PACS-L Archives

December 2008

PACS-L@LISTSERV.JMU.EDU

Options: Use Monospaced Font
Show Text Part by Default
Condense Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Sender:
Pakistani-American Cultural Society <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 9 Dec 2008 18:11:41 -0500
Reply-To:
Pakistani-American Cultural Society <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
MIME-Version:
1.0
Content-Transfer-Encoding:
7bit
Content-Type:
text/plain; charset=UTF-8
From:
Comments:
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (150 lines)
- AN ARTICLE FOR YOU, FROM ECONOMIST.COM -

Dear Friends of Pakistan,

Ehsan Ahmed ([log in to unmask]) wants you to see this article on Economist.com.



(Note: the sender's e-mail address above has not been verified.)

Subscribe to The Economist print edition, get great savings and FREE full access to Economist.com.  Click here to subscribe:  http://www.economist.com/subscriptions/email  

Alternatively subscribe to online only version by clicking on the link below and save 25%:

http://www.economist.com/subscriptions/offer.cfm?campaign=168-XLMT





AFTER MUMBAI 
Dec 4th 2008  


Even though the terrorists probably came from Pakistan, India should
continue to keep its cool

PEOPLE in India are describing last week's terrorist attack on Mumbai
as India's September 11th. In many ways, the comparison is apt.
Although the death toll, at about 190, is a fraction of the number
killed in America, this brutal attack on a business capital has
traumatised an entire country.

But if the attack on Mumbai is like September 11th, India needs to
learn from America's mistakes. The 19 al-Qaeda hijackers changed
history seven years ago. Had they not felled the twin towers, America
would not have invaded Afghanistan or Iraq. The easiest way for India
to play into the hands of those who sent the ten terrorists to Mumbai
would be for India to consider a military response against Pakistan. 

It is probable that the terrorists did embark from Pakistan. The
testimony of the surviving attacker, the fact that the band arrived by
sea, and American intelligence all point that way (see article[1]). A
prime suspect is Lashkar-e-Taiba, one of several groups based in
Pakistan that are officially banned but suspected of receiving quiet
encouragement from parts of the Pakistani state to wage JIHAD in the
disputed territory of Kashmir and, increasingly, in Afghanistan as
well. 

When terrorists attacked the seat of India's Parliament in December
2001, the two countries mobilised their armies and came close to war.
This time India has shown admirable forbearance. There has been
remonstrance but no sabre-rattling. 

But forbearance alone cannot be a long-term answer to the problem of
Pakistan. The Mumbai plot is only the latest indication that this huge,
nuclear-armed country is not under the full control of its newly
elected government. When President Asif Ali Zardari said after the
carnage in Mumbai that he would take the strictest action against any
guilty individual or group "in my part of the country", it was perhaps
a slip of the tongue. But the implication is true: large tracts of
Pakistan, notably the tribal areas abutting Afghanistan, are under the
control of local tribesmen, the Taliban, al-Qaeda or a mixture of all
three. 

The fighting in the tribal areas and the killing last year of Benazir
Bhutto misleads outsiders into calling Pakistan a failed state. If that
were truly so, America's policy of bombing al-Qaeda targets inside
Pakistan might make some sense--as might Indian military intervention
in Pakistan. But it is not that simple. Most of Pakistan is quite
firmly under the state's control. However, just as the state does not
control all the country, nor does Mr Zardari control all the state. The
ultimate arbiters of foreign and security policy in Pakistan have long
been the army and intelligence services. 

The army's top brass seem in tune with their president in seeing
Islamist terrorists as the most dangerous enemy facing Pakistan. But
for some soldiers and spooks, the manipulation of the jihadists on
Pakistan's soil remains a rational instrument of foreign policy.
Although it is America's ally, Pakistan maintains links with the
predominantly ethnic-Pushtun Taliban in Afghanistan, as a hedge against
the day America leaves and a way to thwart a perceived Indian plan of
strategic encirclement. The insurgency in Kashmir, likewise, is seen as
a means of bogging down the old enemy, India. For those in Pakistan who
think this way, the warming of relations between America and
India--especially the rewriting of global proliferation rules to
forgive India for building a bomb--looks like a menacing change that
needs to be countered. 

THE VENGEANCE TRAP
To understand these motives is not to condone them. India has every
right to demand that Pakistan stops letting its territory be used as a
terrorist haven and to track down those responsible. But these demands
have to be accompanied by a balanced strategy that bolsters Mr Zardari
and weakens the argument of his generals, not (as in the case of those
American bombing raids) the other way round. It should include
inducements, such as Indian flexibility over Kashmir, as well as
pressure. Pakistan's army would presumably like nothing better than an
excuse to give up its demoralising battle against fellow Muslims in the
tribal areas and redeploy against the traditional Hindu enemy in the
east. India must not fall into that trap. 

-----
[1] http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_ID=12724858
 


See this article with graphics and related items at http://www.economist.com/opinion/displayStory.cfm?story_id=12724958&source=most_commented

Go to http://www.economist.com for more global news, views and analysis from the Economist Group.

- ABOUT ECONOMIST.COM -

Economist.com is the online version of The Economist newspaper, an independent weekly international news and business publication offering clear reporting, commentary and analysis on world politics, business, finance, science & technology, culture, society and the arts.
Economist.com also offers exclusive content online, including additional articles throughout the week.

-  SUBSCRIBE NOW AND SAVE 25% -

Click here: http://www.economist.com/subscriptions/offer.cfm?campaign=168-XLMT

Subscribe now with 25% off and receive full access to:

* all the articles published in The Economist newspaper
* the online archive - allowing you to search and retrieve over 33,000 articles published in The Economist since 1997
* The World in  - The Economist's outlook on the year
* Business encyclopedia - allows you to find a definition and explanation for any business term


- ABOUT THIS E-MAIL -

This e-mail was sent to you by the person at the e-mail address listed
above through a link found on Economist.com.  We will not send you any
future messages as a result of your being the recipient of this e-mail.


- COPYRIGHT -

This e-mail message and Economist articles linked from it are copyright
(c) 2008 The Economist Newspaper Group Limited. All rights reserved.
http://www.economist.com/help/copy_general.cfm

Economist.com privacy policy: http://www.economist.com/about/privacy.cfm

The Economist, Economist.com and CFO Europe are trading names of:

The Economist Newspaper Limited
Registered in England and Wales. No.236383
VAT no: GB 340 436 876
Registered office: 25 St James's Street, London, SW1A 1HG 

ATOM RSS1 RSS2