I have been following stories of different mafia groups for a while now. One reason is the sheer dramatization of their stories that can attract anyone, but there are other reasons as well. The mafias give you an interesting account of the parallel economy or commonly known as the ‘black markets’. Another interesting aspect of any mafia is the CoC or the ‘Code of Conduct’. It is only the strong adherence to this code that makes any mafia an effective long term enterprise. I am particularly fascinated by the Sicilian mafia, commonly known as ‘Cosa Nostra’ or ‘our thing’. Their process of ‘making’ a guy, the oath ceremonies, the hierarchy with-in the families, and strong adherence to the CoC, made them one of the strongest enterprise in the history of United States. They developed a superlative concept of parallel economy that was copied by different mafias around the world.

If you look at the current economy and political structure in Pakistan, you will find an even greater degree of parallel economy-an even bigger Costa Nostra. The corruption has been institutionalized and ‘made’ men are minting money right and left. Parties have taken the shape of families and there is just one rule of thumb, as the boss of famous Gambino family repeatedly said ‘We can not make money with guns in our hands’. Our political parties have recently been exercising this rule. They have dropped their guns for each other and they are indeed making a lot of money. They have Captains in the form of ministers who are eligible for the bigger share. They have consiglieres giving them advices and protecting them in legal battles. No sect or sector is out of bound when it comes to making money. Just like old mafia, they will never name anyone from their or another family in case someone is convicted. The have vows, that their own family will come before anyone else in the whole world, and anything for the family will never be considered out of bound. You start imagining any of our ruling political parties today, and it wont take you long to develop the same analogies. The Godfathers, in this case, are also the kings of black market.

If think of all the captains in the current political setup, there is one ‘made’ man who made the most out of the last four years, Monsieur Gilani. For the past 4 years when the Godfather have been under a lot of heat in the federal and the financial capital, the Gilani family has enjoyed a tantamount wealth in the deserts of Multan. Having been a 1000 Km too far for the media to cover the luxuries of the family, Mr. Gilani was rarely tried in media the way Zardari/ Bhutto family has been tried. People like myself, who have seen the Gs (Short of Gilani’s) through the 90s and early 20s, are in awe. The family who proclaims to be the descendants of the same Abdul Qadir Jilani, who once gave away all his money to the robbers so that he doesn’t have to lie, is anything but hypocrites. Few of their corruptions have surfaced in recent years like the Hajj scandal, the import of million dollar vehicles, and kick backs from various developmental projects (some of those projects were carries out their own city). Mr. Gilani, being the boss of the family, usually goes for the bigger kick backs.

In short, The Gs, the Zs, the Bs, and the Ss, are just part of a system that supports parallel economy. A recent transparency report predicts that by 2023, in 11 years,Pakistan’s parallel economy will be of the same size as its normal economy. I fail to imagine the state of people then.

In old Sicilian times, the Sicilian’s used to work in Sulphur mines. It used to get so hot in the mines that the miners used to work naked. Despite these tough situations, they were supposed to pay to a middle man to get a job in the mine, and once they got their daily wages, they were supposed to pay to another mafia. It was then these miners got together and fought with the mafia. The same people went on to the U.S to form Cosa Nostra. I don’t see our current state of affairs any different than the Sicilian miners.. I just hope that we fight with our mafia the way Sicilian miners fought with their’s.

Are we eventually not back to the square one? The ever so familiar situation repeating itself every so often _ the civil military stand off and the government and judiciary finding themselves at loggerheads yet again feeding ample fodder to the insatiable milling machine of media thankfully to sensationalize and spice things up to their liking, churning out conspiracy theories by creating an unnecessary hype at times while acting irresponsibly by neglecting the imperative developments and details at others to mislead ( read to keep informed) the public at large but to keep their business and entertainment (talk) shows going round the clock. 

The history is perhaps tired of repeating itself over and over again but we are not. While the cynical circular spectrum of events continue to go round and round statically with no linear development over the six decades, interestingly the question remains who is actually at fault? 

Was the judiciary at fault when ZAB riding the crest of a mammoth tide of popularism was hanged? Certainly! Was the judiciary at fault when the over zealous Sultan Muhammad Nawaz Sharif stormed the supreme court overwhelmed by his lust of power? Certainly not! Is the judiciary at fault now when it is taking government to task over a couple of security and political issues? Anybody’s guess! 

More? Was it democratically elected Nawaz Sharif at fault when he dismissed the then COAS Musharraf or was the military takeover a logical reaction to Sharif’s voracious desire for omnipotence while undermining the freedom of various state institutions? 

While it appears deceptively simple to single out Army as the most criminal force and factor in the equation that has arguably rooted out seeds of democratic culture that have been sown time and again but haven’t the democratic institutions failed time and again and caved in owing to their intrinsic weakness, imbalance, disharmony and reckless measures? I am certainly not for khakis to step in or marching boots to trample the constitution at their own free will. There are far too many lessons to learn from the autocratic Islamic revolution led by Hazarat General Muhammad Zia ul Haq and later, in stark contrast, the radiant era of “Renaissance” unleashed by enlightened moderator Mush__ both reminding us of the ages of darkness ironically in one way or the other. But the fact remains that unlike the rest, Military is the only disciplined and organized institution of the state with supposedly far less public dealing and external influence. In all fairness, doesn’t Military get more than its due share of blame for the failure of state or democratic process or institutions? Again, even if for the argument’s sake, Military is the mother of all ills, isn’t failure of a major state institution to understand its due role and to overstep its limits or jurisdiction blatantly time and again be deemed as the failure of democracy or system itself? 

If so, this brings us back to the million dollar question, how in the world do the tenets of western democracy offer the best solution to our typical political, social and economic problems that have failed to grab roots in sixty four years?

 If going to the polls with 35 million bogus registered votes every now and then and casting our vote in the favour of the candidate solely on the basis of birardari or “kinship” as Anatol Lieven ( Pakistan a hard country) puts it earns us the licence to be a democratic state, who are we fooling by expecting a change to take place simply by sticking to this ritual? Not to undermine our society, but have we got the literacy, awareness, religious and social freedom and justice, tradition and maturity to inculcate that culture of expression of freedom, tolerance, mutual respect, equal rights for all human beings that constitute the spirit of democracy together?   

If not, then why are we obsessed with the secular models of western democracy that will never work for us or has never gained roots in the sixty four years of the existence ofPakistanas a state? 

My dear friends and intellectuals who cannot see beyond the dazzling virtues of democracy and exist as if only to keep on harping about it, let us be honest and analyze is democracy the only system that has brought about change coupled with social and economic upliftment round the globe or region? We may snub China for poor human rights standings but what has brought about that magnificent rise in its economic power and splendour? Democracy? Why forget the Asian tigersSingapore? While the state has remained a kingdom with no natural resources of its own (even the drinking water is to be imported from the neighbouring Malaysia), who can deny the remarkable turn around in its stature and economic fate that has earned it the informal title of the ‘Most orderly state” in the world just in a few decades? 

Call it our mindset but name a single mainstream political party that has nurtured democratic culture within its rank and file. Does passing the leadership on to the next generation or the memebers of the family like personal fiefdom or heritage does not negate the spirit of the democracy itself? Or is it perfectly cool to build on a monarchy of  Sharifs, Bhuttos, Zardaris & Madaris while harping about democratic traditions and process?

To cut it short, there may well be countless virtues and democracy may still be the best form of governance but what good is it if it does not deliver but rather dis-enfranchise the masses to the point where the state is brought to the brink of its existential threat?

To me, democracy is after all a means or mode to deliver! 

Dear Mr. Khan,

I write to you as your supporter and well-wisher. You have provided us with hope after a very long time and having desperately clutched at it, I am unwilling to to let you be squandered, like Bhutto and his daughter before you. Hence I address to you this letter.

Khan sb! Zardari and Nawaz Sharif are pygmies atop big political parties. They are incompetent, corrupt and self serving. Yet as I look at the state of our nation,  I do not feel threatened by them. Democratic process was going to deal with them and your growing popularity and almost certain victory in the next elections shows that one cannot fool all the people all the time. As a Pakistani who believes in Jinnah’s Pakistan I feel threatened rather by a certain line of thinking – a line of thinking that still believes that the military has a role to play in Pakistani politics, that ISI and GHQ should hold a veto against corrupt politicians, and that some how the Pakistan Army is defender of some arbitrary ideological frontier of the country.  Sadly many of our fellow travellers in the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf also subscribe to this view. The truth is that so long as this mindset prevails, no political leader no matter how well intentioned or honest will be able to dent the systemic failure which affects the democratic process in this country.  I fear that you will be marginalised by these people in the PTI and ultimately you will fall and after you there shall be the flood or Tsunami of a kind that you do not envisage.

The second thing I feel particularly pinched about is the existence of an insulated inward-looking isolationalist Islamic nationalism within the PTI ranks. If you wish to build an egalitarian, modern and prosperous welfare state, then this particular sentiment will be an insurmountable roadblock in your way. Forget the great debate about Islamic v. Secular. The real question is do you want a Pakistan that is a theocratic and closed insulated society or do you want a Pakistan that in some way resembles the social welfare model that Scandinivian countries have successfully implemented. In other words do you want the Pakistan favoured by the religious right where everyone other than a Hanafi Sunni Muslim is a Kafir and a second class citizen or do you want the Pakistan once – perhaps naively- imagined  by Jinnah as a state which would treat all citizens of the state equally without consideration of personal belief and where faith would be personal matter and not a matter of public inquiry and inquisition. This is not about the small “liberal” class or the large Pakistani class. This is not about wanting Shariah or not wanting Shariah- this is much more fundamental. This is about Insaf itself. 

In this regard perhaps you should look towards Teyyip Reccip Erdogan. No one can question the fact that he is one of the finest leaders in the Muslim World today. You yourself have praised him and put him up as a model. He comes from a populist Islamist base. Yet he is firmly a secularist.  His prescription for Egypt recently – blasted by Muslim Brotherhood and the like- is a secular democratic constitution that is impartial towards the considerations of faith. To Erdogan, Turkish secularism is perfectly compatible with Islam and Shariah. Erdogan does not pit secularism against Islam. Erdogan believes in religious freedom and equality for all citizens of Turkey. This is keeping with the finest traditions of Islam from its earliest period where Islam preserved religious pluralism of the areas Islam conquered.  You should, skipper, follow the example set by Erdogan for that is the only way forward for our time. It may also appeal to you know that Allama Iqbal was not particularly opposed to this idea either. In his lecture on the principle of movement in Islam Allama Iqbal writes:

“They therefore reject old ideas about the function of State and Religion, and accentuate the separation of State and Religion. Now the structure of Islam as a religio-political system, no doubt, does permit such a view.”

 It is time for you, Khan sb, to pick up from where Iqbal ended. Iqbal gave hope to a Muslim minority in the great subcontinent. Had he lived beyond the creation of Pakistan, he no doubt would have endorsed the idea of a inclusive and pluralistic Pakistani polity that Jinnah articulated.  In addition to Iqbal therefore it is time you also paid some attention to Faiz and Jalib, who incidentally was the first one to describe you as Pakistan’s great hope in his poem dedicated to you.  Faiz- a devout follower of Iqbal- was the next stage in our national evolution. You must embody this evolution of a Pakistan that is in tune with humanity and universalism.  That is what Iqbal would have wanted.

The task before you is great. The forces of reaction and radicalism that are in your ranks have to be dealt with. You cannot speak of a progressive Pakistan and also send a note to Jamaat-ud-Dawa rally in Lahore.  You cannot on the one hand rightly condemn Mumtaz Qadri and then have Ejaz Chaudhry represent you at the free Qadri rally.  Imran Khan sb please choose, so that we may also not be under illusions about anything. Enough with the ambiguity and doublespeak,  it certainly does not fit in with your personality and character. Remember these fascists and reactionaries that you seek to appease will tomorrow target you – as they targetted Jinnah, Zafrulla, Bhutto and Abdus Salam in the past.  Don’t forget that a section of these fascists beat you up at the PU campus four years ago. So it is time you decide whether you are going to continue to appease them or are you going to make an effort towards making PTI a truly inclusive and democratic Pakistani political party committed to a plural and progressive Pakistan.

Yours sincerely,

Yasser Latif Hamdani

A supporter and a well-wisher.

By D. Asghar

Dear Asif,

A week or so back, when your PK 01 touched the Mauripur Air Base, many hearts sank. The detractors, opponents, adversaries, and some so called friends, were shell shocked. The Pundits and Analysts on TV screens, who had written you off, were cursing their words. Each time they made the prediction, that you are finished, you have emerged and proved them absolutely wrong. Yes, they felt the same about me.

But this has never been new to you. They paint you as this villain, who has no conscience or morals. You are loathed, chastised and humiliated with all kinds of abuse and slurs. Amazingly, all of this would be enough for any other person, to call it quits. But they fail to understand, you are made up of a different mettle. When you came to the folds of my Bhutto family, you knew that you married a cause.

This pathetic condemnation and verbal slander was awarded to your father in law as well. He was ridiculed as “Ghansi Raam” and falsely accused for the break up of Pakistan. I went through the same stigma. They never let him or me complete our respective terms in the office. Constantly marred with one accusation or the other, both of us, succumbed to the same forces.

When you took the baton from me, the same people were red in rage. According to them. Liaquat Bagh was going to be the end of the Bhutto chapter. Boy were they in for a big surprise. Instead, you told them loud and clear, “Pakistan Khappy and may it always be that way.”

Almost 10 years in Landhi Jail, incarcerated and incapacitated, you patiently persevered the charges of corruption. They even named you “Mr 10 Percent.” But no one was able to explain, how were you not able to “buy your way out.” According to their allegations, with your notoriety, it would have been a child’s play. A supposedly “evil and villainous” person who truly was a “Prisoner of Conscience” served, while others got the “get out of the jail free card. “. They were taken to the Holy Lands, even though they were charged with far more heinous crimes.

When you took the office of the President, with full faith and confidence of the Senate, that was a thorn in many eyes. Not a month went by, where the rumor mills and wagging tongues did not come up with a new allegation of a clash between you and the institutions. Some take credit for the restoration of deposed judges. They claim it was all because of their initiative. They criticize your slow pace for signing the Executive Order. There are people who can make perfect sense of your reservations back then.

Ours is a strange land, where people who do good are always stabbed in the back. Both your father in law and I went through such predicaments. There were rumors with the NRO verdict that your government was going to be packed. The boots were ready to march and snatch your Presidency. In response, you gave your detractors the assurance of 18th Amendment, to put the nation back on strong democratic footing.

On May 2nd of this year, when the world’s most wanted terrorist was killed on our soil, the same people went on a frenzy of denials. They used the aged old conspiracy mantra and denied any such incident. Let alone the presence of any such character. When the infamous terrorist organization, confirmed the demise of its fallen leader, then these characters turned their guns on you. Once again sovereignty was drummed up and you were given all kinds of evil names.

No one ever questioned that when you were languishing in the cell of Landhi Jail , who was erecting a mansion in the Garrison city for some one and how? Undoubtedly, we are a strange group of people. We love to side with the wrong side of history. Almost six months after that incident, this “memogate” erupted like wild fire. Once again the evening circus of opinion makers juggled with the word “sovereignty”, ad nauseum.

They brought their crystal balls out and concocted the Khakhi invasion tales. They thought you and your Ambassador sold the soul of this country to the usual villains. Your Ambassador gave up his job to provide every one an opportunity to carry a crystal clear investigation. They called him a scapegoat. They called you an opportunist, who ditched his friend to save his own skin. The final straw was your departure to Dubai for medical reasons.

Your opponents went on screen, Xraying you and calling your illness, an act. They did the usual chest thumping exercise telling the nation loud and clear. You had left for good and you will never return. You have left our twenty one year old son behind. Leaving the poor lad behind as a sheep for the hyenas. Yet they sang the allegiance to those hyenas, all day long.

With this comeback, you have proven that you will not run away. You will stay steadfast and foil all the evil plots. Courage is your middle name and your resolve is to succeed. You intend to unearth the real truth, in front of this world. Welcome to Garhi Khuda Bux. Ask your opponents, are they up for you.

With love and respects,

Benazir Bhutto

It has been four years since Benazir Bhutto’s brutal assassination and Newsline has assembled a photo gallery to commemorate the death of the political leader.

By Eqbal Ahmed:

After the publication of a letter in The New York Times (April 10, 1971) signed by me jointly with three other West Pakistani scholars and after subsequent statements of mine opposing the Pakistani military government’s intervention in East Bengal, several Pakistani officials protested my position. They all pointed out that: 1) The army, under General Yahya, is only protecting national integrity against a secessionist movement which would cause the 70 million people in East Pakistan to break away from the 56 million in West Pakistan; 2) The army intervened only after the Bengali nationalists had started killing West Pakistani residents in East Pakistan and the minority Bihari refugees from India; 3) Since the leaders of the Awami League of East Pakistan have pro-Western sympathies and connections, and the Chinese “support” the federal government, anti-imperialist and radical elements should not oppose the military’s action. The following is a reply to one such “friend”.

Dear——

I hope you understand that it was not easy for me and my brother Saghir Ahmad to publish the statement you saw in The New York Times (April 10, 1971). First, I did not have any natural sympathy for the Bangla Desh movement. In fact, I had a definite feeling of antipathy for Sheikh Mujib [East Pakistan’s leader whose party, the Awami League, won a governing majority in the national assembly and 98 percent of Bengali votes]. He impressed me as being a limited man, impetuous and unimaginative. But then I have less regard for his West Pakistani counterparts—the miserable Mr. Bhutto who changes his politics like a lizard his color, or the generals who, bred by colonial Britain and armed by the USA, appear bent on turning the country into a Muslim version of Greece and Spain.

Secondly, as you know, I am originally from Bihar, and most of my people had migrated to East Pakistan. Several of them were killed by Bengali zealots during the period immediately preceding the military’s intervention. Furthermore, I grew up during the Movement for Pakistan, and it is hard not to cherish the idea of national unity. Lastly, as a radical and an internationalist, I do not believe that separatist movements constitute a forward step in the right direction. For these reasons, my inclinations should be to support a policy of maintaining the integrity of Pakistan.

However, as I see the facts surrounding recent developments, I am able to find neither a political and economic nor a moral justification for the current policy of military intervention. I have been examining the facts as closely as it is possible to do, given the censorship of news by the military regime and the resulting imbalances in news reports, some of which necessarily emanate from India.

My considered opinion is that:

1) The East Pakistanis had genuine grievances against the federal government, dominated by the military since at least 1957. Not even the most hawkish West Pakistanis deny the gross economic inequities and exploitation suffered by the Bengalis. Politically, twelve years of direct military rule deprived them of even a minor share in the exercise of power.

2) The nearly unanimous electoral support for the Awami League’s demand for provincial autonomy was the result of the neglect of East Pakistan, climaxing in the example of the incredible negligence in the relief of cyclone victims last November. I recognize that the poor in West Pakistan have suffered also. The callousness of our rulers may be undiscriminating. Yet the more disadvantaged people of East Pakistan could only comprehend their condition as caused by regional discrimination.

3) Having failed to arrive at an extra-parliamentary settlement, the military, supported by West Pakistani leaders, intervened on March 25, 1971, to offset the results of Pakistan’s first freely held elections. Perhaps the army had little hope of obtaining the capitulation of Pakistan’s elected representatives. It is now clear that the army used the negotiations between General Yahya and Sheikh Mujib as a cover to prepare for its intervention.

4) There is absolutely no popular base of support for the federal government. Even after four months of terror it has been unable to produce a group of political quislings capable of lending some legitimacy to the army’s occupation.

5) While the military has the power to lord over East Pakistan, the cost of this colonization will be very high for the peoples of both East and West. For the latter it must include increasing economic hardships, militarization of our politics and society, and total denial of civil liberties. The closing of journals like Asad andLail-O-Nahar, the recent jailing without trial in West Pakistan of 800 persons, including leaders like Afzal Bangash, Mukhtar Rana, and G.M. Syed, intellectuals like Abdullah Malik and Sheikh Ayaz, academicians like G.M. Shah, and the recent public floggings of dissenters against the government in Lyalpur and Sialkot are indicative of the shift toward totalitarianism.

Similarly I worry over the statements and editorials which provoke public paranoia by suggesting an Indian-Jewish-American conspiracy in this conflict. This, regardless of the fact that with arms and money the American government is underwriting the murderous mission of the military dictatorship. Above all I am distressed by the promotion of religious fundamentalism and the systematic killing and harassment by the army of our Hindu citizens. I shudder when I think of the repercussions this policy may have for the 80 million Moslems in India.

6) Unless there is an immediate end to military rule in East Pakistan, famine and pestilence as well as periodic massacres by the army will cost millions of lives in the coming months. The intervention has already caused an estimated 250,000 deaths of unarmed civilians. Six million refugees have reached India. Between 60,000 and 100,000 are arriving daily and are facing infection from cholera and the hostility of poor Indians. Millions languish in the interior of East Pakistan, hungry and terrorized, potential statistics in what threatens to become the greatest holocaust in history.

As you know, the balance of survival is delicate in East Pakistan. Minor disruptions often cause major tragedies. Nineteen seventy and 1971 have been particularly hard years. The floods last August and September were the worst of the last decade and destroyed about half a million tons of rice. The cyclone in November, the most severe of the century, destroyed an equal amount of rice and rendered one thousand square miles of rice lands uncultivable for at least one year.

Then the army, in an effort to deny supplies to the Bengali opposition, started confiscating and burning the food reserves. Many displaced or frightened peasants in the villages have not harvested the winter crop. The combined losses, amounting to about 2.5 million tons of rice, must be replaced immediately if mass starvation is to be prevented. The recent survey by the World Bank, as well as the disclosures by Senator Kennedy of suppressed State Department reports, indicate that Western and US officials in East Pakistan have been warning Washington of the “specter of famine.”

Others have been more concrete in their predictions. Three months ago, Iain MacDonald, Relief Coordinator for Oxfam and other agencies, warned that 1.5 million persons may face starvation. Recently the Financial Times of Londonestimated that possibly four million would die unless relief and reconstruction were speedily begun. Alan Hart, a BBC reporter, believes it “probable that twenty or more million East Pakistanis will be starving by September or October.”

The dispatch of more supplies for relief is by itself unlikely to avert the impending tragedy. Only a quick restoration of civilian rule can prevent the use of food grains and medicine as military weapons; and only such a restoration can ensure both the distribution of relief and an effective role for international agencies in the administration of such relief.

7) Lastly, I should stress that no genuine restoration of civilian government will be possible until the East Pakistanis have been conceded their right to autonomy or even secession.

For these reasons, I believe that the only workable course for West Pakistanis is to insist on immediate and unconditional termination of martial law, the convening of the duly elected national assembly, and a commitment that the majority decisions of that assembly shall be binding on all, even if these decisions dismember Pakistan as a state consisting of East and West. We must reject the army’s absurd claim that it has intervened to protect the nation’s “integrity” from the party that had just won, in Pakistan’s only freely held elections, a governing majority in the national assembly.

In fact, the elected representatives of East Pakistan had insisted only on fulfilling their mandate to achieve autonomy for their province. The proclamation by the East Pakistanis of the independent state of Bangla Desh took place only after the army refused to convene the national assembly and after it had brutally intervened in East Pakistan on March 25, 1971. In his speech of June 28, General Yahya denied the right of the national constituent assembly to draw up a constitution and he harshly attacked all the leaders of the Awami League. This destroyed the possibility of any settlement based on the mandate of the elections.

I know that I shall be condemned for my position. For someone who is facing a serious trial in America, it is not easy to confront one’s own government. Yet it is not possible for me to oppose American crimes in Southeast Asia or Indian occupation of Kashmir while accepting the crimes that my government is committing against the people of East Pakistan. Although I mourn the death of Biharis by Bengali vigilantes, and condemn the irresponsibilities of the Awami League, I am not willing to equate their actions with that of the government and the criminal acts of an organized, professional army.

According to reliable reports, which were not challenged by the government, no more than 10,000 persons were killed or wounded by Bengali nationalists in the riots against the Biharis. At the beginning of August, however, West Pakistan military authorities issued a white paper which claimed that 100,000 people were killed by the Bengali opposition. These and other exaggerated claims in the white paper were obviously intended to justify trials and possible death sentences for opposition leaders. As this letter is being written, the military government has announced that Sheikh Mujib will face a secret military tribunal on August 12, on charges of “waging war” against Pakistan. Since the white paper announced that seventy-nine members of the unconvened national assembly will face criminal charges, Mujib’s trial may foreshadow more secret prosecutions.

I know that the army did not intervene in East Pakistan to stop the killing of non-Bengalis, which went on for three weeks while the generals pretended to seek extra-parliamentary deals with the politicians. Saving civilian lives was not the motive behind the vast repressions that have already cost countless Pakistanis their lives and property and forced millions to flee to India. Unequal bartering of brutalities is not a function of responsible government. The very fact that this military regime seeks justification for its behavior by referring to the excesses of the Awami League and the aroused masses is a measure of the steep decline in the civic standards of our army and civil services. Above all, criminality is not a commercial proposition: one cannot deposit the crimes of one into the account of another.

The Chinese rhetoric on this issue is irrelevant. They have offered Pakistan their support only against foreign interference; and indicated their belief that this conflict is an internal matter. Much more alarming is the American government’s decision to continue armaments sales and economic aid to the dictatorship, despite the unanimous opposition of its Western allies, of important men in the Congress, and of the World Bank. This is particularly striking in view of the long-standing loyalty to the West and to the US of Sheikh Mujib and his party.

Washington’s assistance to the West Pakistan junta should be a lesson to those Pakistanis who believed that the US, given a choice between militarists and moderate democrats, would choose the latter. The leaders of the Awami League in East Pakistan failed to understand how important West Pakistan was to the Nixon-Kissinger strategy of building an informal anti-Soviet alliance of dependable clients around the Mediterranean and Indian oceans—from Spain and Portugal, through Greece and Israel, to Iran and Pakistan.

It has been said that General Yahya is now being rewarded by US support for having arranged Mr. Kissinger’s recent mission to China. If this is so, then the Chinese-American detente will have started by being detrimental to the weak and poor in Asia. Whatever the reasons for US policy, however, one effect is clear: Americans have become silent accomplices in crimes against humanity in yet another part of Asia. But their obligations are not as urgent as yours and mine.

I should also stress that the recent developments strengthen the possibility of a war between India and Pakistan. The two countries are more and more becoming pawns in world politics. India and the USSR have now signed a twenty-year friendship pact in which Russia promises to give military assistance to India in the event of war with Pakistan. This treaty cancels the gains that Pakistan had made at the Tashkent conference in 1966, when the Russians promised both to give aid to Pakistan and to be neutral in India-Pakistan relations.

I do not know if my position would at all contribute to a humane settlement. Given the fact that our government is neither accountable to the public nor sensitive to the opinion of mankind, our protest may have no effect until this regime has exhausted all its assets and taken the country down the road to moral, political, and economic bankruptcy. However, lack of success does not justify the crime of silence in the face of criminal, arbitrary power.

Source:http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/1971/sep/02/letter-to-a-pakistani-diplomat/?pagination=false

By Saad Hafiz:

۔۔۔ زمانہ طالبعلمی میں جب کبھی ایف سکسٹین یا کوئی اور جہاز ”معمول کی تربیتی پرواز“ کے دوران گر کر تباہ ہو جاتا تو مجھے سے یہ ضرور پوچھا جاتا ”آج مس نے سٹار دیا ہے کیا؟“ ، آجکل دوست پوچھتے ہیں کہ ”نئی پوسٹ لکھی ہے؟“
پہلی ایکسٹرنل مہر تصدیق سکول میں ہماری پیاری مس نسرین (پیاری مسوں اور ان پہ ۔۔۔

۔۔۔ زمانہ طالبعلمی میں جب کبھی ایف سکسٹین یا کوئی اور جہاز ”معمول کی تربیتی پرواز“ کے دوران گر کر تباہ ہو جاتا تو مجھے سے یہ ضرور پوچھا جاتا ”آج مس نے سٹار دیا ہے کیا؟“ ، آجکل دوست پوچھتے ہیں کہ ”نئی پوسٹ لکھی ہے؟“
پہلی ایکسٹرنل مہر تصدیق سکول میں ہماری پیاری مس نسرین (پیاری مسوں اور ان پہ ۔۔۔