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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44661)	9/22/2003 2:29:07 AM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50167

EDITORIAL: How the world sees us and why <after cancellation of SA tour to Pakistan, instead of calling the South Africans coward the need of putting our house in order is the wake up call, we cannot behead people in front of cameras and accept world to overlook it- take action if you need teams to come-Ike> South Africa has decided not to send its cricket team to Pakistan because of fear of terrorism. This was announced just one day before the team was to leave for Pakistan. The South African cricket board (UCB) said that the tour was given the go-ahead on Thursday but on Friday a bomb blast in Karachi forced the UCB to change its mind. South Africa was to play its first match in Karachi. The UCB message to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) noted with regret that the Friday blast and ‘the deteriorating security situation in Pakistan’ had forced the cancellation. The UCB said it had consulted a number of sources on the security situation in Pakistan, including the South African High Commissioner in Pakistan and ‘international intelligence sources’. The PCB, needless to say, is greatly disappointed. It was ‘shocked and disappointed’ that the tour had been called off over a ‘minor bomb blast in a city office block’. But there was more news on this front to follow. On Sunday, government agencies picked up 15 Indonesian and Malaysian seminarians from Karachi on a revelation made by two official delegations from Indonesia and Malaysia that they were connected with Al Qaeda. There is much anger in the Pakistani press on the South African decision. The PCB will lose $3.6 million and will become further impoverished. Since 9/11, and before the current Bangladeshi tour, only two tests have been played in Pakistan with a touring side, one against Sri Lanka and one against New Zealand, the last named team getting a fearful shock from the Sheraton blast in Karachi by a domestic offshoot of Al Qaeda. From May 2002 to August 2003, no top Test team has visited Pakistan. West Indies and Australia have forced Pakistan to play at neutral venues and India cancelled its tour in April because it almost went to war with Pakistan over alleged ‘Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in New Delhi’ in 2001. One local sports commentator has angrily proposed that the South African decision be condemned ‘by every citizen of this country’ and that the PCB force South Africa to reschedule the tour and play in Pakistan. It would be unfortunate if such fury is displayed in the press in the coming days. Karachi is a place where foreigners have been kidnapped and one was actually beheaded on camera for the entire world to see. Foreign diplomatic buildings have been attacked to avenge American action in Afghanistan. Terrorist attacks have not been limited to Americans only. Christians and non-Americans too have been bombed or gunned down. In fact, Karachi is the first Pakistani city to graduate from ‘normal terrorism’ — if there is such an expression — to ‘suicide-bombing’. A group of French technicians was cruelly blown up. The ‘city office block’ where a ‘minor bomb blast’ took place Friday has been associated with the infamous Indian crime warlord Daud Ibrahim whose existence the government formally denies. And it is not the first time that Kavish Plaza has been subjected to terrorism. An earlier blast two months ago had failed to alert the administration to what could well be an underworld feud that has already claimed many lives. That is why the Kavish Plaza blast was covered by the BBC before it could feature on any of the Pakistani TV channels. The South African security observers’ team had been here for 36 days and was not fazed by the horrible massacre at Quetta that we kept blaming on India. Why is the world more scared of us than we think it should be? It is totally wrong to argue that the world should listen to us when we say that ‘Osama is not here’ while we make no effort to get at the root of its fear of us. It is not only counter-productive to condemn the external opinion of us on TV, and ascribe it to an anti-Islamic conspiracy but dangerous as well. Opinion written by us and TV interviews given by us reach foreign audiences and upset potential visitors. The truth is that we should accept foreigners’ fear even if we know it is exaggerated. We should correct the perception as we fight the terrorism we undeniably have, especially as we know less about it than the foreigners do. An example is near at hand. The Indonesian-Malaysian disciples of the dreaded Al Qaeda terrorist, Isamuddin Hambali, were pointed out by outsiders. Hambali himself was a regular visitor to Karachi during the heyday of the Taliban where a jihadi organisation running over 30 seminaries in the city hosted him and sent him on to Osama bin Laden. Add to this the havoc that the MMA is vowing to visit on Pakistan if the deal with the Jamali government on the LFO falls through. The religious parties, once they are in the streets with their angry mobs, will be joined by the disgruntled political parties. Pakistan resounds to threats of violence from all sorts of directions while the terrorist organisations banned by the UN continue to prowl the country under changed names. That is why, while we may say with reason that the coming agitation will not be effective, the foreigner has only the past example of how effective or otherwise street demonstrations can be. The international coverage of the ‘million marches’ this year was quite scary. The problem is compounded by ‘respectable’ Pakistanis who appear on TV channels and speak a violent language that destroys international goodwill. But the point to ponder is that the world is willing to give us a chance (after all, the UCB team did give an all-clear on Thursday and made it known to our cricket authority) but we must do what we can in practice to put our house in order and allay the world’s fears with deeds and not just words. * dailytimes.com.pk