by Ravi Nayar

Created on: March 11, 2008

The question whether the Pakistani Government is helping or hindering the war against terrorists, pre supposes that there is a government in Pakistan which is cohesive with all its administrative, judicial, military and paramilitary organs under its full control and that there is a definite chain of command.

Unfortunately since its inception in 1947 no government in Pakistan ever had full control over its various state organs. The major culprit in this was their military which had an agenda of its own. And even within the Army, their Intelligence wings operated without accountability or responsibility. This was exacerbated during the Reagan era with unaccounted for funding channeled through the Pakistani Military Intelligence ostensibly for fighting the Russians but in actuality a major part of the funding in terms of money and arms went in for training guerrillas to fight in the Kashmir Valley. And that short sighted American policy had its results in the 9/11 attacks on the main benefactor of these terrorist gangs.

India has been fighting the terror gangs sent in by the Pakistani Government for well over two decades and it took the 9/11 terror attack to wake up the West to the danger coming out of Pakistan and its allies in Afghanistan. It would be well to remember that along with Saudi Arabia & United Arab Emirates, Pakistan was the only country which recognized the Taliban government.

And lest we forget who was in charge of training the Taliban and the terrorists flocking from all Arab countries into Peshawar during the Reagan era, it was none other than Bush's ally in the war against terrorism, now in his reincarnation as the President Musharaf of Pakistan. And since old habits die hard, President Musharaf now finds his Military Intelligence Wing going off on their own agenda, helping the Taliban, finding a refuge for them in South Waziristan while his army is dutifully combing North Waziristan for the terror gangs.

In Pakistan, the left hand of the government does not seem to know what its right hand is doing. Or it might all be a great deceptive game going on to fool the rest of the world. Either way the ground reality is that the Government of Pakistan hinders the fight against terrorism.

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