double jeopardy

[Guest guest]

Double

jeopardyhttp://www.newindpress.com/newspages.asp?page=m&Title=Main+ArticleT V R

ShenoyCan you read French?" asked my friend, a well-known figure in Washington,

DC. I replied that it was one of the many arts I had failed to cultivate. "That

is a pity," came the response, "because the best book on Pakistan today is a

French work, Qui a tue Daniel Pearl? by Bernard-Henri Levy."The book - whose

title translates as Who Killed Daniel Pearl? - has caused something of a

sensation in certain circles in Europe and the United States. Its thesis is

that President Bush is wasting his time trying to link Iraq to Osama bin Laden

or trying to find weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Saddam Hussein's

former realm. The true culprit on both counts, according to Levy, is Pakistan,

which he amiably describes as "the most delinquent of delinquent nations".To be

honest, I found some of the extracts I read just a tad irritating. Levy himself

describes the work as a cross between a novel and a proper investigative report

or academic work. He fills gaps in the facts with his own imagination, telling

us for instance what Pearl was thinking on a given occasion. But arguing the

veracity of Levy's details is to miss the truly important fact - which is that

influential Americans are making a cult classic of a Pakistan-bashing book.

(Even at a time when Francophobia is fashionable in Washington!)It was, of

course, never to be anything more than a brief respite for Pakistan between

bouts of American scorn. On September 10, 2001, the Islamic republic was

clearly in the doghouse, and the general who had come to power through a coup

would not have been a welcome guest. Pervez Musharraf owes much to Al-Qaeda.

Two days after the World Trade Center came crashing down the general was the

United States's primary ally and Pakistan's debts were being written off.

Today, less than two years later, everything is reverting to square one.That

does not mean Washington is preparing the ground to stop supporting the

general; he and his men are still seen as the best of a poor lot. From the

American perspective, it is not a choice between dictatorship and democracy but

between a secular army-dominated polity and one led by Islamic fundamentalists.

General Musharraf is just another in a long line of dictators propped up by the

United States because the other option was seen as worse - Chiang Kai-Shek, a

host of "leaders" in Saigon, and General Zia during the Soviet occupation of

Afghanistan.Taiwan drifted into democracy, but both South Vietnam and Pakistan

were sucked into a downward spiral. There are some eerie parallels - not just

the spread of gun-culture in both nations but also the increasing use of drugs.

(Drug usage in Pakistan was negligible as late as 1980; today one out of every

eight Pakistani men has tasted drugs.) And just as Diem sought to do four

decades ago, so too is Pervez Musharraf cutting off American options by

persecuting the democratic opposition. The idea is that the United States will

have no choice but to stick by the general if the only other options are chaos

or fundamentalism (of the Communist or Islamic variety). Which leads to one

last lesson to be drawn from history: Diem's fall was sparked off when he tried

to batter the Buddhist clergy. Can General Musharraf fare better against the

Ulema?Pervez Musharraf must at some point make at least a pretense of taking on

the clergy. The true test will come if they choose to lash out in all

seriousness. When will that day come? Well, not as long as the patience of

General Musharraf's interlocutors in Washington does not run out - and that

will be a long day in coming I believe.That is why I cannot help smiling when I

hear anyone in Delhi speaking so confidently of the United States putting

pressure on Pakistan. There is no way that Washington is going to pick a fight

with another Muslim nation - Pakistan least of all - as long as Afghanistan and

Iraq remain on the boil. One statistic gives the lie to all the claims of

forcing General Musharraf to exercise restraint: see if the United States is

putting its money where its mouth is. So far from closing the tap, "aid" is

pouring in at the rate of $1.5 billion every year. Does that look like one

nation putting pressure on another?Do you remember the famous telephone call

placed by Secretary of State Colin Powell after the United States decided to

take on Al-Qaeda and the Taliban. "If you are not with us," General Musharraf

was told, "you are against us!" That warning convinced the general and his

corps commanders to snap links with their Taliban proteges. (On the surface

anyway!) But time has demonstrated how hollow that threat rings.In July 2002,

General Musharraf assured a gathering of religious leaders that "there is no

move toward secularism!" The general has trampled on every principle Americans

supposedly cherish - separation of church and state, democracy and free

elections, an independent judiciary and the rule of law. Yet, as long as the

Pakistani army does not openly embrace bin Laden, the United States shall

support the dictator of Pakistan.So, who did kill Daniel Pearl? Islamic

militants drew blood. The Government of Pakistan arranged the environment that

made murder acceptable. But, dear Americans, it was the belief that your

government would turn a Nelson eye on proceedings that emboldened general and

fundamentalist alike.

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Stop cribbing, ACTION is what the Indian scriptures talk aboutTake the battle

into the enemy camp, SET THE AGENDA, be proactiveIn an argument, no emotions,

be detached, get yr facts right, then attack with the precision of a missile