Enemy Within: An Open Letter to Roedad Khan

I fully agree with your main argument from today’s article titled The Enemy Within:

Pakistan’s greatest enemy today is the enemy within. “Ameer,” Quaid-e-Azam told Raja Sahib of Mahmudabad in 1948, “You have no idea of the situation here. I am surrounded by traitors”. The situation we face today is much worse. Traitors and foreign agents have captured political power with foreign support.

BUT there are a few things I’d like to mention where I don’t think you are going far enough. Good that you mention Zardari and that takes no rocket science to figure out he is one of the main problems. But how did he manage to become the President? Was it not Gen Kiyani negotiated NRO that made his return possible? Was it not your parliamentarians (PPP and “opposition”) voting unanimously to make him President? Has he not had the unwavering support of Gen. Kayani and Nawaz league that has kept him in office? Let’s not forget here that had it not been for the manipulations of both Nawaz and Kayani and Aitzaz Ahsan & Co. he would have been dragged out of the presidency had the Long March made it to Islamabad. We have “Tragedy aplenty: no drinking water, no electricity, no gas, no jobs, no cash, rampant corruption, no hope, and Zardari” because all have colluded to make it so and picking on Zardari is simplistic (let’s not forget the role bureaucracy and “free” judiciary itself has played in getting us here; they are EQUALLY as guilty).

Coming to Memogate, you state:

And to cap it all, the Memogate scandal: a dark, sinister, high-level conspiracy directed at the armed forces, a dastardly, cowardly, despicable criminal conspiracy designed to emasculate and destroy the army as a fighting force, the only shield we have against foreign aggression and the only glue that is keeping the federation together. It was an unsuccessful attempt to undermine the army’s much cherished independence and make significant changes in its decision-making system. The plan was to sweep away the existing system of command and raft of unpalatable generals and merge political and military power.

Agreed it was “a dark, sinister, high-level conspiracy directed at the armed forces, a dastardly, cowardly, despicable criminal conspiracy designed to emasculate and destroy the army as a fighting force” but tell me how is it any different from Haqqani’s previous acts? For an example, how is it any different from what he tried in Kerry-Lugar? Why wasn’t he fired right then and there? And even Kerry-Lugar was no surprise having followed his writings before he was installed Ambassador so I was baffled when the army raised no bones about that appointment. Of course I am sure you are also well aware of the visa-to-foreign-agents-without-background-checks scandal that brought here people like Raymond Davis (and care to tell me WHO was instrumental/which parties were instrumental in getting him out of jail, paying off the families of the victims and disappearing them, and putting him on a plane to US?). Let’s also not forget here the attempt made by Rehman Malik to put ISI under him. Did his head roll?

The talk of “army’s cherished independence” is of course laughable. “Independent” only if you ignore the Mullens, the Panettas, the Hillarys, the Panettas, the Holbrookes, the Pattersons, the Powells, the Munters, the Negrapontes, etc., etc., etc. And did you really forget about that phone call to Gen Musharraf back in 2001 that has directly let us here? And who was it that gave Mush a Guard of Honor and a send-off fit for a king? Isn’t it your army and the government that then covers up for them by claiming all the dead were militants (or ‘miscreants’ — Mushy’s term still popular with your independent army)? Is it not true they told every possible lie they could invent about Shamsi and are doing the same EVEN TODAY? Is it not true they told the “This is our war” lie and used to attack and kill thousands of their fellow citizens (don’t tell me you believe most of the dead are “foreign fighters”)? Have they not been constantly lying about there being “no military operation in Balochistan”?

"Indepent" head of an "independent" army, the "most powerful guy in Pakistan"

While on the subject, let’s not forget the latest calamity to befall your independent army: the NATO attack from a couple of days ago that killed some 28 soldiers. I really fail to understand what is the big deal there. Pakistanis get killed by NATO attacks EVERY DAY and no one sheds a tear. What is so special about these 28? Are they not made of the same ‘khak'(earth)? Is wearing khaki somehow turns them into some special form of humans?

Is it not a FACT that it is your independent army that provides the bases, the logistical support INCLUDING providing intelligence and targets to NATO/ISAF as to where to bomb? Is it not a FACT that the helicopters that strafed them, the fuel they burned, the bullets, the bombs, the missiles they fired, the pilots that flew them, ALL came through or flew over Karachi with the blessings of that very independent army? Is it not a FACT that the top echelon of your Army is whetted by the powers that be in U.S. and guys like Kayani would never make general (let alone COAS) if they don’t get approval from abroad? Isn’t it time we cut the bullshit and pick-and-choose “truths” we want to tell? Aren’t the biggest of lies told by telling half-truths? So either “speak up” the whole truth or shut up “since keeping silent” — and worse — telling half-truths makes you as much an “accomplice” in this sorry state we find ourselves in.

So I hope you understand why this gave me the giggles:

For people would have to speak up, since keeping silent would make them accomplices.

Ah, the irony of it all! But the sad thing is that was not the only thing. You added:

I realise what storms it is going to stir up, but truth and justice are sovereign over all else, for they alone make a nation great.

Reminded me of the oft-repeated “Let justice be done, may the heavens fall” that is popular with our supreme court justices. Well the heavens have been falling but there has been no sign of justice anywhere. CJ Iftikhar Chaudhry is happy prancing around in his bullet-proof BMW (so what if it costs people their lives) and the VVIP protocol he so much desired. Justice Ramday is happy breaking law, acquiring extensions and plots in Islamabad and is visiting Dehli right now (funny thing is the only “plot” he sees is the “plot to malign judges”. Justice Javaid Iqbal promised decision on “Missing Persons in two weeks” but that was like TWO YEARS AGO! He has since retired and that promised decision has gone missing too (but retired is a misnomer for no one ever leaves does he? He feels no shame in now getting himself installed as the head of the “Judicial Commission for the Recovery of Missing Persons” and feels no shame in stating “Number of missing persons on the rise“, that too after having stated in January that “2011 to be the year of missing persons’ recovery” (His honesty can be well gaged from the fact that before being installed to head this commission, his name was proposed by Zardari to head NAB and it was only the objection of PML-N that it did not happen. (Side Note: Interesting too is the fact that the bench comprising Justice Javaid Iqbal was the one that “disqualified the appointment of Deedar Hussain Shah as the NAB chairman” — maybe he wanted the job for himself :)). And let’s not forget about “Hai, Bhagwandas!” (though “retired” too, I am sure he has been “adjusted” somewhere too. Could be he is still the FPSC chief)

Regards!