Sunday 14 September 2008

Dangerous Precedence

The war on terror and the ‘strategic partnership’ between US and Pakistan in that war enters a new era. With Musharraf gone and the US strike in the Frontier province of Pakistan, a new phase seems to be under way. This is an important development signalling a major shift in international policy.
The war on terror resulted from the barbaric attacks on the twin towers in New York changed the dynamics of global geo-politics. Suddenly the established legal rules of respecting the integrity and sovereignty of Nation seems to have disappeared. The Invasion of Iraq, in the view of many authoritative figures, was an illegal war violating international laws. Now we see the mastermind of such gross violation, the single super-power of the present time, deliberately intrudes into yet another sovereign nation, Pakistan.
We wish not to doubt the sincerity of US authorities and accept that they are doing whatever is necessary to curb the rise of militancy and as such are hitting on all positions deemed safe heaven for the militants. We assume that US is not necessarily violating the territorial sovereignty of Pakistan and merely trying to be effective in their war by strategically targeting specific terror cells which incidentally happened to be in the Pakistan. Even with such acceptance and assumption, can we accept too that this act of the US is responsible and beneficial in their pursuit of the terrorists masterminds?
The reality is that the US, ever since the end of cold war began to feel confident in asserting its authority in international issues unilaterally. Their assured position of singular superpower offered them confidence which soon transformed into a kind of arrogance which reached its zenith at the time of Iraq invasion. The destruction caused in Iraq and the continued violence effectively marked the end of normal sovereign Iraq that we have known. The death toll of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, too, has long passed the US loss suffered in the twin tower. More shockingly, despite all of this, the world in which we live in is no more safe than it used to be, in many ways grown to be much more dangerous.
In truth, our world is now divided in three camps: one lead by the new-cons where significant proportion of the western population is induced to believe that somehow military might ought to be used to suppress the rise of ‘Islamic Extremism’ regardless of the legal position and the potential damage it may do to the international rules and law. The other camp, suffering the brunt of US arrogance feeling angry and aggrieved who are determined to fight the war with US regardless of their clear inferiority in strength. They are contempt to hate US and everything to do with US. Then there is third group of people, perhaps the majority, who genuinely are concerned about our world and yearns for a better solution but are either confused or marginalised.
The US leaves a dangerous legacy for the Human civilisation. The people of Pakistan and their friends across the world will feel aggrieved and shall seek revenge in whatever form they can. This will create another state detracted from ensuring better life style for its citizens and devoted to balance the competing factions of militant groups. The militant groups will find an increased population of aggrieved people to recruit from and the cycle of violence will continue. We just hope that the last 7 years of bloodshed and lost lives will force US administration to pause and look critically at its policies. We hope that US will follow a path of peace and stability by respecting international law and pursuing strategies not defiant of commonsense.