with one other prisoner to whom they are forbidden to talk. Their guards do not reply if they speak to them in English (and presumably any other language: that was not specified). They have been disowned by their own countries (over 20) because these are terrified of US disapprobation and dare not insist on basic human rights for their citizens. These miserable captives are alone and forgotten. Yet they have outwitted the interrogators of the enormously expert humint intelligence machines of America (annual budget 12 billion dollars) for over three months. My goodness, this shows they are pretty tough cookies. (Mind you, it is possible they could be innocent, if aggressive, tribals, or ignorant, if aggressive, dupes who could tell interrogators nothing even if they wished to. But Mr Rumsfeld says they are dangerous and dedicated terrorists, so we'll go along with that. He is, after all, one of the most important people in America.)
But how could Pakistan succeed in "acting decisively against the extremists of al Qaeda" if the United States has not been able to openly charge the 383 dangerous and dedicated terrorists of al Qaeda it holds in solitary confinement and continuously interrogates? And how was it that the al Qaeda gang (minus 383 dedicated terrorists in Camp Delta) managed to escape from US forces in Afghanistan? What magic wand can Pakistan wave to control "the extremists of al Qaeda" or the militants who are "back on the streets" of the country? President Musharraf ordered the arrest of some 2000 suspected militants but no evidence could be found against about half of them, so they were gradually released. President Musharraf: You Were Wrong.
You do not need to have evidence of wrong-doing, these days, to throw people in jail without charge. All you have to say is that you are doing it in the name of combating international terrorism. Then you keep them in the slammer for as long as you want, just as the US does. Ignore international law and every other sort of law. You will have the backing of Mr Bush, Mr Blair, Mr Putin and all tinpot bureaucrats and autocrats who want to clap people inside because they are a potential embarrassment to good order and their idea of discipline. And you didn't blindfold them and plug their ears or put them in solitary confinement? Take ten demerits. Mind you, they were manacled on leaving their cells, which is usual treatment in Pakistan, and one that you should get rid of because it is wicked and disgusting - although the Washington Post would probably award you a few points for that particular piece of untrammelled support for the American way of life. |
