U.S Strategy for Pakistan - Suggestions for Policy Changes

U.S Strategy for Pakistan - Suggestions for Policy Changes

Guest Column By Munawar Laghari

Historical Context:

Pakistan is a multinational centrist state created in 1947 by amalgamating 5 distinct national political entities, namely the provinces of East Bengal (now Bangladesh), Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab and North West Frontier Province (NWFP, popularly and more accurately referred to as Pukhtunkhwa). East Bengal seceded in 1971, and Pakistan is currently made up of the remaining four provinces.

Originally meant to be a true and authentic confederation with maximum autonomy awarded to the 5 nations, with only the limited powers of Defense, Foreign Affairs and Currency reserved for the center government, Pakistan was from the outset highly centralized and militarized. This is mainly due to the exigencies of the post WW2 period and US policy that required a counterweight to India, China and Soviet Union in the region.

As such, US interests prevailed and Pakistan was governed in a highly centralized manner with a strong military and with little thought given to the needs of the unique provinces. The Pak-military has always been populated by recruits from mainly Punjab, and to a lesser extent from NWFP, creating an interesting power hierarchy amongst the provinces. The provinces of East Bengal, Sindh and Balochistan always viewed the military as a colonizing power internally deployed to extract resources and revenue to feed the center and the military. This was the main reason that civil war in East Bengal (East Pakistan ) broke out and the province seceded to become an independent Bangladesh in 1972.

Since then, with only minor concessions to the remaining provinces (such as recognition of provincial status etc) and limited period of civilian rule, not much has changed in essence : Pakistan continues to be governed by an oligarchic-elitist system, spawned and sustained by a militaristic leadership that is committed to a wahabi style Islamic dispensation.

This religious dispensation has deep roots in Punjab and NWFP and has infested its polity, although many ordinary citizens in both of these provinces also live in desperate poverty. This daily struggle for an existence sans hunger and poverty allows for little interest and reflection of any political or religious philosophy, including the one dictating Pakistan’s policies.

The southern provinces of Balochistan and Sindh have historically been both secular and sufiistic[1]. They are the richest potentially (home to desirable energy resources) but the poorest today as their economic and social wealth indicators have steadily fallen since their 1947 incorporation into Pakistan.

Sindh and Balochistan must be given maximum autonomy and control over their resources immediately as the population of both provinces are much more in favor of secularism, ensuring a more accurate distribution amongst the population. Evidence of this lies in the fact that manifestoes of all the nationalist political parties in either province do not refer to Islam.

Given all of the above and the seemingly unending and unwinnable war against terror that NATO and US forces are fighting in Pakistan and Afghanistan (ostensibly and perhaps with the cooperation of some sections of the Pakistan military and Inter Services Intelligence) it is proposed hereunder that the US make some deep and structural changes to its AF-PAK Policy.

Proposition:

The policy be renamed and segregated as US Afghan Policy and US Pakistan Policy, and in fact further segregated as US North Pakistan Policy and US South Pakistan policy, to reflect the unique cultural and societal factors of the regions.
North Pakistan (where the training and political centers of militant Islam were established in 1947 and are still flourishing and still located ) must be handled differently from South Pakistan ( secular and sufiistic Sindh and Balochistan ). It is proposed that United Nations Peace Keeping Forces be deployed to seal the border between the south (Sindh and Balochistan) and the north (Punjab and NWFP) so as to contain and deal with these regions accordingly, and to prevent the proliferation of militant Islam in the south, with special humanitarian provisions for ease of access to legitimate civilian traffic so as not to cause hardship to families and other legal economic activities.
Regional powers India and Iran must be brought on board to tackle terrorism: China too, but with some reservations.
Ministries of Health and Education must be closed at federal level (Islamabad) and operate only at provincial level with much enhanced funding from US government; both these ministries should be well funded so that universal health and full service education [2]should be provided through the public sector, with a huge emphasis (50%) on girls/women’s education. This prioritization is essential in order to break the significance/role of the 2000+ madressahs that are reputed to have started operating in Sindh/Balochistan.[3]
The support for judicial reform and cases of disappeared people from Sindh and Balochistan should be dealt with immediately, as these are primarily cases involving legitimate secular political workers who have indulged in peaceful non violent struggle; to treat them as militant Islamists using US tax payer money is a serious travesty of justice that has made (and will continue to make) US unpopular in southern Pakistan. If however there is a move to release or reopen the cases of all political prisoners and all those who disappeared through US assistance, the US government will become popular with the people of Sindh and Balochistan.
USA (as well as Britain, Israel and India) must stop supporting the MQM[4] immediately; although not fundamentalist, it’s genesis and leaders were originally from fundamentalist parties. It is a corrupt /mercenary/terrorist organization with no ideology except to perform for the highest bidder and is anathema to Sindh where it has succeeded in controlling urban politics and city governments to the extent that it plays the role of “king maker” at the federal level and at the provincial Sindh Government level. This has precluded the emergence/sustenance of democratic activity and institutions in Sindh as the MQM rules with the aid of weapons distributed to neighborhood vigilance units /street gangs and has no reservations with collaborating with fundamentalist groups if it deems these to be useful/helpful to them in countering indigenous Sindhi political forces.

Lastly and most importantly

The US government must lean on Pakistan’s military/civilian government to give maximum autonomy to the southern provinces of Sindh and Balochistan, specifically control over their vast and valuable energy. Provincial Autonomy was enshrined in the 1940 Lahore Resolution (the founding covenant of Pakistan, because of which Sindh joined the new State of Pakistan) and later reiterated in the 1973 Constitution. To this day this regional autonomy remains an elusive concept as the Pakistan Military/Civilian oligarchy cannot entertain the notion of relinquishing these powers and the “pork barrel” benefits that accrue from centralization, and has not received adequate international pressure to date.

The rationale behind the above recommendations is that a last and final window of opportunity exists to secure sufi/secular South Pakistan (Sindh and Balochistan ) from a fundamentalist North Pakistan that seems to be in the process of being completely invaded by fundamentalist forces. Once South Pakistan is secured and no longer threatened by extremism, then all military focus must be on the Punjab, NWFP-Pukhtunkhwa provinces to root out this menace once and for all. As military operations proceed/succeed in the North, the existing secular civil society in Punjab and NWFP must be harnessed to increase (full service) education and health facilities. With these foundations established, than North and South Pakistan can better address the needs of the people and extremism will be less able to redevelop. If these strategies are implemented, benefits will be felt in Pakistan, South Asia and the world at large.

(Munawar Laghari is a Sindhi human rights activist and the editor of the “Sindh Monitor”. His passions inspired him to work with US policy makers, leading him to accept the position of Executive Director with the Sindhi American Political Action Committee, prompting this particular piece.)

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[1] Sufiism is a pluralistic, tolerant, and non-violent spiritualism completely opposed to fundamentalist religions, including wahabi Islam, but accepting of all other religions that are willing to live in peaceful co-existence.

[2] Covering the cost of food, uniforms and other necessary supplies

[3] As yet, madrassahs have not established a strong role in society. It is important to curb these extremist institutions before they become firmly rooted and begin to generate negative influences across historically moderate Sindh and Balcohistan.

[4] Muttahida Quomi Movement, spawned by the wahabi late general Zia ul Haq to counter secularist nationalist forces in Sindh