Politics & US foreign policy: Pakistan (or Mollywood On My Mind)
It seems to me that the keystone to present (=Obama) policy in ‘Af-Pak’ is the very nature of politics in Pakistan. And the question there is … which linguistic groups/tribes/ethnic groups are being sacrificed when attacking the Pushtun tribal structure on the ground … and which stand to gain by their sacrifices? In a multi-ethnic environment like Pakistan, united by little other than their religion (no comment here on that), the whole smelly kettle smacks less of democracy or any other Western conceit than it does of traditional South Asian ethnic one-upmanship. This is the lynchpin behind the apparent anti-US activity of the ISI. Which groups constitute the majority or authority within the ISI? Who stand to benefit from their predominance in this milieu?
Is there anyone out there — ex-CIA or journalist? — who even knows some of the facts about these lineups? There are whole schools and universities out there that are at least willing to name the participants in the witches’ brew that is our beloved Lebanon.
Just in case anyone doubts the nature of this preposition, just remember that Partition in India led to the central state of India with its two armpits of East and West Pakistan. When the Bengali Muslims of East Pakistan reacted to the hegemonistic tendencies of the Punjabi and Bihari parts of the population, all hell broke loose. They won their independence at the cost, ultimately, of the very notion of a Muslim state in what used to be India. Pakistan is now a crumbling and very dangerous edifice that exists for the sole reason of gratifying a miniscule minority that wields the power in that fraudulent state. In the meantime, the Muslim minority in India is subject to a Hindu-majority tyranny that knows no bounds, as long as the factions in Pakistan can produce martyrs like the ones who attacked Bombay (oops, sorry: Mumbai … except surely Bollywood has to be called Mollywood now?). Dang. Why does everyone mince words when discussing this can of worms?