uruknet.info
  اوروكنت.إنفو
     
    informazione dal medio oriente
    information from middle east
    المعلومات من الشرق الأوسط

[ home page] | [ tutte le notizie/all news ] | [ download banner] | [ ultimo aggiornamento/last update 01/01/1970 01:00 ] 59336


english italiano

  [ Subscribe our newsletter!   -   Iscriviti alla nostra newsletter! ]  



Pakistan: state of chaos


As violence escalates in Pakistan, Geoff Brown interviews Riaz Ahmed of the International Socialists of Pakistan about the background to the crisis [...] People see the US and Nato acting like an occupying force. There is real anger at the increased US military presence. The only exceptions are a few in the governing elite – often financiers – who see their future tied to the US... The Swat offensive in April and May created several million refugees. Thousands were killed and thousands more arrested. Terrible atrocities were committed, but not one person has yet been put on trial. A quarter of a million people have fled South Waziristan in the last few days because of the bombing that prepared the ground for the army offensive. But not a single photo has been released of the operation...


[59336]



Uruknet on Alexa


End Gaza Siege
End Gaza Siege

>

:: Segnala Uruknet agli amici. Clicka qui.
:: Invite your friends to Uruknet. Click here.




:: Segnalaci un articolo
:: Tell us of an article






Pakistan: state of chaos

Socialist Worker

Socialist Worker, October 25, 2009

As violence escalates in Pakistan, Geoff Brown interviews Riaz Ahmed of the International Socialists of Pakistan about the background to the crisis

What is happening in Pakistan?

Pakistan is in a state of chaos. The whole society has been damaged by the US’s "war on terror". Pakistan’s rulers are divided and there is no effective civilian government. The military dominates, but it too is divided.

The military wants to support the US war – but for its own reasons and to gain its own advantage. But all around, exploitation and corruption continue, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.

What are the US and its Nato allies trying to do?

This week US president Barack Obama signed a bill giving Pakistan an aid package of $7.5 billion over the next five years, as part of his so-called "Af-Pak" strategy to win the war in Afghanistan.

The scheme is similar to US agreements with Egypt and Israel.

It is full of rhetoric about helping Pakistan to develop, but contains conditions which seek to dominate the country by establishing an ever larger permanent military presence.

This would mean both the expansion of the Pakistani army and the establishment of US bases.

But, the main aim is to get Pakistani soldiers to do the fighting against the Taliban and Al Qaida – and so take the casualties.

What is the response in Pakistan?

People see the US and Nato acting like an occupying force. There is real anger at the increased US military presence.

The only exceptions are a few in the governing elite – often financiers – who see their future tied to the US.

The military’s public response has been to call for stepping up the war against the Taliban while distancing itself from the US government.

It makes no public criticism but is happy to see parties such as the Islamist Jamaat Islami campaign against the deal.

The army top brass are glad that they now occupy areas including Swat and South Waziristan which they have never been able to do before.

There has been a big reaction against the use of the private security company Xe, formerly Blackwater, which is notorious for the atrocities it carried out in Iraq.

The 200 houses bought for US "staff" in Islamabad and the discovery of hand grenades in the boot of a Dutch diplomat’s car have also stirred up opposition.

It’s important to remember that we only know about these things because the Pakistani security services leak everything that exposes what the US and its allies are doing to the media.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani military’s own atrocities are kept secret.

What about the recent attacks in Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi?

We are told the attacks are the work of the Taliban, but the only evidence is information given by the Pakistani military.

The Taliban’s ability to launch such attacks is very limited, and Al Qaida is even weaker.

It’s just as hard to get reliable facts about military operations, such as the attack on Swat earlier this year and the current offensive in South Waziristan.

The military is very careful to control information about its own operations.

The Swat offensive in April and May created several million refugees. Thousands were killed and thousands more arrested. Terrible atrocities were committed, but not one person has yet been put on trial.

A quarter of a million people have fled South Waziristan in the last few days because of the bombing that prepared the ground for the army offensive. But not a single photo has been released of the operation.

It is probable that the recent attack on GHQ – the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi – wasn’t carried out by the Taliban at all but was a mutiny.

If that’s true, the brigadier and colonel who were among the 20 killed weren’t in the wrong place at the wrong time, but were leading the attack.

We haven’t seen any of the bodies of those killed. The only survivor of the GHQ attack turns out to be a member of Jamaat Islami, an organisation which openly supports the military and, for good measure, accuses the Indian secret service of being responsible.

Nor is there any evidence that it was the Taliban who attacked the headquarters of Blackwater in the capital Islamabad last year, or carried out the recent attacks in Lahore.

Why would the Taliban attack places like the police training centre?

None of these attacks have targeted the senior figures in the army and government who are responsible for the attacks in Swat and South Waziristan.

Why has the state been losing control of the situation?

It has been weakened by its growing involvement in imperialist ventures.

It manages to hide atrocities carried out during military operations because the country’s rulers accept they are necessary.

But at the same time entire districts have been taken over by "warlords", and the ruling class doesn’t have the power to do anything about it. The state’s power still exists but it is shrinking and it is unevenly distributed.

There is a serious possibility of a military take-over. Even if the top of the military wouldn’t act, a takeover by junior officers using anti-imperialist rhetoric is also possible.

Divisions in the ruling class have left it standing naked in front of the ordinary people. That gives revolutionaries the chance to expose it and build a fightback against imperialism and war.





:: Article nr. 59336 sent on 25-oct-2009 14:26 ECT

www.uruknet.info?p=59336



:: The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website.

The section for the comments of our readers has been closed, because of many out-of-topics.
Now you can post your own comments into our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/uruknet





       
[ Printable version ] | [ Send it to a friend ]


[ Contatto/Contact ] | [ Home Page ] | [Tutte le notizie/All news ]







Uruknet on Twitter




:: RSS updated to 2.0

:: English
:: Italiano



:: Uruknet for your mobile phone:
www.uruknet.mobi


Uruknet on Facebook






:: Motore di ricerca / Search Engine


uruknet
the web



:: Immagini / Pictures


Initial
Middle




The newsletter archive




L'Impero si è fermato a Bahgdad, by Valeria Poletti


Modulo per ordini




subscribe

:: Newsletter

:: Comments


Haq Agency
Haq Agency - English

Haq Agency - Arabic


AMSI
AMSI - Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq - English

AMSI - Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq - Arabic




Font size
Carattere
1 2 3





:: All events








     

[ home page] | [ tutte le notizie/all news ] | [ download banner] | [ ultimo aggiornamento/last update 01/01/1970 01:00 ]




Uruknet receives daily many hacking attempts. To prevent this, we have 10 websites on 6 servers in different places. So, if the website is slow or it does not answer, you can recall one of the other web sites: www.uruknet.info www.uruknet.de www.uruknet.biz www.uruknet.org.uk www.uruknet.com www.uruknet.org - www.uruknet.it www.uruknet.eu www.uruknet.net www.uruknet.web.at.it




:: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more info go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
::  We always mention the author and link the original site and page of every article.
uruknet, uruklink, iraq, uruqlink, iraq, irak, irakeno, iraqui, uruk, uruqlink, saddam hussein, baghdad, mesopotamia, babilonia, uday, qusay, udai, qusai,hussein, feddayn, fedayn saddam, mujaheddin, mojahidin, tarek aziz, chalabi, iraqui, baath, ba'ht, Aljazira, aljazeera, Iraq, Saddam Hussein, Palestina, Sharon, Israele, Nasser, ahram, hayat, sharq awsat, iraqwar,irakwar All pictures

 

I nostri partner - Our Partners:


TEV S.r.l.

TEV S.r.l.: hosting

www.tev.it

Progetto Niz

niz: news management

www.niz.it

Digitbrand

digitbrand: ".it" domains

www.digitbrand.com

Worlwide Mirror Web-Sites:
www.uruknet.info (Main)
www.uruknet.com
www.uruknet.net
www.uruknet.org
www.uruknet.us (USA)
www.uruknet.su (Soviet Union)
www.uruknet.ru (Russia)
www.uruknet.it (Association)
www.uruknet.web.at.it
www.uruknet.biz
www.uruknet.mobi (For Mobile Phones)
www.uruknet.org.uk (UK)
www.uruknet.de (Germany)
www.uruknet.ir (Iran)
www.uruknet.eu (Europe)
wap.uruknet.info (For Mobile Phones)
rss.uruknet.info (For Rss Feeds)
www.uruknet.tel

Vat Number: IT-97475012153