Atanu Dey On India's Development

A Farce or a Tragedy?

August 2, 2010 by Atanu Dey | 6 Comments

Sometimes I wonder, in the context of global Islamic terrorism, whether Pakistan, the US, and the UK are players in a farce or in a tragedy. Of course the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the protagonist, whether it be a farce or a tragedy. Also it is amply clear that the US and UK are comfortable funding Islamic terrorism indirectly by financially and militarily supporting Pakistan. Their supporting role makes me conclude that the play is actually a farce, even though for the victims of the resulting Islamic terrorism (often idol-worshiping infidels of India) it is definitely a tragedy.

The PM of UK, Mr David Cameron, in a rare display of plain-speak during a recent visit to India said things that got the Paki knickers in a twist. The Telegraph reported:

David Cameron has risked inflaming international relations after suggesting Pakistan is promoting the ‘export of terror’ in Afghanistan and around the world.

In words which will be greeted with alarm in Islamabad, the Prime Minister also suggested that Pakistan had links with terrorist groups, and was guilty of double dealing by aligning itself with both the West and the forces it was opposing.

Mr Cameron’s attack will be even more unwelcome given that he was speaking during a visit to India, Pakistan’s neighbour and great military rival.

So it is OK for Pakistan to receive billions from the US and UK, and then turn around and use part of the money to promote terrorism and the taliban. But it is not OK for Pakistan’s patrons to announce that Pakistan is using the money to kill and terrorize. And so what does Pakistan do in response to Cameron’s comments?

It whines. It whines the way it always does whenever anyone speaks the truth about Pakistan’s promotion of Islamic terrorism. Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi whined, “Pakistan was itself a victim of terrorism and its efforts against violent extremism could not be negated.”

You know that story about the guy who killed his parents and at his trail pleaded that as he was an orphan, he was actually a victim and so deserved the court’s sympathy.

That’s the stuff of petty farce. On balance, I believe that the US, the UK and Pakistan are players in a global farce that is really not very funny.

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  • TiredProf

    “visit to India, Pakistan’s neighbor and great military rival” — There we go again. India and Pakistan are “rivals” in the same way that a plankton and a blue whale are rivals. Or the same way a burst cotton seed and an Airbus A380 are rivals. Our runaway population, grinding illiteracy and rotten politicians notwithstanding, India has so much more to show than that nation whose only purpose for existence is to destroy us. And yet, the hyphenation never lets up! One never ceases to admire how assiduously the sahibs keep at their job…

  • Amit S

    @ TiredProf: You said it! Especially on BBC, you will *always* see India and Pakistan referred to as “arch rivals”. Just as India and China are not rivals yet (they could be in the future), India and Pakistan are not rivals (they perhaps were in the past) now.

  • Kaffir

    =>
    “There we go again. India and Pakistan are “rivals” in the same way that a plankton and a blue whale are rivals.”
    =>

    True to some extent, and depends on the context. But from a military pov, both countries possessing nukes has made the plankton as strong as that blue whale.

  • Surya

    there is not even water in afpak leave alone oil, so why the heck UK and US are pouring billions into this snake pit I cannot fathom. All for a firm foothold in south asia? maybe maybe not. Or simply because Africa turned out to be a no go area and since NATO forces needed perennial real prectice..from any angle it is a farce indeed..

  • TiredProf

    “From a military pov, both countries possessing nukes has made the plankton as strong as that blue whale” — Ahem, no. Think of the so-called unthinkable: three Indian megapolis nuked, two crore people killed, four crore maimed. That’s like knocking off several teeth from a blue whale. Painful, but won’t kill the whale. Will damage big business interests, but within months India will resume clumsily lurching on as usual. If Mumbai is nuked and Delhi is not, it is questionable if people in Delhi would even cancel their kid’s birthday party! And my big bet is, India will not (be able to) retaliate by nuking Pakistan. But nuked or otherwise, Pakistan will remain a plankton. Manufacturing, nutrition, education, art, culture, none of this will improve because Pakistan was able to nuke some Indian cities with toys stolen from super powers. Get it? In the final reckoning, nukes do not confer any leverage. People just learn to live in its shadow. When a fresh round of hatred brews up, the first question Indians ask is, “is there any election coming up”? If anything, it is this level of cynicism that is scary, not the nukes.