I had observed yesterday that behind all that is happening and may happen in future, there is one very important issue-the issue of our sovereignty. To elaborate this point I have only to refer to the recent briefing by the White House Press Secretary Dana Perino in which it was made abundantly clear that the United States would like to see a thorough investigation conducted to determine who was (or were) behind the Karsaz blasts. Also made clear in this briefing was the U.S. desire to ensure that the said blasts will not lead to any action on the part of Islamabad that would undermine the democratic process in Pakistan. Fair enough! But the question arises:
“Is Pakistan a state within the United States of America? If not, why such a prompt response to, and a warning note regarding an event (in a city as far as Karachi) in which no American interests were involved?” It is a disgraceful and terribly frustrating question if we really are a free nation. One can say in this respect that we indeed are a free nation as is evident from our calendar. Didn’t we win freedom from the British rule on August the 14th, 1947? But does the term Freedom have any value if divorced from whatever is quintessential to sovereignty. Are we a sovereign nation?
Even the most liberal and optimistic amongst us is likely to need enormous amount of borrowed strength to say YES to the question. It is no longer a well-guarded secret that the likes of Zalmay Khalilzad and Richard Boucher have been busy brokering and finalizing the future leadership structure of our country. The manner in which Washington frequently comes out to make all sorts of comments on all sorts of developments in Pakistan does not fail to suggest that even the most powerful or the most popular of our leaders are merely pawns in the chess game the moves of which originate from the State Department and the Pentagon.
My obvious reference is to a man called General Pervez Musharraf whose right to stay in power is regularly endorsed by Washington on the basis of his ‘services’ in the post 9/11 scenario. My other reference is to a lady named Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who has succeeded in catching the favourable attention of America’s policymakers through some extremely unguarded statements in favour of the US war on Islamic extremism, militancy, terrorism or resistance. The question that crops up here is: “Will the Will of people of Pakistan ever prevail in defiance of what either our leaders and generals, or our masters in Washington want?” The answer today is gloomy. But tomorrow will be another day. The sun may rise with the message: Your sovereignty is restored.
14-03-2014
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