The same old mantra

The POST, Sun, Apr,13, 2008.

Pervaiz Iqbal Cheema

Once again an important American official deemed fit in his wisdom to repeat the old mantra that Osama bin Laden and his Al- Qaeda are hiding in the tribal areas of Pakistan. In an interview with an American TV channel Michael Hayden, a director at the Central Intelligence agency (CIA) expressed the belief of intelligence agencies that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistani tribal areas. He further stressed that US has interest in targeting the border region.

Commenting on the expressed belief of the CIA official, the Pakistani spokesman said that Mr. Hayden’s statement on the presence of Al Qaeda in the border areas was nothing new adding that border extends over 2000 kilometers and such statements do not help in tracing such alleged hideouts. He asserted that Pakistan would take action against terrorists if sufficient evidence is provided.

Repeated such allegations without providing evidence reminds many Pakistanis of the Indian strategy of repeated baseless allegations of cross border terrorism during the entire 90s and early 21st century. By employing the strategy of over repetition the Indians felt that they were able to influence many leading members of international community. Given the American technological ability to track down movements and individual, allegation without any proof amounts to nothing more than a ludicrous charge.

For years Pakistan lived with consistent Indian allegations with regard to developments in the Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) and now it seem it will have to face the similar mantra often repeated by the Americans. Despite the fact that the Pakistani officials have repeatedly stated that they would undertake immediate action if substantive proof is provided but so the Americans have only repeated allegations but without the requisite proof.

Many of us in Pakistan feel that such allegations appear to be more part of diversionary tactics in order to have the focus shifted from their own as well as their installed regime’s inabilities to stabilize Afghanistan. The failures in Afghanistan tend to attract many critics not just in US but also in other parts of world and to ward off such critics the strategy is to put the blame on Pakistan. Both the American and Afghan officials frequently employ such tactics.

What is even more alarming in the latest round of allegations revolves around the stress that another attack on US is likely from the border regions. The American officials have been stressing for quite sometime that Al Qaeda has established a safe haven in the border areas. ‘Its very clear to us that Al Qaeda has been able to establish a safe haven along the Pak-Afghan border and they’re bringing in operatives into the region for training. If there were another terrorist attack against Americans, it would most certainly originate from that region’, said Hayden.

According to the reports published in Pakistani newspaper based on CIA officials expressed views Al Qaeda is training fighters who look like western and could easily cross the US borders without attracting attention at the US custom lines at Dullas (an airport outside Washington). Mr. Hayden did not give any further details.

The expression of apprehensions on the part of American intelligence is quite understandable but such statement implies that the American immigration and custom officials need to improve their own screening mechanism in order o deny entry to such individuals. However it must forcefully argued here that such apprehensions need not to be accompanied by allegations which tend to take a heavy toll of another country’s image.

It has not only been repeatedly acknowledged by many important American officials that Pakistan has enormously contributed in the war against terrorism but the new government in Pakistan has also stated its resolve in no uncertain terms to carry on the fight against the terrorists. ‘We have not had a better partner in the war against terrorism than the Pakistani government, said Mr. Hayden.

It needs to be mentioned here that one can discern an important change in the statements issued by many American officials. Instead of only blaming only Pakistan’s tribal areas, one often comes across the phrase Pak-Afghan border region which obviously also implies that Al Qaeda operatives could also be using Afghan territory for training purposes.

Each time allegation appears against Pakistani territory, the Pakistani officials have almost regularly stressing and highlighting the need for substantive proof. However it seems that proofs have not been provided and those provided were no more than of circumstantial nature. One must realize that if the government of Pakistan has to undertake a punitive strike against its own people, it must have substantive proofs.

Allegations without substantive proofs amount to no more than hearsay and rumors. Instead of maligning its recognized important partner, it would be better either to substantiate the allegations or refrain from issuing such loaded statements. Each such statement generates unnecessary pressures on Pakistan on one hand and takes an undesired toll of its image.

Persistence in leveling allegations without proving convincing proofs would indeed be either dismissed on similar lines as has been repeatedly done by the Pakistani officials or be viewed as an attempt to cover one’s own shortcomings and weaknesses of policy pursuits. It is expected that responsible officials refrain from issuing such irresponsible statements. It is advisable to avoid repeating the same old worn out mantras and opt for some innovative policy statements.

The writer works for Islamabad Policy research Institute.