Analysis, Side Feature, South Asia

Pakistan Headlines – 12 Jan 2018

Headlines:

  • Despite Fiery Rhetoric Openly, the Rulers of Pakistan Quietly Collaborate with the US as Usual
  • Regional Cooperation between Muslim States is No Substitute for Unification under the Khilafah
  • Is it not Time to Cut the US Land and Air Supply Line that Runs through Pakistan?


Despite Fiery Rhetoric Openly, the Rulers of Pakistan Quietly Collaborate with the US as Usual

In an interview with the “Wall Street Journal” published on 7 January 2018, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Khawaja Asif, said that, “Pakistan made a huge mistake when it agreed to join US campaign in Afghanistan that was launched in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.” He further said “We have relative calm in Pakistan, but if we go against these people (Afghan insurgents), then the war will again be fought on our soil, which will suit the Americans.”

Since the infamous tweet of Trump against Pakistan on 1 January 2018, the political and military leadership of Pakistan have been trying hard to calm the anger of the Muslims of Pakistan, resorting to anti-US rhetoric, including statements that the war is America’s war. However, their rhetoric has not been translated in practical steps. Instead the US is still enjoying the same level of cooperation from Pakistan’s rulers as previously. The US Defence Secretary, Mattis, on 5 January 2018, said that the Pentagon was maintaining its communication with the Pakistani military establishment, including with Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, even after the suspending its security assistance to Pakistan. So it is clear that the political and military leadership is deceiving the Muslims of Pakistan and still working behind the scenes to secure US goals in Afghanistan.

For the last sixteen years successive rulers of Pakistan have allied with the US and tried everything to convince the Muslims of Pakistan that it’s our war and not the US’s. Now by their own admission, they are fighting America’s war, which proves that the current leadership has been following the policy of sacrificing the interests of the Muslims of Pakistan in order to secure US interests. Just like Musharraf, they too have committed treachery and do not deserve to remain at the helm of ruling. They must be removed and Khilafah on the method of Prophethood be established without further delay, otherwise we will continuously to be humiliated and harmed. Adi’ Al-Kindi reported that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, «إِنَّ اللَّهَ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ لَا يُعَذِّبُ الْعَامَّةَ بِعَمَلِ الْخَاصَّةِ حَتَّى يَرَوْا الْمُنْكَرَ بَيْنَ ظَهْرَانَيْهِمْ وَهُمْ قَادِرُونَ عَلَى أَنْ يُنْكِرُوهُ فَلَا يُنْكِرُوهُ فَإِذَا فَعَلُوا ذَلِكَ عَذَّبَ اللَّهُ الْخَاصَّةَ وَالْعَامَّةَ» “Verily, Allah the Exalted will not punish a community for the sins of a few unless they see evil appear among themselves and they are able to reject it but do not. If they do so, then Allah will punish the entire community along with the sinners.” [Musnad Ahmad]

 

Regional Cooperation between Muslim States is No Substitute for Unification Under the Khilafah

On 8 January 2018, at the 2nd Tehran Security Conference, Pakistan’s National Security Adviser, retired General Nasser Khan Janjua, conceded that Pakistan has lost 60,000 lives in Pakistan and 120 billion dollars as a consequence of America’s war. Yet despite all these sacrifices, Pakistan been criticized heavily by its ally, the Trump administration, which has suspended aid. To cover up for disastrous consequences of the regime’s alliance with the US, Janjua is calling regional and international players to come to the rescue now. He also urged the regional powers to collaborate and cooperate instead of competing and confronting each other.

The solution does not lie in collaboration or cooperation between regional Muslim powers. The Muslims have seen how useless the OIC and the Arab league are, as well as countless other blocs of the current Muslim states. They have never helped Muslims anywhere whether its Palestine, Burma, Kashmir or anywhere else. Moreover, they remain committed to their alliances with the major colonialist powers and so will always be ineffective, individually and collectively.

Nothing short of unifying the current Muslim states as one Khilafah will ever grant relief to the Ummah. The Khilafah alone will end all alliances with the hostile colonialist powers. The Khilafah (Caliphate) on the Method of the Prophethood will unify the Muslim countries under one rulers, one flag, as one land, with one state treasury and one armed forces. The Khilafah will be the powerful state that will liberate Afghanistan from the US occupation, so the real development of Afghanistan can finally begin. Islam has mandated the unity of the Muslims under one Khaleefah. Allah (swt) said,

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللَّهِ جَمِيعاً وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ وَاذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُم أَعْدَآءً فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَاناً وَكُنتُمْ عَلَى شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُمْ مِّنْهَا كَذلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللَّهُ لَكُمْ ءَايَـتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

“Hold fast, all of you, to the cord of Allah, and be not divided. Remember the blessing of Allah upon you: When you were enemies to each other, and He brought your hearts together, so that, you became brothers through His blessing. You were at the brink of a pit of Fire, then He saved you from it. This is how Allah makes His signs clear to you, so that you may take the right path.”

(Surah Aali-Imran 3:103)

 

Is it not Time to Cut the US Land and Air Supply Line that Runs through Pakistan?

“Pakistan, like most countries, reacts very badly to public attempts to force its hand. It is likely to respond by showing how it can truly undercut our position in Afghanistan,” wrote the former ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olson, who also served as the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, in an op-ed published in The New York Times on 9 January 2018. In his article titled ‘How Not to Engage with Pakistan’, the former envoy assessed the impact of the US decision to withhold security assistance to Pakistan. “For the past 16 years our military efforts in landlocked Afghanistan have been dependent on transit through and especially overflight of Pakistani territory,” he said. “Absent an implausible similar arrangement with Iran, other options are not good.”

Even the former American viceroy to America’s Raj in Pakistan, Mr. Olson, has pointed to the danger to the vital US air and land supply route through Pakistan within the current situation. In his article, he has highlighted the thread by which the exhausted US military hangs within Afghanistan. And yes, the Muslims of Pakistan are furious over the issue and had they rulers that represent their will, the supply line would have been severed by now. However, Pakistan’s rulers have no honor or vision, despite its fiery rhetoric and tall claims against the US alliance. It maintains military to military contact, the US supply line, the US spy-posts that masquerade as embassies and consulates and the US assassins and bomb masters of the Raymond Davis network. It is high time these spineless, treacherous rulers are replaced by the Khilafah on the Method of the Prophethood, which will practically tear to pieces alliance with  an enemy that despises our Deen, fights Muslims all over the world and aids others in fighting them, even though Allah (swt) said,

إِنَّمَا يَنْهَاكُمْ اللَّهُ عَنْ الَّذِينَ قَاتَلُوكُمْ فِي الدِّينِ وَأَخْرَجُوكُمْ مِنْ دِيَارِكُمْ وَظَاهَرُوا عَلَى إِخْرَاجِكُمْ أَنْ تَوَلَّوْهُمْ وَمَنْ يَتَوَلَّهُمْ فَأُوْلَئِكَ هُمْ الظَّالِمُونَ

“Allah forbids your alliance with those who fight you because of your Deen, and drive you from your homelands, or aid others to do so: and as for those who turn to them in alliance, they are truly oppressors.”

(Surah al-Mumtahina 60:9)