Who is negotiating with whom?.......................................Syed Mansoor Hussain What is the difference between the foreign hand and the hidden hands? Is the difference a matter of semantics or is the difference more substantive? My dear readers, I have a confession to make. For almost 10 years I have contributed articles to this newspaper but what appeared in print was not always truly representative of my ‘real’ opinions. This does not mean that I have no real opinions, rather it means that I have opinions that are often divergent and based on points of view that are not entirely consistent. There are many reasons for this. First, of course, is the fact that ‘I’ am made up of a multiplicity of identities. I am a Muslim, a Pakistani, an American, a liberal leftist, a pacifist, a Punjabi and I am of a certain age and, as such, I have lived through many years of personal and professional experiences that colour my judgments and also determine my points of view. As such, what I write is often influenced by whichever of my identities is ascendant at the time I write what I write. The second factor is that of the ‘hidden hands’, which in my case is in part made up of the editors that edit what I write. Here, I must admit that at least as far as this newspaper is concerned, rarely has any editor attempted to alter much of what I have to say. However, this is not what worries me. My real fear is that I might have been abducted by ‘aliens’, extra-national or worse extraterrestrial who implanted subversive and peculiar ideas in my brain forcing me to write stuff that I would not under normal circumstances. I suppose when our political ‘leaders’ talk of hidden or foreign hands interfering in Pakistani politics, they must be referring to aliens, extra-national or perhaps extraterrestrial. Please do not think of this as entirely fanciful. After all, many of our political leaders have, over the past, suddenly seemed to come up with opinions that are entirely different from one day to another. The only explanation for such variability has to be ‘alien’ implantation. The beauty of these ‘implanted’ ideas is that they often seem entirely normal and rational to those that espouse them. Here I could dump on Imran Khan and his multiple personae but I will resist that temptation and just mention one fact. Our Prime Minister (PM) was, according to all ‘reports’, ready to order the army to ‘take care’ of the ‘terrorists’ but, overnight, he came up with the idea of negotiating with the terrorists. A hidden hand or, may I venture to suggest, a foreign hand made him do it? The reason why I am thinking about multiple identities is due to the behaviour of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and its recent decision to order a ‘ceasefire’. Even after the ceasefire, terrorist activities continue but the TTP denies any responsibility. Their stand is that not ‘they’ but some hidden hand is doing the killing. I entirely sympathise with their point of view. But then, what I write at best gets a few non-Punjabis upset, but what the TTP in any of its identities does is kill people. Yes, there are parts of the TTP that will only kill minorities or devotees in a Sufi shrine, then there are those that kill only members of the armed forces or the police, and there are others that kill anybody they can because that is what they are trained to do — all, sadly, in the name of Islam. When the TTP call for a ceasefire but terrorist activities go on, then there are only two possibilities. First is that the TTP is not really a single entity and second is that it is a single entity but has different identities within it, which behave whichever way they want. It is an interesting observation that when the minions of our government want to absolve the TTP of acts of terrorism, they always blame a foreign hand but when the TTP wants to absolve itself of acts of terrorism it always blames the hidden hands. That brings us to an interesting question: what is the difference between the foreign hand and the hidden hands? Is the difference a matter of semantics or is the difference more substantive? When the pro-TTP members of our government use the term ‘foreign hands’, they obviously mean, depending on their ideological bent, either the Indians or the US. However, the TTP knows better and when they blame the hidden hand, perhaps they really mean the infamous Pakistani ‘establishment’. And, no, in the interests of personal safety I have no desire to elucidate the identity of the establishment. Our government is presently negotiating with an organisation led by the infamous ‘Mullah Radio’ of Swat who does not presently reside within the boundaries of the country called Pakistan. So, the government is negotiating with an organisation whose leader lives in a different country. Is that not an example of negotiating with an organisation being directed by a ‘foreign hand’? All this is very confusing for a person of my limited conceptual understanding. Who is negotiating with whom and for what? An end to terrorism? But then, even after the so-called ceasefire by the TTP, terrorism continues, so what is really the end point of all this negotiating stuff? Is our PM of the ‘mandate’ trying to relive his youthful, ‘less hairy’ days when he last had a mandate and tried to make himself the Amir-ul-Momineen (leader of the faithful) under the ill-fated 15th amendment? Is that what this is all about? Being a believer in conspiracy theories, I do not think that all this negotiating stuff has anything to do with peace and prosperity in Pakistan. In my considered opinion, this is really all about the recent visits to Pakistan by the purveyors of petro dollar Islam who probably want the creation of a mini-me Caliphate of sorts in Pakistan with Mian sahib, the elder, assuming that position and then passing it on to his younger brother. Allah knows best.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 06:44:57 +0000
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