President Barack Obama Sunday phoned Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, whose life along with that of ousted Ambassador Husain Haqqani, appears to be under threat of Pakistan's corrupt but omnipotent army generals.
Though on the surface Obama's condolences were meant to assuage Pakistan military and civilian leadership angst after a NATO air raid left two dozen Pakistani soldiers dead, it was a show of support to Zardari and Haqqani.
Obama's call to Zardari followed the unusual denial by the White House that Zardari or his favorite former ambassador had advance knowledge of the SEALs attack on May 2.
Obama's call followed the latest article by U.S. businessman of Pakistani origin Mansoor Ijaz Saturday in which he charged Haqqani and Zardari of knowing about the SEALs raid that killed bin Laden, Pakistan most prized security and strategic asset.
Obama has been a fan of Ahmed Rashid's writings and on the day after Black Friday he went to a store with his daughters and brought his book Descent Into Chaos. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have an insight on the workings of the Pakistan military apparatus very few U.S. politicians have.
Obama had travelled to Pakistan as a young man -- he stayed in Karachi with this correspondent's family friend senator Ahmedmian Soomro --, while Biden had been member of the senate foreign relations committee for many years and has an insight on the workings of Pakistan's diabolical military and Inter-Services Intelligence.
The two know quite well that civilians in Pakistan have always been sitting ducks before the powerful, out-sized army and infamous I.S.I.
The slain major general Faisal Alvi, brother-in-law of Nobel laureaute V.S. Naipaul, was an exception among Pakistani generals and paid for his stand with his life. Alvi, the lone conscientious objector among Pakistan generals, who opposed the military's secret alliance with the Taliban and Al Qaeda, was killed November 19, 2008.
Alvi, a commando like Muhsarraf who had given up his British citizenship to work in Pakistan army, had objected to the dealings of at least two Pakistani generals with the al Qaeda. He was abruptly dismissed from the military by former coup leader Gen. Pervez Musharraf – “America's favorite dictator” – on a charge of conduct unbecoming of an officer.
One of the two generals Alvi named appears to be Nadeem Taj, former commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy and head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Taj, who was related to General Musharraf, was firmly embedded with al Qaeda and is suspected to have played a key role in the settlement of bin Laden next door to the Pakistan Military Academy, says former CIA officer-turned-academic Bruce Riedel.
In this backdrop of the macabre cloak-and-dagger games of the Pakistani generals, Ijaz's charge against Haqqani cost him job, but has made the former ambassador a martyr in the eyes of U.S. leaders and democracy-loving forces world over. The general perception is Haqqani was against terrorism and a friend of the United States and this was the main reason why the Pakistani generals mistrusted him.
In fact, Pakistani generals had been calling for Haqqani's scalp after his celebrated book Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military.
The way that Ijaz reacted belies his public claim that he was hurt about Mike Mullen being treated unfairly by the Pakistanis. This argument does not hold much water.
Ijaz's reactions may not be appreciated by even his close friends like R. James Woolsey, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency and Gen. Jim Jones, former National Security Advisor to President Obama. Woolsey and Jones would not like to see their names attached to a Pakistan scandal. Nor would Mike Mullen for that matter. The work that Ijaz had undertaken was supposed to be done in the shadows and bringing it into sunlight endangers precious lives, in this case Zardari and Haqqani lives.
President Zardari is "scared to death" by the military generals, Bruce Riedel observed at a gathering on the launch of the book Future of Pakistan at the Brookings Institution Monday.
According to Newsweek, the late father of Ijaz was a close friend of Nobel laureaute Dr. Abdus Salam, who was an Ahmadi. Members of the Ahmadi sect, according to Newsweek, are treated as outsiders in Pakistan, represent the reformed and tolerant branch of Islam.
Rumors mill were working overtime in Pakistan and one rumor said Ijaz was not paid the dues for his lobbyong efforts on behalf of the Zardari-Haqqani network, while a Pakistan televisions channel ran news tickers that said Ijaz as an Ahmadi -- both charges vehemently denied by Ijaz
AHMADI ISSUE BACKGROUND: It is interesting to note the Newseek article mentioned the Ahmadi links of Ijaz's late father.
The first P.P.P. Government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared the Ahmadis non-Muslims in 1974.
Bhutto, who was subsequently annihilated by the Pakistani generals, was liberal but felt insecure because of his religious background as his his mother was a Hindu prior to marrying Sir Shahnawaz Bhutto. From Lakhi Bhai, Bhutto's mother became Khursheed Begum.
Lakhi Bhai was said to be the biological daughter of the late Sir Ghulam Hussain Hidayatullah, the first chief minister of Sindh after its separation from Bombay and its first governor after Pakistan's independence. In fact Lakhi Bhai's mother was once a darling in the eyes of India's founding father Jawaharlal Nehru, but later developed a relationship with Hidayatullah, who was himself a convert from Hinduism to Islam. Grandsons of Sir Hidayatullah confirm this account.
Ahmadi Muslims played a lead role in Pakistan's creation. One of the top figures of the sect was Sir Zafarullah Khan, a founding father of Pakistan and the country's first foreign minister who rose to international fame in jurisprudence. Ahmadis are one of the most highly educated among Muslims anywhere in the world and reject violent jihad.
Eversince the Ahmadis were declared non-Muslims, they are looked down upon by the majority of Sunnis in Pakistan as heretics who do not believe in the finality of Prophet Muhammad. They are treated like the other minorities – Hindus and Christians -- as thrid-class citizens. They are not allowed to call their places of worship, which are routinely targeted, a mosque.
An Ahmadi, like the Christians or Hindus, have no chance of being treated fairly as Pakistan is officially an Islamic Republic where only a Muslim can become the head of state and head of government.
©Mustikhan Syndicated News Service
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