Faisal Shahzad episode
by
Javed Hafiz |
Faisal Shahzad Time Square episode has stirred some hidden and wrapped up tensions between Pakistan and the United States. The most strident statement came from the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton who threatened Pakistan with “serious consequences” if in a similar future incident the trail was traced to Pakistan. But more interestingly she tried to water down her warning by praising Pakistan’s efforts in war against terror.
No serious observer of the Pak-US relations can miss the divergent content of the US statements. While US Attorney General Eric Holder says Faisal had links with the Pakistani Taliban, General Patraeus says Faisal was a “lone wolf”. Surprisingly, the Pentagon has been more “diplomatic” in its statements. While Hillary urged Pakistan to do more, General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander in Afghanistan, went out of his way to explain that in their recent meeting he had never asked Pakistan Army Chief General Kayani to do more. A White House spokesman rejected an impression that the United States and Pakistan were on a collision course over how to deal with the Taliban.
Soon after Hillary’s statement, a damage limitation exercise set in. From President Obama to General McChrystal, various US leaders and officials tried to clarify matters. Holbrook said Secretary of State’s interview with the CBS had been misinterpreted.
Hillary’s remarks were roundly criticised in the Pakistani parliament. However, the ministers were more circumspect. When Defence Minister, Ahmed Mukhtar, was asked to criticise the Clinton statement, he said only the foreign minister was competent to speak to external affairs. There has been a lot of double-speak in Washington and Islamabad. Both need each other at this critical juncture.
The proponents of popular conspiracy theories had a field day in Pakistan. According to them, an Israeli website had predicted the attack some days before it occurred. Then Hakimullah Masud, believed to be dead for three months, suddenly re-appeared on a video-taped message which warned of attacks in the US. Then Faisal Shahzad, now a US national, made this crude attempt and instantly confessed to his crime. So many co-incidents in this story gave the conspiracy theorists the proof that the whole episode was engineered with an aim to put more pressure on Pakistan. However, the problem with conspiracy theorists is that they tend to interpret things according to their own wishful thinking.
While I hold no brief for Faisal, he was reportedly angry at the drone attacks in which many innocent people were killed. But he was also unhappy with the US system where he had lost his job due to the economic slump.
I have known Faisal’s father. We worked together in Pakistan Embassy in Jeddah in mid- eighties where the then Group Captain Bahar ul Haq was an Air Attaché. He had no touch of extremism about him. Indeed Bahar was as liberal as a Pakistan Pashtun can be. He was an ace pilot and had a successful career in Pakistan Air Force. He was always highly regarded by his colleagues for his politeness. I feel sorry for the noble Air Vice Marshal. Faisal, through this reckless act, has brought a lot of worries to his family in particular and for Pakistanis in general.
A point to ponder would be as to what makes persons like Faisal Shahzad or Omer Saeed Sheikh or Mohammed Atta, terrorists. They had prosperous family backgrounds and got best of education in the West. What made them willing to put their lives on the block?
While terrorism cannot be justified in any form, a serious study by leading social scientists would be worth its while. None of these three men were Madrassa students nor were they poor or exploited. Writing in a Pakistani paper recently, Dr Perwez Hoodbhoy of the Quid e Azam University says that Faisal’s extremist behaviour is a result of hate literature he would have studied as a school boy in Zia Ul Haq days. But what about Mohammed Atta and Omer Saeed Sheikh? They were not exposed to Zia Ul Haq’s school syllabus.
While talking of terrorists, President Bush had once said that they were jealous of the western democratic ways and prosperity. But these three gentlemen had not only become part of the western societies but were also well to do. Omer’s father has worked as a chartered accountant in England for decades. Yet another opinion given recently says that this generation of migrants suffers from identity crisis; it is torn between two value systems.
Years ago, Omer Saeed Sheikh said he had been radicalised by the insults heaped by the Serbs on the Bosnian Muslims. The phenomenon is complex and the causes of extremism in young migrants to the West would be multiple. Many of such causes would lie in the western societies themselves which have failed to fully integrate this segment. It is therefore essential that this phenomenon be studied dispassionately and practical solutions suggested to overcome it.
(Javed Hafiz is Pakistan’s former ambassador to the Sultanate)
|
Other comment for Javed Hafiz
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| NEWS UPDATES |
|
|
|
|
|
|
