Lt.Gen (r) Asad Durrani

ibn-e-mariyam huā kare koī, mere dukh kī davā kare koī
It’s not only Ghalib who prayed for the Second Coming of Christ to relieve him of his woes.
In many a religion and folklore, a resurrected Messiah would arise to save the world. So
little is the faith in the earthly order that a super human who can send a bunch of evil doers
back to hell is an all-time favourite in Holly-and Bollywood. In despair, one would even wait
for Godot, though he never said he would come.
And these are desperate times.
On the Gaza front, one grapples at any straw that can help us tide over the next couple of
days – a UN session or a salvo by the Houthis. Impotence of Umma and the deafening
silence of the OIC are no more worth a thought. Pakistan in any case has no credentials to
ask anyone to stand up for the suffering multitude. Didn’t we see off famished women and
children to a bitter cold war-ravaged country with an unashamed display of Schadenfreude?
If that hasn’t brought down the terrorist activities in Pakistan or persuade Kabul to tighten
the screws on the TPP – it’s because it wasn’t going to.
Unlike us the tribesmen have a long tradition of protecting anyone seeking asylum and
would not handover OBLs or TTPs who once may have helped them – even at the cost of a
twenty years war or the burden of an odd million. Biharis in the erstwhile East Pakistan
fought on our side, but have now been languishing for over half a century without any hope
that we would show them any gratitude. Thanks to India the Kashmiris have not yet given
up on us, even though we have time and again betrayed them by sending infiltrators
without thinking through or climbing the Kargil heights sans an idea how to get down from
there.
The world has seen so many insurgencies that the recipe of fighting them has nearly been
perfected: use of force only to create conditions favourable for the more important political
and administrative measures – and then repeating the cycle umpteen number of times. But
since that would be too laborious an undertaking, we would rather follow the American
COIN that not only caused the so-called collateral damage in Afghanistan, it also sent for
every militant killed ten more to the front. Once all the Afghans are repatriated, I wonder
who would we blame next. Yes, many more of our jawans and young officers would
continue to fight and die, and we’ll praise their valour but would not concede any flaws in
the strategy.
On the political front too, there is no good news. The old game of musical chairs has
crowned the same dynasties who know nothing better than divide the loot amongst their
kith and kin. Now that the size of the bounty has shrunk, they’re seeking a larger subsidy
from the IMF. It never helped in the past; except that the ever-growing affliction has sunk us
deeper in the hole. And no one is holding one’s breath that this time it would be any
different.
Pleading for waver to build the Iran-Pakistan Pipeline reminds me of the gatekeeper who
refused entry to those who asked for it. Whenever we did not, we went through. Ties with
China – later celebrated as ironclad – kicked off against the wishes of the Big Boss who was
then our best bet to countervail India. A decade later we took Kissinger Over the Hump at
the risk of needling the Big Bear. The nuclear path was followed despite threats and
sanctions ever since I can remember. We refused to sever relationship with the postrevolution Iran, even though America, raging mad over the hostage crisis in Tehran, was at
the time our main prop to contain the Soviets in Afghanistan – the same place where we
defied the post 9/11 policies of the sole surviving superpower.
If we now have sunk to the level that we couldn’t even send a few volunteers to help the
Palestinians – where we once deployed planes and pilots – there are good reasons to feel
dejected. But if that’s a sin, let’s look for any silver lining no matter how thin.
Seeking a quid pro quo for favours is not an act of grace – but in realpoli[k it’s the first
principle. Helping the Afghans to get their country rid of military occupa[ons was also in our
interest. They would not have given up [ll seeing the back of the last foreign soldier, with its
inevitable fallout across the borders. And then who wants superpowers like the Soviets or
the Americans keep a las[ng foothold in one’s neighbourhood. But if there was any selfless
service that we ever rendered to countries like Bangladesh and Afghanistan, it was by ge^ng
out of their way. Both are now being wooed by the world – for reasons that may vary from
stability within to Sino-US rivalry. History and Geography however gives Afghanistan a be_er
shot to payback for the favour.
It has often responded to the SOS from the Subcontinent. On Shah Waliullah’s invitation,
Ahmad Shah came over to rescue the faithful from the infidels. God forbid if any of our
frustrated people prayed for the Second Coming of the Abdalis.