Gilgit Baltistan a battleground for a future war
Speech of Dr Shabir Choudhry in a Seminar held in House of Commons (the British Parliament) organised by The Democracy Forum on 31 March 2011.
Madam Chair, friends and colleagues Aslamo Alaykam and good afternoon. I am grateful to The Democracy Forum for arranging this seminar and for providing me this opportunity to express my views on this important topic.
I was once asked to speak on a topic of Mangla Dam upraising. This dam was built in Mirpur, Pakistani Administered Kashmir in 1967, to cater for power and water needs of Pakistan. After failing to build Kalabagh Dam in Pakistan, Pakistani authorities decided to upraise the Mangla Dam. In my speech I explained why Pakistan was upraising this dam and what its implications were.
After the speech one man said, ‘Your entire speech was against Pakistan and you have not said a single word against India’. I said to him, the topic was upraising of the Mangla Dam and Pakistani government was responsible for that, how could I drag India into this debate. But the man insisted that I should have, somehow, criticised India otherwise people would regard you pro India and anti Pakistan.
Unfortunately, over the years a political culture has been established that one has to overlook what Pakistani governments have done to the Kashmiris and continue to do so, but should actively and forcefully criticise India; in order to get a ‘certificate’ of being loyal to the cause of people of Jammu and Kashmir.
The topic of this seminar is Gilgit Baltistan, a region which is legally part of former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir; and which is illegally occupied by Pakistan. I don’t know how to criticise India for what Pakistan and China are doing in Gilgit Baltistan.
Perhaps, I can criticise India for having a contradictory policy on Gilgit Baltistan; and for remaining a silent spectator over the plight of people of this region who are oppressed and deprived of fundamental human rights.
Madam Chair
Areas of Gilgit Baltistan have great strategic importance; and are also full of natural resources. Because of the strategic importance, these areas were very shrewdly separated from the rest of the State. Some parts of this region were leased by the British in 1935 to keep watch on advance of the Soviet Russia. Before the end of the British Raj, these areas were returned to the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir; but the British ensured that these areas didn’t get in to wrong hands.
William Alexander Brown, known as Major Brown played an important role in Gilgit Rebellion, and ensured that these areas remain under control of Pakistan. Major Brown must have done something worthwhile that he was awarded MBE by the British government; and a medal from Pakistan known as Star of Pakistan.
Let us briefly look at the role of Major Brown.
• He was born on 22 December 1922 and came to India in December 1941;
• He became an officer of Frontier Force Regiment which was later converted to Gilgit Scouts in 1943.
• He served Gilgit Scouts for 3 years and also learnt Pashto and Sheena languages;
• He was appointed Assistant Political Agent for Chilas;
• Between 1946 and July 1947 he served as an officer in Tochi Scouts and Chitral Scouts;
• Because of his good rapport with the Gilgit Scouts, knowledge of the region and importance of these areas he was made a Commander of Gilgit Scouts on 29th July 1947;
• He was an employee of the Jammu and Kashmir government up till 1st November 1947 when the Gilgit Rebellion took place.
Colonel Bacon who was a Political Agent of Gilgit met Major Brown and told him that Lord Mountbatten has decided to return areas of Gilgit Baltistan to the Ruler of Jammu and Kashmir on 1st August 1947. It was possible that the Maharaja could have appointed his own man as a head of Gilgit Scouts, but the British wanted to ensure that their trusted man is in control of the Gilgit Scouts – the only military force in the region.
Major Brown in his book ‘The Gilgit Rebellion’ notes, and I quote: ‘All Gilgit wanted was the peace and security afforded under the Pax Britanica and the method by which this could have been continued, despite partition, would have been to have made the Gilgit Agency an agency of the North West Frontier Province, directly under HE Governor. This would have ensured continuity in administration, peace, security, and unity: unfertile ground for Soviet seed. My duty was obvious. I must return to Gilgit and lead, advise and help the people over the transition period.’ Unquote
Source: Independence of Gilgit Baltistan, by Ghulam Rasool, page 122
So one can see his mission was clear. Although he was an employee of the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir but his loyalty was not with him. On 30th July 1947 Briagdier Gansara Singh as a Governor of the area and accompanied by General Scott and Captain Saeed Durani reached Gilgit by air. A large crowed consisting of army officials, Gilgit Scouts, rulers of different regions and other notables welcome them.
Major Brown very quickly re-established his contacts with all important rulers of different regions and officers of the Gilgit Scouts, some of them were his personal friends and trusted colleagues. He also strengthened communal sentiments within the Gilgit Scouts, Jammu and Kashmir Army and among the ruling elite. In his book, The Kashmir Rebellion, Major Brown writes an account of a meeting with a son of Ruler of Nager, Raja Muzaffar Ul Din Shah who said, and I quote:
‘If Kashmir remains independent, well and good. We shall be independent here but we can also keep friendliest relationship with our brothers in Pakistan. If Kashmir accedes to Pakistan even better. But if the Maharaja through pig – headedness, bad advice, political pressure or attractive remuneration accedes to Hindustan, then there will be trouble here.’ Unquote
Raja Muzaffar Ul Din Shah further advises Major Brown, as to how he should handle the Gilgit Scouts – the only local armed force in the event of Kashmir joining India, because some units of the Gilgit Scouts were unpredictable and 6th Battalion of the Kashmir Infantry stationed at Bunji ‘would soon put an end to an insurrection of any sort.’
Major Brown also secretly won over support of some Muslim officers of the Maharaja army, which included Captain Hassan, Captain Saeed Durani, Captain Mohammed Khan and Lieutenant Ghulam Haider. One night during a drink session Captain Saeed and Captain Mohammed Khan said: ‘the Maharaja should remain independent, but if he joins India then as a true Muslims he will resign from the Kashmir Army.
The last straw was Major Brown’s disagreement over some administrative issue with Governor’s staff that came from Srinagar. The Governor sided with his staff; and Major Brown got extremely angry and locked himself up in a room to analyse the situation and plan his future action. In his book, The Gilgit Rebellion, Major Brown writes, and I quote:
‘I, therefore, felt it was my duty, as the only Britisher left, to follow a course which would prevent this. And further, as a liberal member of the world’s paragon of democracy, I considered that the whole of Kashmir, including Gilgit Province, unquestionably go to Pakistan in view of the fact that the population was predominantly Muslim. Partisan, traitor, revolutionary, I may have been, but that evening my sentiments dictated that if the Maharaja acceded to India, then I would forego all the allegiance to him and I would not rest content until I had done the utmost in my power to ensure that not only the Gilgit Province joined Pakistan, but the whole of Kashmir also.’ Unquote
Source: Independence of Gilgit Baltistan, by Ghulam Rasool, page 133
On 30th October 1947, Colonel Bacon, after his farewell party gave briefing to Major Brown, and concluded: “I give the Kashmir Administration three months in Gilgit. Then something will happen.”
Source: Independence of Gilgit Baltistan, by Ghulam Rasool, page 124
That something happened as predicted or planned; and sequence of events is very important in this. The Pakistani government, which included the British officials on key posts, hoped that the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir would join Pakistan, but once they realised that the Maharaja was not prepared to accede to Pakistan they managed the Tribal Invasion.
• Pakistani officials violated the Standstill Agreement with the Maharaja and the Tribal Invasion of Kashmir started on 22 October 1947;
• Realising threat to his throne and his people, the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir asked India for help;
• Indian government asked the Maharaja to accede to India, which he did under pressure;
• The accession was provisionally accepted and the Indian forces landed in Srinagar on the morning of 27th October.
During all this time nothing happened in Gilgit Baltistan. Those who didn’t want Kashmir to become a part of India, or at least, Gilgit Baltistan to go to India, planned the tribal invasion hoping that they will have strategically important areas of the State under their control.
The plan didn’t work because the Tribesmen wasted 3 valuable days in Baramullah looting, raping women and celebrating their success. If they had proceeded to Srinagar they could have easily captured the capital before the arrival of the Indian troops, as there was no one to defend the city.
After the ‘Provisional accession’ on 26th October the Indian forces reached Srinagar on the morning of 27th October; but those who planned and controlled the tribal invasion did not do anything in Gilgit Baltistan because they hoped that Srinagar would be captured. Once they realised that the tribesmen were only good against the civilians, and they quickly retreated after encountering the Indian army, they gave a green signal to Major Brown and the much talked the Gilgit Rebellion took place on 1st of November 1947.
This region, as we all know, is legally part of former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir. Pakistan has ruled this region with an iron fist and deprived people of their fundamental rights. Pakistan has virtually annexed these areas.
Role of China
Madam Chair
Kashmir National Party sent a delegation to Pakistani Administered Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan to find out what was going on there. During our visit, we conducted a sample survey and have compiled a report on the visit, copies of which are available here.
It was reconfirmed that the people of Gilgit Baltistan were not happy with the rule of Pakistan. They were treated like colonised people; and their resources were looted and plundered; and in this regard government of China is also helping Pakistan.
Government of Pakistan and their proxies are trying to make China a part of the Kashmir Dispute. To me and my colleagues this is very dangerous move and could endanger peace and stability of Gilgit Baltistan and South Asia.
Some pro Pakistan Kashmiris claim that China is already a part of the Kashmir dispute, because China made some suggestions for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute in 1948. This is ridiculous argument. Many countries have, one way or the other, supported resolutions on Kashmir or opposed them; does that mean they are all part of the Kashmir dispute?
Apart from that China of 1948 is different to the China of today. Republic Of China joined the UN in October 1945; and under Article 23, became one of the five permanent members of the Security Council. But in October 1949 the Communist Chinese took over China and informed the UN on 18 November 1949.
The Communists ruled China as Peoples Republic of China, but they were not a member of the UN. However, the Republic Of China was relocated to Taiwan and enjoyed all the powers as the Permanent Member of the Security Council.
The present day China, which holds a veto power in the Security Council and has a large army in Gilgit Baltistan became a member of the UN in October 1971. So we can see that China and the people who made some suggestions about the resolution of Kashmir have no role in the Kashmir dispute.
I acknowledge we have one of the best Polo grounds in Gilgit Baltistan and people like to play and watch Polo matches, but believe me Chinese are not there to play Polo game. Their game is very dangerous and needs to be understood.
In the past danger to these areas and the Indian Sub continent was from the Russians; and now that danger is from China. It is unfortunate that this time government of Pakistan is very keen to provide helping hand to the Chinese to have a foothold in this region; which could be extremely disastrous to Gilgit Baltistan and South Asia. Pakistani government is playing this dangerous game, as they face instability and a bleak future. Pakistani governments want to ensure that if they go down, then these areas are taken over by China, and India or another power doesn’t step in.
For this purpose they want to make China a party to the Kashmir dispute, but they need to understand that if China becomes a party to the dispute they will also be a party to resolution of the Kashmir dispute; and that will create enormous problems for Gilgit Baltistan and the region.
China has its own agenda, not only related to Gilgit Baltistan but it goes far beyond the shores of Gawadar; and this is where China and India could be in direct competition with each other for markets and energy resources. This cold war or competition could attract other players in the region; and our region could become a battleground for a future war with disastrous consequences for Gilgit Baltistan and the entire region.
India wants to use Chabhar port of Iran, which is only 44 miles away from Gawadar Port, to have access to markets of Central Asia; and for this purpose they have completed 200 Kilo Meters of road in Afghanistan province of Nimroz, which will reduce its dependence on trucking goods through Pakistan.
What people of Gilgit Baltistan say?
Madam Chair, as pointed above we conducted a sample survey in Gilgit Baltistan and Pakistani Administered Kashmir during our visit; and found the views of the people quite interesting. We have published a complete report including the survey and it is available for the people to take away. However, I produce answers to 2 questions, which will give you an indication what is included in the report.
Q8.Who would you vote for, if there was an internationally arranged referendum with no threat of intimidation or coercion, and you were given only two options either to join India or Pakistan?
A. 45% said they will vote for Pakistan
B. 30% said they will boycott it
C. 15% said they will decide on the day
D. 10% said they will vote for India as they have seen what Pakistan is like
Q9. And if a Third Option of an independent Jammu and Kashmir is also included then who would you vote?
A. 60% said they will vote for the Third option of independence
B. 30% said they will vote for Pakistan
C. 10% said they will vote for India
Madam Chair, in conclusion, I want to say that those forces which planned the Tribal Invasion and the Gilgit Rebellion to cut off these areas from the rest of the State are back in action. This time their game plan is different. They want to drag in China and other powers in Gilgit Baltistan which will create enormous problems for the people of Gilgit Baltistan and the entire South Asia.
Madam Chair
I thank you for your patience.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Non Kashmiris must come out to oppose forces of extremism, terrorism and hate
Non Kashmiris must come out to oppose forces of extremism, terrorism and hate
Seminar on Kashmir dispute and role of China, Warwick Hotel Geneva on 16 March 2011
Speech by Cynthia Poyton, Political Coordinator of Friends of Kashmir National Party
Mr Chairman and honourable guests
I am grateful to you for providing me with this opportunity to express my views to this august gathering.
As you can see I am not a Kashmiri, I am from Indonesia, but I support Kashmiri peoples struggle for their fundamental rights and right to determine their own future without any fear or intimidation.
My Kashmir friends have told me about problems in their country. I understand Jammu and Kashmir is forcibly divided. I know people are suffering on both sides of the divide and human rights are taking place.
As a political activist and someone who believes in fundamental rights, rule of law and equality for all I strongly condemn all human rights abuses. Also I condemn all those who promote extremism, violence and terrorism, as that is not the way forward.
Mr Chairman
Disputes cannot be resolved by use of gun or by promoting extremism or by advancing religious intolerance and hate against others. People of Jammu and Kashmir deserve to live in peace and with dignity; and that could only be achieved if people of Jammu and Kashmir are allowed to exercise their right of self determination and enjoy fruits of democracy.
People of Jammu and Kashmir, as you know, are suffering since 1947. Their country is divided. Their economic resources are exploited by those who control them. Kashmir dispute should be resolved through a process of dialogue between India, Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kashmir.
In other words there are three parties to the dispute; and it is difficult to reach a solution which is acceptable to all parties. If China is also made part of the Kashmir dispute that means they will also be part of the dialogue. China is a powerful country with their own interest and their own agenda; and their involvement in this dispute will only make matters worse.
I can’t understand why people want to make China a part of the Kashmir dispute? Do they want to resolve the Kashmir dispute or further complicate it? In my opinion, all those who are sincere in having peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir and in South Asia, they should ensure that China is kept out of this dispute. They should make sure that all those who preach violence and hatred must be opposed
I am political coordinator of Friends of Kashmir National Party. I support their struggle for rights of people of Jammu and Kashmir. I think it is important that non Kashmiris also come out and support those people who oppose forces of extremism, terrorism and hate; and those who want to have peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir and in the region.
Mr Chairman, I thank you for your patience.
Seminar on Kashmir dispute and role of China, Warwick Hotel Geneva on 16 March 2011
Speech by Cynthia Poyton, Political Coordinator of Friends of Kashmir National Party
Mr Chairman and honourable guests
I am grateful to you for providing me with this opportunity to express my views to this august gathering.
As you can see I am not a Kashmiri, I am from Indonesia, but I support Kashmiri peoples struggle for their fundamental rights and right to determine their own future without any fear or intimidation.
My Kashmir friends have told me about problems in their country. I understand Jammu and Kashmir is forcibly divided. I know people are suffering on both sides of the divide and human rights are taking place.
As a political activist and someone who believes in fundamental rights, rule of law and equality for all I strongly condemn all human rights abuses. Also I condemn all those who promote extremism, violence and terrorism, as that is not the way forward.
Mr Chairman
Disputes cannot be resolved by use of gun or by promoting extremism or by advancing religious intolerance and hate against others. People of Jammu and Kashmir deserve to live in peace and with dignity; and that could only be achieved if people of Jammu and Kashmir are allowed to exercise their right of self determination and enjoy fruits of democracy.
People of Jammu and Kashmir, as you know, are suffering since 1947. Their country is divided. Their economic resources are exploited by those who control them. Kashmir dispute should be resolved through a process of dialogue between India, Pakistan and people of Jammu and Kashmir.
In other words there are three parties to the dispute; and it is difficult to reach a solution which is acceptable to all parties. If China is also made part of the Kashmir dispute that means they will also be part of the dialogue. China is a powerful country with their own interest and their own agenda; and their involvement in this dispute will only make matters worse.
I can’t understand why people want to make China a part of the Kashmir dispute? Do they want to resolve the Kashmir dispute or further complicate it? In my opinion, all those who are sincere in having peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir and in South Asia, they should ensure that China is kept out of this dispute. They should make sure that all those who preach violence and hatred must be opposed
I am political coordinator of Friends of Kashmir National Party. I support their struggle for rights of people of Jammu and Kashmir. I think it is important that non Kashmiris also come out and support those people who oppose forces of extremism, terrorism and hate; and those who want to have peace and stability in Jammu and Kashmir and in the region.
Mr Chairman, I thank you for your patience.
New book published with title of: Terrorism, Kashmir Dispute and Possible Solutions
New book published with title of:
Terrorism, Kashmir Dispute and Possible Solutions
Rise of Jihadi Culture, Extremism and the Peace Process
ISBN-13:
978-3-639-34239-0
ISBN-10:
3639342399
EAN:
9783639342390
Book language:
English
Blurb/Shorttext:
The jihadi culture nourished during General Zia-ul- Haq's rule, had three clear objectives: A proxy war of America against Soviet Russia in name of Jihad, a proxy war of Saudi Arabia against Shia Community and Iran and to extend his military rule. Talented secret agency of Pakistan, ISI under watchful eyes of CIA created many jihadi outfits. Later on this jihad was also ‘exported' to Kashmir and other countries as well. These Jihadi outfits get official patronage as long as they work within the parameters set up by the establishment. Religious groups promoting jihad have very organised system of recruiting and training young people to advance the cause of Islam. Poverty stricken areas with economic deprivation are fertile ground to spread extremist views. Young children are recruited from madrassas and are looked after so well that their own living style looks much inferior. They undergo ideological indoctrination where they are told that jihad is must in life of a true Muslim; and this jihad must continue till the end of their lives or until all infidels have become Muslims.
Publishing house:
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
Website:
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
By (author) :
Dr Shabir Choudhry
Number of pages:
332
Published at:
2011-03-16
Category: Comparative and international political science
Price:
79.00 €
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/terrorism,-kashmir-dispute-and-possible-solutions/isbn/978-3-639-34239-0
Terrorism, Kashmir Dispute and Possible Solutions
Rise of Jihadi Culture, Extremism and the Peace Process
ISBN-13:
978-3-639-34239-0
ISBN-10:
3639342399
EAN:
9783639342390
Book language:
English
Blurb/Shorttext:
The jihadi culture nourished during General Zia-ul- Haq's rule, had three clear objectives: A proxy war of America against Soviet Russia in name of Jihad, a proxy war of Saudi Arabia against Shia Community and Iran and to extend his military rule. Talented secret agency of Pakistan, ISI under watchful eyes of CIA created many jihadi outfits. Later on this jihad was also ‘exported' to Kashmir and other countries as well. These Jihadi outfits get official patronage as long as they work within the parameters set up by the establishment. Religious groups promoting jihad have very organised system of recruiting and training young people to advance the cause of Islam. Poverty stricken areas with economic deprivation are fertile ground to spread extremist views. Young children are recruited from madrassas and are looked after so well that their own living style looks much inferior. They undergo ideological indoctrination where they are told that jihad is must in life of a true Muslim; and this jihad must continue till the end of their lives or until all infidels have become Muslims.
Publishing house:
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
Website:
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller
By (author) :
Dr Shabir Choudhry
Number of pages:
332
Published at:
2011-03-16
Category: Comparative and international political science
Price:
79.00 €
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/terrorism,-kashmir-dispute-and-possible-solutions/isbn/978-3-639-34239-0
Thursday, 17 March 2011
Speech of Dr Shabir Choudhry in Geneva on 17th March 2011, in a Seminar arranged by Interfaith International.
Speech of Dr Shabir Choudhry in Geneva on 17th March 2011, in a Seminar arranged by Interfaith International.
Title of the seminar: Human security and Protection of Rights of Kashmiri people under Pakistani Administration.
Mr Chairman, friends and colleagues aslamo alaykam and good afternoon.
I am grateful to Saradar Shaukat Ali Kashmir and Interfaith International for inviting me to express my views to this august gathering.
Mr Chairman, it is the prime duty of every civilized government to protect life, liberty and property of its citizens. The government has to ensure that there is a rule of law and all citizens are treated in accordance with law of the land. No citizen should be discriminated on grounds of religion, ethnicity, colour or a region.
We people of Jammu and Kashmir are forcibly divided and suffer with varying degrees on both sides of the Line of Control. The title of the seminar is specific and I will focus on that region only; and try to enlighten my audience about the human rights situation on the Pakistani side of the divide.
Pakistan controls two regions of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, namely Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Whereas the former is indirectly ruled through their proxies, Lent Officers and secret agencies; the latter is directly ruled and people of that region are still, in many ways, living in Stone Age, as they are deprived of fruits of democracy and fundamental human rights.
In October 2010, Kashmir National Party arranged a study tour of Gilgit Baltistan and so called Azad Kashmir. We have compiled a report of that visit and a survey which we conducted during our trip. It is difficult to accurately explain the plight of the people over there. People suffer, they are denied of their basic rights, their economy is controlled and managed by Pakistanis, their resources are looted and plundered, but they are not even allowed to protest. If they protest against injustice and oppressive rule they are arrested, imprisoned and tortured; and in some cases killed by labeling them as an Indian agent.
On the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir, people protest against the Indian rule. They even use foul language against India. They burn Indian flag, use bad language against forefathers of India and the rulers; and now new trend is to use bad language against Hindu religion and their holy people. I have seen some Kashmiris shouting disgraceful slogans like: ‘Indian dogs out of Kashmir’. Despite that Indian forces only use their guns when they are attacked; and when their lives are under threat because of violence and terrorism; of course, there are some exceptions where some people in uniform committed human rights abuses.
While in Gilgit City we saw men in uniform with guns at every roundabout and every street corner. Gilgit looked like a city under siege. We were travelling in a car and when we approached one roundabout I said to my colleague Abbas Butt: ‘People on the India side shout Indian dogs out of Kashmir and Indian butchers out of Kashmir, and they claim India has been brutal and they commit human rights abuses.’ I said, ‘We have Pakistani soldiers here in Gilgit with their guns; shall I shout Pakistani dogs out of Gilgit and Pakistani butchers out of Gilgit and see their response?’
Fearing that I might shout that slogan, Abbas Butt immediately said, ‘Please don’t do it. They will kill us and throw us in river Indus and no one will know about it as there is no independent media or human rights organistations. But if you want to become a martyr then I suggest you come here on your own and shout what you like.
This shows the difference between two places, and sense of fear prevailing in Gilgit Baltistan. People were not willing to talk and express their views openly, but in private they told us that they were not happy with the Pakistani rule and the way they were exploited and oppressed by the rulers of Pakistan. They were worried that they could be picked up by Pakistani secret agencies and their love ones will never see them again.
Mr Chairman
When people use this slogan, ‘Indian dogs out’, they are spreading hatred and intolerance. It is disgraceful that the entire nation is insulted like this. No civilized person can use this kind of language against another fellow human being. There are many Indians who want the Kashmir dispute to be resolved through a process of dialogue. They know gun and violence can only aggravate the matters. But brains behind these negative slogans want to ensure that people are divided on religious, ethnic and sectarian lines. What we need is a positive attitude that we can promote tolerance and respect for others. We cannot resolve the Kashmir dispute and have peace and stability by use of force or by promoting hatred and extremism.
Mr Chairman
Our struggle is essentially a struggle to determine our future without any fear or intimidation. Right of self determination should not be confused with right of accession which Pakistani governments have been promoting over the years. The right to self-determination is the right of people to determine their own destiny without any conditions attached to it. It allows people to choose their own political status that they can formulate their own strategies for economic, cultural and social development.
In place I live in, is called Azad Kashmir, meaning independent Kashmir. The fact, however, is that it is not azad. To call this region azad or independent is an insult to the word independence. But Pakistani authorities try to make us believe that we are independent, just because we can go to mosques and kill cows in accordance with Islamic laws. In fact, going to mosques over there and in Pakistan is not free of risks to life, because of suicide bombs and bomb blasts.
A retired senior Pakistani official, Bakhtiar Qayyum, who now runs a Think Tank called, ‘Pak International Friendship Forum’ wrote about the situation in Pakistan and I quote:
‘The law and order situation in the rest of the country is also not satisfactory. The terrorists and criminal seems to be rampantly taking the population hostage. Fear and insecurity are prevalent everywhere. Influential personalities and government functionaries living in metropolitan cities have build fortress around their living places. It looks that Pakistan has gone back to the tribal period, where each family has to take up arms for their protection. The bomb blasts, suicide attacks, target killings, kidnapping for ransom, looting, arson are rampant everywhere. Police and law enforcing agencies are more involved in security of important government functionaries instead of controlling law and order or curbing crimes from the society.’
He further writes:
‘Power shortage, gas load-shedding, price-hike, unemployment, protest and demonstration by masses have become the order of the day. Hardly any day passes when there is no mass demonstration, turned violent against long and unscheduled power shutdowns and outage of gas supply to domestic consumers. Prices of essential commodities are now raised by hours and government seems to have no control over profiteering, hoarding and unlawful price-hikes. The people of Pakistan are facing the worst shortages of everyday commodities and services in our history; no gas, no electricity, no petrol, no sugar, no flour, no onions, ever rising prices and inflation, new taxes, more factories being closed or going bankrupt, unstoppable judicial corruption, injustice, rising unemployment, rising energy costs, more people dying every day for no fault of theirs, police killing those whom they are protecting, mullahs inciting everyone to kill those who do not conform to their thinking, newly unleashed black mailing and self serving electronic media on the loose only caring for their ratings, hoarding, looting, black marketing, touts, pimps and plunderers having a ball of a time and most important a total breakdown of law and order anywhere and everywhere.’ Unquote
Mr Chairman
This is the situation in Pakistan in eyes of a Pakistani who served his country for decades before he retired; and Pakistani officials and their secret agencies urge us people of Jammu and Kashmir to join this Pakistan. When we show our disagreement we are oppressed and denied of our fundamental rights.
It is right of every individual to get a job and live in peace and join a political party. But that is not the case in this region called Azad Kashmir. Before we can apply for any government post we have to declare that we will be loyal to Pakistan and Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. In other words just to become a candidate for a job, I have to declare that I sign away my right to become independent, I sign away my right that I will have no control over my economic resources, and that I will allow Pakistani officials to loot and plunder those resources and deprive myself and my future generations of those resources and fruits of democracy.
It must be understood that so called Azad Kashmir is administered under an interim Act 1974, which was prepared by a Pakistani Minister of Law Abdul Hafeez Peerzada and adopted by the puppet Assembly of Azad Kashmir without making any changes or even debating it. This Act set up a Kashmir Council which takes all major decisions with regard to Azad Kashmir, even promotions of senior officials are decided by the Kashmir Council and Pakistani Prime Minister is its Chairman. He is entitled to appoint 6 Pakistanis to this Council and Azad Kashmir Assembly which consists of all pro Pakistan Kashmiris elects 6 people; and at all times Pakistan and their officials have numeric majority in the Kashmir Council.
I think this explains everything. People of Jammu and Kashmir living under the Pakistani administration are ruled by Pakistan through their proxies and with help of their secret agencies; and they are denied of their basic rights. Resources of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan are systematically looted and plundered; and we cannot even protest against that because of reprisals.
It must be understood that if Pakistan cannot provide good governance to their own people, and look after them, what can they provide to us? We people of Jammu and Kashmir should understand that and formulate policies which protect and promote a Kashmiri interest, and adopt such strategies that our future generations can live with dignity and honour.
I thank you Chair for your patience.
Title of the seminar: Human security and Protection of Rights of Kashmiri people under Pakistani Administration.
Mr Chairman, friends and colleagues aslamo alaykam and good afternoon.
I am grateful to Saradar Shaukat Ali Kashmir and Interfaith International for inviting me to express my views to this august gathering.
Mr Chairman, it is the prime duty of every civilized government to protect life, liberty and property of its citizens. The government has to ensure that there is a rule of law and all citizens are treated in accordance with law of the land. No citizen should be discriminated on grounds of religion, ethnicity, colour or a region.
We people of Jammu and Kashmir are forcibly divided and suffer with varying degrees on both sides of the Line of Control. The title of the seminar is specific and I will focus on that region only; and try to enlighten my audience about the human rights situation on the Pakistani side of the divide.
Pakistan controls two regions of the former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir, namely Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan. Whereas the former is indirectly ruled through their proxies, Lent Officers and secret agencies; the latter is directly ruled and people of that region are still, in many ways, living in Stone Age, as they are deprived of fruits of democracy and fundamental human rights.
In October 2010, Kashmir National Party arranged a study tour of Gilgit Baltistan and so called Azad Kashmir. We have compiled a report of that visit and a survey which we conducted during our trip. It is difficult to accurately explain the plight of the people over there. People suffer, they are denied of their basic rights, their economy is controlled and managed by Pakistanis, their resources are looted and plundered, but they are not even allowed to protest. If they protest against injustice and oppressive rule they are arrested, imprisoned and tortured; and in some cases killed by labeling them as an Indian agent.
On the Indian side of Jammu and Kashmir, people protest against the Indian rule. They even use foul language against India. They burn Indian flag, use bad language against forefathers of India and the rulers; and now new trend is to use bad language against Hindu religion and their holy people. I have seen some Kashmiris shouting disgraceful slogans like: ‘Indian dogs out of Kashmir’. Despite that Indian forces only use their guns when they are attacked; and when their lives are under threat because of violence and terrorism; of course, there are some exceptions where some people in uniform committed human rights abuses.
While in Gilgit City we saw men in uniform with guns at every roundabout and every street corner. Gilgit looked like a city under siege. We were travelling in a car and when we approached one roundabout I said to my colleague Abbas Butt: ‘People on the India side shout Indian dogs out of Kashmir and Indian butchers out of Kashmir, and they claim India has been brutal and they commit human rights abuses.’ I said, ‘We have Pakistani soldiers here in Gilgit with their guns; shall I shout Pakistani dogs out of Gilgit and Pakistani butchers out of Gilgit and see their response?’
Fearing that I might shout that slogan, Abbas Butt immediately said, ‘Please don’t do it. They will kill us and throw us in river Indus and no one will know about it as there is no independent media or human rights organistations. But if you want to become a martyr then I suggest you come here on your own and shout what you like.
This shows the difference between two places, and sense of fear prevailing in Gilgit Baltistan. People were not willing to talk and express their views openly, but in private they told us that they were not happy with the Pakistani rule and the way they were exploited and oppressed by the rulers of Pakistan. They were worried that they could be picked up by Pakistani secret agencies and their love ones will never see them again.
Mr Chairman
When people use this slogan, ‘Indian dogs out’, they are spreading hatred and intolerance. It is disgraceful that the entire nation is insulted like this. No civilized person can use this kind of language against another fellow human being. There are many Indians who want the Kashmir dispute to be resolved through a process of dialogue. They know gun and violence can only aggravate the matters. But brains behind these negative slogans want to ensure that people are divided on religious, ethnic and sectarian lines. What we need is a positive attitude that we can promote tolerance and respect for others. We cannot resolve the Kashmir dispute and have peace and stability by use of force or by promoting hatred and extremism.
Mr Chairman
Our struggle is essentially a struggle to determine our future without any fear or intimidation. Right of self determination should not be confused with right of accession which Pakistani governments have been promoting over the years. The right to self-determination is the right of people to determine their own destiny without any conditions attached to it. It allows people to choose their own political status that they can formulate their own strategies for economic, cultural and social development.
In place I live in, is called Azad Kashmir, meaning independent Kashmir. The fact, however, is that it is not azad. To call this region azad or independent is an insult to the word independence. But Pakistani authorities try to make us believe that we are independent, just because we can go to mosques and kill cows in accordance with Islamic laws. In fact, going to mosques over there and in Pakistan is not free of risks to life, because of suicide bombs and bomb blasts.
A retired senior Pakistani official, Bakhtiar Qayyum, who now runs a Think Tank called, ‘Pak International Friendship Forum’ wrote about the situation in Pakistan and I quote:
‘The law and order situation in the rest of the country is also not satisfactory. The terrorists and criminal seems to be rampantly taking the population hostage. Fear and insecurity are prevalent everywhere. Influential personalities and government functionaries living in metropolitan cities have build fortress around their living places. It looks that Pakistan has gone back to the tribal period, where each family has to take up arms for their protection. The bomb blasts, suicide attacks, target killings, kidnapping for ransom, looting, arson are rampant everywhere. Police and law enforcing agencies are more involved in security of important government functionaries instead of controlling law and order or curbing crimes from the society.’
He further writes:
‘Power shortage, gas load-shedding, price-hike, unemployment, protest and demonstration by masses have become the order of the day. Hardly any day passes when there is no mass demonstration, turned violent against long and unscheduled power shutdowns and outage of gas supply to domestic consumers. Prices of essential commodities are now raised by hours and government seems to have no control over profiteering, hoarding and unlawful price-hikes. The people of Pakistan are facing the worst shortages of everyday commodities and services in our history; no gas, no electricity, no petrol, no sugar, no flour, no onions, ever rising prices and inflation, new taxes, more factories being closed or going bankrupt, unstoppable judicial corruption, injustice, rising unemployment, rising energy costs, more people dying every day for no fault of theirs, police killing those whom they are protecting, mullahs inciting everyone to kill those who do not conform to their thinking, newly unleashed black mailing and self serving electronic media on the loose only caring for their ratings, hoarding, looting, black marketing, touts, pimps and plunderers having a ball of a time and most important a total breakdown of law and order anywhere and everywhere.’ Unquote
Mr Chairman
This is the situation in Pakistan in eyes of a Pakistani who served his country for decades before he retired; and Pakistani officials and their secret agencies urge us people of Jammu and Kashmir to join this Pakistan. When we show our disagreement we are oppressed and denied of our fundamental rights.
It is right of every individual to get a job and live in peace and join a political party. But that is not the case in this region called Azad Kashmir. Before we can apply for any government post we have to declare that we will be loyal to Pakistan and Kashmir’s accession to Pakistan. In other words just to become a candidate for a job, I have to declare that I sign away my right to become independent, I sign away my right that I will have no control over my economic resources, and that I will allow Pakistani officials to loot and plunder those resources and deprive myself and my future generations of those resources and fruits of democracy.
It must be understood that so called Azad Kashmir is administered under an interim Act 1974, which was prepared by a Pakistani Minister of Law Abdul Hafeez Peerzada and adopted by the puppet Assembly of Azad Kashmir without making any changes or even debating it. This Act set up a Kashmir Council which takes all major decisions with regard to Azad Kashmir, even promotions of senior officials are decided by the Kashmir Council and Pakistani Prime Minister is its Chairman. He is entitled to appoint 6 Pakistanis to this Council and Azad Kashmir Assembly which consists of all pro Pakistan Kashmiris elects 6 people; and at all times Pakistan and their officials have numeric majority in the Kashmir Council.
I think this explains everything. People of Jammu and Kashmir living under the Pakistani administration are ruled by Pakistan through their proxies and with help of their secret agencies; and they are denied of their basic rights. Resources of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan are systematically looted and plundered; and we cannot even protest against that because of reprisals.
It must be understood that if Pakistan cannot provide good governance to their own people, and look after them, what can they provide to us? We people of Jammu and Kashmir should understand that and formulate policies which protect and promote a Kashmiri interest, and adopt such strategies that our future generations can live with dignity and honour.
I thank you Chair for your patience.
Kashmir Dispute and Role of China
Kashmir Dispute and Role of China
Presentation by Dr Shabir Choudhry in a Debate on Gilgit Baltistan arranged by Interfaith International on 16 March 2011 in Geneva
In name of Allah I begin.
Mr Chairman, friends and colleagues Aslamo alaykam and good evening.
Acknowledgment
Big thanks to Dr Charles Graves and Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri for their help and support in arranging this seminar on such an important topic.
Also I want to thank my colleagues:
• Abbas Butt, Mohammed Asim,
• Mohammed Shoaib and Imitiaz Ul Maqsood who, as a part of the delegation visited Gilgit and Pakistani Administered Kashmir.
The journey was extremely difficult and hazardous.
Strategic importance of Jammu and Kashmir
Total area of Jammu and Kashmir is more than 84,000 square miles, and it has great strategic importance. The State of Jammu and Kashmir is also endowed with ample natural resources. This is where South, Central and East Asia converge. It is at the crossroads of three great civilizations and was traditionally a gateway for both India and China to Central Asia and beyond, in to the heart of Europe. This is old trading route known as the Silk Route which contributed enormously to the wealth of so many countries and brought different civilizations closer to each other.
With time strategic importance of these areas has increased. Apart from India and Pakistan, other countries like China, Afghanistan, Central Asian states, Iran, Russia and America also have keen interest in these areas.
Kashmir’s importance is enhanced because of the areas of Gilgit Baltistan, which are legal and constitutional part of the State; but attempts are made to annex these areas from the State.
Parties to the Kashmir Dispute
We may have certain desires with regard to the status of Jammu and Kashmir, however, we have to look at the legal position when analysing the Kashmir dispute. The Ruler of the State Maharaja Hari Singh, in accordance with his rights offered India and a Standstill Agreement, while India wanted to discuss this matter further, Pakistan accepted the Standstill Agreement.
But in complete violation of this Standstill Agreement Pakistani officials managed a Tribal Invasion to occupy Kashmir in which thousands of people of Kashmir were killed, their property and personal belongings looted and their women raped and kidnapped.
The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir fearing threat to his throne and to his people requested India for help. India urged the Maharaja to accede with India before any help could be sent. The Maharaja had no choice but to accede to India which was provisionally accepted and had to be ratified by the people of the State.
Because of that unprovoked aggression against Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan occupied a large area of the State. The UN Commission for India and Pakistan in its resolution of 13 August 1948 categorically asked Pakistan to vacate these areas. The UN resolution reads:
1. As, the presence of troops of Pakistan in the territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir constitutes a material change in the situation since it was represented by the Government of Pakistan before the Security Council, the Government of Pakistan agrees to withdraw its troops from that State.
2. The Government of Pakistan will use its best endeavour to secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purpose of fighting.
3. Pending a final solution, the Territory evacuated by the Pakistani troops will be administered by the local authorities under the surveillance of the commission.
So one can see initially the dispute was between India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It was they who had to decide if that provisional accession was acceptable to them or not. Pakistan became a party because of that unprovoked aggression and occupation of the Kashmiri territory.
However, it is accepted that there are three parties to the Kashmir dispute, namely India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Other countries may have a position or a view on the Kashmir dispute, or what is happening there, but they are not a party to the dispute.
Role of China
China is our neighbour, but is not a party to the Kashmir dispute. However, China in a war with India in 1962 occupied Aksai Chin, a Kashmiri territory; and to have a better link with that territory they negotiated a deal with Pakistan in 1963. For the Chinese friendship and economic and other help Pakistan gave away around 2200 square miles of our territory to China from Gilgit Baltistan, known as Shaksam Valley.
China and Pakistan entered in to an agreement over this on 2 March 1963. In article 6 of this agreement Pakistan acknowledged that the sovereignty of the region did not rest with Pakistan; and that China was not a party to the Kashmir Dispute. The agreement reads and I quote:
‘The two parties have agreed that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concerned will reopen negotiations with the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the boundary as described in Article Two of the present agreement, so as to sign a formal boundary treaty to replace the present agreement, provided that in the event of the sovereign authority being Pakistan, the provisions of the present agreement and of the aforesaid protocol shall be maintained in the formal boundary treaty to be signed between the People’s Republic of China and Pakistan.’ Unquote
That Agreement and subsequent Chinese role with regard to the Kashmir dispute clearly prove that China was not a party to the Kashmir dispute. It is disappointing to note that over the past years government of Pakistan and some Kashmiri are working hard to make China a part of the Kashmir Dispute.
Now that Pakistani official find future of their country uncertain, and because of conflicting and competing interests, they are faced with a possible war or a military confrontation with the USA in which India could also be drawn in, they feel necessary to seek the Chinese help to face these challenges. Because of that Pakistani government has allowed a large presence of the Chinese army under the pretext of development work.
This is not to suggest that the development work is not taking place. Of course China is involved in dozens of mega projects in the region. According to reliable reports and evidence of those who have visited the region, China is constructing many roads and bridges and dozens of tunnels.
Many of the Chinese soldiers are building a railroad. Others are extending the Karakoram Highway, which connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, and engaged in activities for constructing dams, highways and other projects. They have also leased dozens of strategically important regions which are also full of natural resources; and this is loot and plunder of our resources.
The presence of the Chinese army helps Pakistan to keep local people under control, as presence of armed men deter any possible disturbances from the local population, who detest Pakistani rule there. Anyhow, before I analyse implications of the presence of the Chinese army, I want to tell what a Pakistani writer, Aziz Narejo, who, while analysing the situation of Pakistan said, and I quote:
‘They lost half of the country in just 24 years. They still didn’t learn. Created some more monsters in the name of religion and ethnicity. Today everything seems out of control. The rightist groups, which were supported in the name of religion to fight the nationalist and progressive elements in the country and to wage proxy wars on the borders and in India and Afghanistan, have started working on their own agenda. They now think they are in a position to claim the whole pie – ‘why settle for less’?’
He further said:
‘Country is clearly on a path to self-destruction. Many of the people would still not realize the seriousness of the situation. They are in the constant state of denial and blame every misfortune either on America or India. Well, the two may have some blame to share but considering them responsible for everything, distracts us from the malaise that may be afflicting us from within. It also keeps us from focusing on other countries, which are pouring money into the seminaries producing the suicide bombers and murderers. More we close our eyes to them, closer we get to our destruction.’ Unquote
Pakistani governments have history of providing their services to foreign powers for the sake of economic and military help. It looks that now they are ready to provide certain services to the Chinese for the sake of economic and military assistance. Pakistani and the American secret agencies are already at a war with each other.
The Americans feel, despite billions of dollars in economic help and military hardware to Pakistan, they have been let down by the Pakistani government and their agencies in the war on terrorism. They feel Pakistani army and their agencies have been playing a double game with them for too long; and time for a show down has come. So there is a strong possibility of worsening of relationship between them, possibly leading to some kind of military confrontation. Fearing that scenario the Pakistani authorities wanted to ensure that their ‘trusted friend’ China is available to help and support them, especially in Gilgit Baltistan.
However, the presence of the Chinese army in the disputed territory of Gilgit Baltistan is very serious matter; and poses the following dangers:
1. It is a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region;
2. It gives a free hand the Chinese to plunder natural resources of the region;
3. It is a serious threat to social, cultural and economic interests of the local people;
4. It is also possible that due to Pakistan’s serious problems and bleak future, China might take over this region to safeguard interest of both countries and to keep India out;
5. The USA might see this threat to their regional and strategic interests;
6. The USA might also find threat to their armed personnel in Pakistan and in Afghanistan and some impact on ‘War on Terrorism’;
7. India may also view this threat to their position in Jammu and Kashmir and threat to their regional and strategic interests.
Pakistan and China might have certain common interests, for example, economic and military cooperation and enmity with India, but what Pakistani government needs to understand is that China has its own interest to have a foot hold in this region that they can have access to warm waters and new markets via Gawadar Sea Port?
At present, it takes Chinese tankers up to 25 days to reach the Gulf, but control of Gilgit Baltistan and route to Gawadar Port will ensure that China has unfettered road and rail access to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, which is a major shipping route and will provide connections to African, Asian and European markets in matter of a few days. This will not only boost the Chinese trade but it will also significantly increase their influence in those regions.
It must be understood that the Pakistani interest is not China’s top priority. They have long term agenda and want to emerge as a global economic and military power and could use unstable country like Pakistan as a stepping stone to advance Chinese national agenda.
Apart from us - people of Jammu and Kashmir, some Indian politicians and analysts are also concerned about the Chinese assertiveness. Kiren Rijiju, a Member of Parliament representing Arunachal Pradesh (West), is very critical of Chinese advances. In an article published on 2 March 2011 with a title of: ‘It is time to wake up’, he expresses very serious concern over Chinese intrusions in Arunachal. China has a claim over this territory and when the Indian Prime Minister visited the region he did not go to Tawang giving ‘some leverage to the Chinese who can say ‘he has not gone to Tawang, because it is a disputed territory’.
Kiren Rijiju claims India gives too much importance to Pakistan and America and very little attention to China. He thinks India does not know enough about China. India does not have sufficient knowledge about their defence capabilities, their intelligence and their designs for the region. In his view ‘If ever, India and China go to war one day, it will be on this issue.’
However, some other experts feel this military clash will be over the region of Gilgit Baltistan which is part of former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir; and this clash could drag in other countries with disastrous consequences.
Few months ago Kashmir National Party sent a delegation to the region of Gilgit Baltistan. They met many people there and compiled a report on the visit which has been released today by Dr Charles Graves. During the visit we noted that people of the Gilgit Baltistan were extremely worried about presence of the Chinese army. They know Pakistan and China are plundering their natural resources and want to intimidate and harass the local people that they cannot speak against the Pakistani rule and plundering of their resources.
Apart from that the local people fear that their homeland could become a battleground for a new war, what some analysts say could be a new round of the great game which started in the 19th Century.
During our visit we conducted a small sample survey and you can see details of that in the report. However, I will briefly discuss salient points of that survey; and show you by PowerPoint slides how thinking of local people has changed and how sense of fear and intimidation prevails in that region.
Mr Chairman I thank you for your patience.
Presentation by Dr Shabir Choudhry in a Debate on Gilgit Baltistan arranged by Interfaith International on 16 March 2011 in Geneva
In name of Allah I begin.
Mr Chairman, friends and colleagues Aslamo alaykam and good evening.
Acknowledgment
Big thanks to Dr Charles Graves and Sardar Shaukat Ali Kashmiri for their help and support in arranging this seminar on such an important topic.
Also I want to thank my colleagues:
• Abbas Butt, Mohammed Asim,
• Mohammed Shoaib and Imitiaz Ul Maqsood who, as a part of the delegation visited Gilgit and Pakistani Administered Kashmir.
The journey was extremely difficult and hazardous.
Strategic importance of Jammu and Kashmir
Total area of Jammu and Kashmir is more than 84,000 square miles, and it has great strategic importance. The State of Jammu and Kashmir is also endowed with ample natural resources. This is where South, Central and East Asia converge. It is at the crossroads of three great civilizations and was traditionally a gateway for both India and China to Central Asia and beyond, in to the heart of Europe. This is old trading route known as the Silk Route which contributed enormously to the wealth of so many countries and brought different civilizations closer to each other.
With time strategic importance of these areas has increased. Apart from India and Pakistan, other countries like China, Afghanistan, Central Asian states, Iran, Russia and America also have keen interest in these areas.
Kashmir’s importance is enhanced because of the areas of Gilgit Baltistan, which are legal and constitutional part of the State; but attempts are made to annex these areas from the State.
Parties to the Kashmir Dispute
We may have certain desires with regard to the status of Jammu and Kashmir, however, we have to look at the legal position when analysing the Kashmir dispute. The Ruler of the State Maharaja Hari Singh, in accordance with his rights offered India and a Standstill Agreement, while India wanted to discuss this matter further, Pakistan accepted the Standstill Agreement.
But in complete violation of this Standstill Agreement Pakistani officials managed a Tribal Invasion to occupy Kashmir in which thousands of people of Kashmir were killed, their property and personal belongings looted and their women raped and kidnapped.
The Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir fearing threat to his throne and to his people requested India for help. India urged the Maharaja to accede with India before any help could be sent. The Maharaja had no choice but to accede to India which was provisionally accepted and had to be ratified by the people of the State.
Because of that unprovoked aggression against Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan occupied a large area of the State. The UN Commission for India and Pakistan in its resolution of 13 August 1948 categorically asked Pakistan to vacate these areas. The UN resolution reads:
1. As, the presence of troops of Pakistan in the territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir constitutes a material change in the situation since it was represented by the Government of Pakistan before the Security Council, the Government of Pakistan agrees to withdraw its troops from that State.
2. The Government of Pakistan will use its best endeavour to secure the withdrawal from the State of Jammu and Kashmir of tribesmen and Pakistani nationals not normally resident therein who have entered the State for the purpose of fighting.
3. Pending a final solution, the Territory evacuated by the Pakistani troops will be administered by the local authorities under the surveillance of the commission.
So one can see initially the dispute was between India and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. It was they who had to decide if that provisional accession was acceptable to them or not. Pakistan became a party because of that unprovoked aggression and occupation of the Kashmiri territory.
However, it is accepted that there are three parties to the Kashmir dispute, namely India, Pakistan and the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Other countries may have a position or a view on the Kashmir dispute, or what is happening there, but they are not a party to the dispute.
Role of China
China is our neighbour, but is not a party to the Kashmir dispute. However, China in a war with India in 1962 occupied Aksai Chin, a Kashmiri territory; and to have a better link with that territory they negotiated a deal with Pakistan in 1963. For the Chinese friendship and economic and other help Pakistan gave away around 2200 square miles of our territory to China from Gilgit Baltistan, known as Shaksam Valley.
China and Pakistan entered in to an agreement over this on 2 March 1963. In article 6 of this agreement Pakistan acknowledged that the sovereignty of the region did not rest with Pakistan; and that China was not a party to the Kashmir Dispute. The agreement reads and I quote:
‘The two parties have agreed that after the settlement of the Kashmir dispute between Pakistan and India, the sovereign authority concerned will reopen negotiations with the Government of the People’s Republic of China on the boundary as described in Article Two of the present agreement, so as to sign a formal boundary treaty to replace the present agreement, provided that in the event of the sovereign authority being Pakistan, the provisions of the present agreement and of the aforesaid protocol shall be maintained in the formal boundary treaty to be signed between the People’s Republic of China and Pakistan.’ Unquote
That Agreement and subsequent Chinese role with regard to the Kashmir dispute clearly prove that China was not a party to the Kashmir dispute. It is disappointing to note that over the past years government of Pakistan and some Kashmiri are working hard to make China a part of the Kashmir Dispute.
Now that Pakistani official find future of their country uncertain, and because of conflicting and competing interests, they are faced with a possible war or a military confrontation with the USA in which India could also be drawn in, they feel necessary to seek the Chinese help to face these challenges. Because of that Pakistani government has allowed a large presence of the Chinese army under the pretext of development work.
This is not to suggest that the development work is not taking place. Of course China is involved in dozens of mega projects in the region. According to reliable reports and evidence of those who have visited the region, China is constructing many roads and bridges and dozens of tunnels.
Many of the Chinese soldiers are building a railroad. Others are extending the Karakoram Highway, which connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, and engaged in activities for constructing dams, highways and other projects. They have also leased dozens of strategically important regions which are also full of natural resources; and this is loot and plunder of our resources.
The presence of the Chinese army helps Pakistan to keep local people under control, as presence of armed men deter any possible disturbances from the local population, who detest Pakistani rule there. Anyhow, before I analyse implications of the presence of the Chinese army, I want to tell what a Pakistani writer, Aziz Narejo, who, while analysing the situation of Pakistan said, and I quote:
‘They lost half of the country in just 24 years. They still didn’t learn. Created some more monsters in the name of religion and ethnicity. Today everything seems out of control. The rightist groups, which were supported in the name of religion to fight the nationalist and progressive elements in the country and to wage proxy wars on the borders and in India and Afghanistan, have started working on their own agenda. They now think they are in a position to claim the whole pie – ‘why settle for less’?’
He further said:
‘Country is clearly on a path to self-destruction. Many of the people would still not realize the seriousness of the situation. They are in the constant state of denial and blame every misfortune either on America or India. Well, the two may have some blame to share but considering them responsible for everything, distracts us from the malaise that may be afflicting us from within. It also keeps us from focusing on other countries, which are pouring money into the seminaries producing the suicide bombers and murderers. More we close our eyes to them, closer we get to our destruction.’ Unquote
Pakistani governments have history of providing their services to foreign powers for the sake of economic and military help. It looks that now they are ready to provide certain services to the Chinese for the sake of economic and military assistance. Pakistani and the American secret agencies are already at a war with each other.
The Americans feel, despite billions of dollars in economic help and military hardware to Pakistan, they have been let down by the Pakistani government and their agencies in the war on terrorism. They feel Pakistani army and their agencies have been playing a double game with them for too long; and time for a show down has come. So there is a strong possibility of worsening of relationship between them, possibly leading to some kind of military confrontation. Fearing that scenario the Pakistani authorities wanted to ensure that their ‘trusted friend’ China is available to help and support them, especially in Gilgit Baltistan.
However, the presence of the Chinese army in the disputed territory of Gilgit Baltistan is very serious matter; and poses the following dangers:
1. It is a serious threat to the peace and stability of the region;
2. It gives a free hand the Chinese to plunder natural resources of the region;
3. It is a serious threat to social, cultural and economic interests of the local people;
4. It is also possible that due to Pakistan’s serious problems and bleak future, China might take over this region to safeguard interest of both countries and to keep India out;
5. The USA might see this threat to their regional and strategic interests;
6. The USA might also find threat to their armed personnel in Pakistan and in Afghanistan and some impact on ‘War on Terrorism’;
7. India may also view this threat to their position in Jammu and Kashmir and threat to their regional and strategic interests.
Pakistan and China might have certain common interests, for example, economic and military cooperation and enmity with India, but what Pakistani government needs to understand is that China has its own interest to have a foot hold in this region that they can have access to warm waters and new markets via Gawadar Sea Port?
At present, it takes Chinese tankers up to 25 days to reach the Gulf, but control of Gilgit Baltistan and route to Gawadar Port will ensure that China has unfettered road and rail access to the mouth of the Persian Gulf, which is a major shipping route and will provide connections to African, Asian and European markets in matter of a few days. This will not only boost the Chinese trade but it will also significantly increase their influence in those regions.
It must be understood that the Pakistani interest is not China’s top priority. They have long term agenda and want to emerge as a global economic and military power and could use unstable country like Pakistan as a stepping stone to advance Chinese national agenda.
Apart from us - people of Jammu and Kashmir, some Indian politicians and analysts are also concerned about the Chinese assertiveness. Kiren Rijiju, a Member of Parliament representing Arunachal Pradesh (West), is very critical of Chinese advances. In an article published on 2 March 2011 with a title of: ‘It is time to wake up’, he expresses very serious concern over Chinese intrusions in Arunachal. China has a claim over this territory and when the Indian Prime Minister visited the region he did not go to Tawang giving ‘some leverage to the Chinese who can say ‘he has not gone to Tawang, because it is a disputed territory’.
Kiren Rijiju claims India gives too much importance to Pakistan and America and very little attention to China. He thinks India does not know enough about China. India does not have sufficient knowledge about their defence capabilities, their intelligence and their designs for the region. In his view ‘If ever, India and China go to war one day, it will be on this issue.’
However, some other experts feel this military clash will be over the region of Gilgit Baltistan which is part of former Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir; and this clash could drag in other countries with disastrous consequences.
Few months ago Kashmir National Party sent a delegation to the region of Gilgit Baltistan. They met many people there and compiled a report on the visit which has been released today by Dr Charles Graves. During the visit we noted that people of the Gilgit Baltistan were extremely worried about presence of the Chinese army. They know Pakistan and China are plundering their natural resources and want to intimidate and harass the local people that they cannot speak against the Pakistani rule and plundering of their resources.
Apart from that the local people fear that their homeland could become a battleground for a new war, what some analysts say could be a new round of the great game which started in the 19th Century.
During our visit we conducted a small sample survey and you can see details of that in the report. However, I will briefly discuss salient points of that survey; and show you by PowerPoint slides how thinking of local people has changed and how sense of fear and intimidation prevails in that region.
Mr Chairman I thank you for your patience.
Friday, 11 March 2011
Pakistan’s Jewish Problem
Pakistan’s Jewish Problem
By: Tufail Ahmad*
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5090.htm
Table of Contents
Introduction
I. Brief Historical Background: The Jews and Pakistan
II. Main Characteristics of Antisemitism in Pakistan
a) Antisemitism in Pakistan is Interconnected with Pakistan's Other Perceived Enemies: The "Three Satans" – India, the U.S. and Israel (i.e. Hindus, Christians and Jews)
b) Antisemitism is Used Instrumentally by the Pakistani Military
c) Antisemitism is Used to Designate Threats to Pakistan, Such As the Taliban
III. Range of Motifs in Antisemitic Attacks
a) Sports – Jews and Indians Lobby against Pakistani Cricketers
b) Polio Vaccination Campaign – A Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy
c) Pakistan-India Water Dispute – Israel's Hand
d) The U.N. – A Jewish Conspiracy
e) Pakistani Interests Abroad Harmed by Jews/Israel
f) Valentine's Day and April's Fool Day – Used by Jews and Hindus against Muslims
g) Ahmadi Muslims – Agents of Israel/India
h) Video of Taliban Flogging Woman – Made by Jews to Smear Pakistan
i) Facebook – A Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
j) Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons – Targeted by Jews/Israel
k) Faisal Shehzad's Times Square Attack – A CIA/Mossad Plot to Implicate Pakistan
IV. The Jews and the West Undermine the Identity of Pakistan
Conclusion
Introduction
This paper examines: a) the history of Jews in Pakistan; b) violence against Jews and their synagogues following the creation of the Islamic nation of Pakistan in 1947; c) contemporary protests by Pakistani Muslims against Jews and Israel; and d) Pakistani political and religious leaders' penchant for blaming most problems facing Pakistan on a U.S.-India-Israel axis.
Looking at Pakistani media reports over the past few years, this paper outlines how Pakistani opinion makers – barring a small segment of liberal intelligentsia – are deepening the anti-Jewish mindset that is typical across the Islamic world. For the purposes of this analysis, this paper does not include statements, protests, editorials, cartoons or viewpoints of Pakistani leaders and the government that are deemed to be justified criticism of Israel over its policies regarding the Palestinian problem and the occupied territories.
This paper does discuss the narrative of antisemitism in Pakistani society, examining how Israel is seen by Islamic scholars and political leaders in Pakistan as representing the Jews rather than the state and government of Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In the context of this paper, a definition of antisemitism means political/religious/cultural attacks on Jews and Israel that are not related to the Palestinian problem but over supposed Jewish-Israeli involvement in international conspiracies.
I. Brief Historical Background: The Jews and Pakistan
There is a long-held view that the Pashtun tribes, who inhabit the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, are one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Navraas Aafreedi, a Pashtun academic at Lucknow University in northern India, told a newspaper in January 2010: "Pathans, or Pashtuns, are the only people in the world whose probable descent from the lost tribes of Israel finds mention in a number of texts from the 10th century to the present day, written by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars alike, both religious as well as secularists."[1] However, attempts by anthropologists to establish a definitive Jewish link to the Pashtun tribes have been unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, historical records indicate that Jews, with no connection to the Pashtuns, have lived in Pakistan and the wider South Asian region over the past several centuries. A 2007 report in the Pakistani daily Dawn noted: "The earliest graves... [of Jews in Karachi] are from 1812 and 1814, with a vast majority from the 1950s."[2] The report also cited Aitken's Gazetteer of the Province of Sind, a British-era government document which was published from Karachi in 1907, as recording that "there were only 428 Jews enumerated in the census of 1901, and these were really all in Karachi. Many belonged to the Bene Israel community who observed Sephardic Jewish rites and are believed to have settled in India [which included Pakistan] shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus [the Roman Emperor in 69 AD]."[3]
The Dawn report added: "Other research documents record about 2,500 Jews in Karachi, with about 100 in Peshawar at the beginning of the 20th century. At the time of [Pakistan's] independence [in 1947], many Jews migrated to India, but about 2,000 stayed in Pakistan. Their first real exodus occurred soon after the creation of Israel, which triggered many incidents of violence against Jews, and the Karachi synagogue became a site of anti-Israel demonstrations."[4]
In the late 19th century, one of Karachi's notables was Soloman David, who died in March 1902. He was a surveyor of the Karachi municipality and built the Magain Shalom synagogue in Karachi. His gravestone reads: "The widely known and highly respected Soloman David always sought the welfare of the Jewish community and through his liberality erected at his own expense a handsome synagogue, Magain Shalome [sic]."[5]
Another report estimated the Jewish population of Karachi at 2,500 prior to August 14-15, 1947 when Pakistan was created.[6]
After Pakistan's creation as an Islamic nation, relations between the Jews and their Muslims neighbors began to deteriorate. This strain in Jewish-Muslim relations also resulted from Muslim protests in Pakistan against the newly created State of Israel. Some Pakistani Jews migrated to India and the U.K., and others to Israel. In early 2010, a Pakistani daily carried this first-person observation of anti-Jewish violence in the newly created Islamic nation of Pakistan: "The synagogue in Karachi was set on fire, and several Jews were attacked. The frequency of attacks increased after each of the Arab-Israeli wars, i.e. 1948, 1956 and 1967."[7]
In 2008, a Karachi resident reminisced about the Jews of Karachi in a conversation with Pakistani journalist Syed Intikhab Ali: "[The Jews] were peaceful people having limited relations with local people and used to keep a distance from political activities. When [the] Arab-Israel war broke out in late sixties, they were isolated and started migrating silently and only a few Jewish people [were] left in the city."[8]
From various accounts, it appears that some Jews might be living in Pakistan even now, possibly by hiding their religious identity lest it may not be possible for them to move to Israel due to absence of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Although there is no notable Jewish presence in Pakistan now, the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel protests in Pakistan have taken on an ideological nature, with religious and political leaders blaming Jews/Israel, Christians/the West/U.S., and Hindus/India as the cause of almost all of their problems. By 2010, it could be said that not a week passed in Pakistan without a religious leader, a columnist, or a politician issuing a statement against Israel and the Jewish people, blaming them as well as the United States and India for one or another of the problems facing Pakistan. Although not all criticism of Israel can be described as antisemitic, it does not appear that the Pakistani leaders in their own minds see subtle differences between their hateful ideological sloganeering against the Jews and possibly justified criticism of Israel's policies.
II. Main Characteristics of Antisemitism in Pakistan
The new generations of Pakistani youth are being taught by the influential Urdu-language press that all major problems facing the society and state of Pakistan are created by Israel, the U.S., and India – or Jews, Christians, and Hindus respectively. Such thinking originates from deep-rooted antisemitism that has become part of the collective conviction in the Islamic world in contemporary times and has become solidly rooted in the Pakistani public consciousness, with Jews and Israel blamed for almost every problem even when they are not remotely connected to an issue.
With India strengthening its ties to Israel since the mid-1990s, and the United States enhancing its relations with India rapidly in recent years, Pakistani religious leaders view these developments in international relations of the early 21st century as a tripartite "alliance" that threatens the Pakistani state and its Islamic identity. Such an ideological pattern informs the conspiracy-theory narrative that runs through the collective Pakistani psyche and public debate in Pakistan.
a) Antisemitism in Pakistan is Interconnected with Pakistan's Other Perceived Enemies: The "Three Satans" – India, the U.S. and Israel (i.e. Hindus, Christians and Jews)
India, the United States, and Israel are seen in Pakistani public consciousness as three Satans acting against the Islamic nuclear state of Pakistan. This view is illustrated in various statements of Pakistani opinion makers. A sample of such statements is given below as representative of a sustained ideological campaign against the three countries.
In 2009, Liaqat Baloch, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, the country's largest religious-political party and a mobilizer of mass public opinion, accused India, Israel and the U.S. of pursuing "a single agenda" against Pakistan, stating: "The U.S., Israel and India are pursuing a single agenda [of weakening Pakistan]. The U.S. aims to weaken Pakistan on the economic and military fronts, while India wants to weaken Pakistan internally."[9] Syed Munawwar Hassan, emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has criticized the Pakistani Army operations against the Taliban, arguing that Pakistan faces threats not from the militants but from the "three enemies, in the form of the U.S., Israel and India, which are the center of evils."[10]
In July 2010, the Taliban suicide bombers, who enjoy theological support from Deobandi clerics, bombed the shrine of 11th century Sufi mystic Syed Ali Hajveri in Lahore. The Sufi shrines in South Asia get their theological justification from Barelvi clerics, a school of Sunni Islam disapproved of by Deobandi clerics. Soon after the attack, clerics of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan accused "U.S. Marines, Jews, and Blackwater" (the private U.S. security firm now known as Xe Worldwide Services) of planning and executing the shrine bombing.[11] Syed Munawwar Hasan, emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, said that the Pakistani government was accusing religious organizations of attacking the shrine in order to divert public attention from the U.S.'s role in the shrine bombing, and added: "No Muslim can do what happened in the tomb of Data Sahab [aka Syed Ali Hajveri]. American Marines and Blackwater are responsible for it."[12] Former Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Qazi Hussain Ahmed claimed that India and Israel were involved in the bombings, and stated: "[Indian intelligence] RAW and [Israel's] Mossad are responsible for attacks on the tombs of Sufi mystics. They want to spread sectarian strife in Pakistan."[13]
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, secretary-general of the religious organization Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, blamed India, American agents such as Blackwater, and the Jews for the terror attacks in Pakistan, stating: "Blaming the Taliban for every terrorist activity serves the purpose of the United States. The fact that Blackwater and Jewish elements are involved in terrorism gets ignored. It's not that the Taliban are not involved – yet blaming them for everything is not right."[14]
A few weeks before the July 2010 Lahore shrine bombing, Hafiz Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, general secretary of the puritan Islamic group Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, accused India and Israel of fomenting terrorism in Pakistan, stating: "The government of Pakistan needs to check the involvement of India and Israel in the current stream of terror attacks in Pakistan. India and Israel... are patronizing the terrorist activities in Pakistan."[15]
The Lahore shrine bombing led to the emergence of anti-Deobandi, anti-Taliban alliance called Sunni Ittehad Council, which has pressed ahead with its demand that the government act against the Sunni militant organizations. To counter this group led by Barelvi clerics, the rival Deobandi scholars organized a conference in the first week of July at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa of Karachi, where prominent cleric Mufti Mohammad Naeem slammed the terrorists for attacking the shrine but in the same breath also criticized the Sunni Ittehad Council for demanding action against pro-militant religious organizations as well as the Tablighi Jamaat's congregations. Mufti Mohammad Naeem told the press conference: "The demand for a ban on Tablighi congregations by the Sunni Ittihad Council is like reiterating demands by the Jews and Christians. The demands for a ban on Lashkar-e-Taiba and Tablighi Jamaat are being put forward at the behest of India and other anti-Islam forces."[16] Tablighi Jamaat is a revivalist Islamic movement while Lashkar-e-Taiba is a jihadist organization, with both the organizations having their bases in Muridke, near Lahore.
In October 2010, a joint statement on the issue of the emerging Deobandi-Barelvi dispute was signed by clerics of various Islamic schools, among them: Maulana Abdul Malik, the Emir of Jamiat-e-Ittehadul Ulema Pakistan (JIUP); Maulana Abdur Rauf Malik, the chief of Muttahida Ulema Council; JIUP Secretary General Allama Ghulam Rasool Rashidi and his deputy Maulana Abdul Jalail Naqshbandi; JIUP's Punjab chief Maulana Ataur Rehman; and prominent clerics Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Hafiz Muhammad Idrees of Idara Ma'raf-e-Islami Mansoorah. The statement accused what it called the "U.S.-India-Israel troika" of hatching a conspiracy to foment Deobandi-Barelvi clashes, and expressed concern that "a conspiracy is being implemented by the U.S.-India-Israel troika to cause Deobandi-Barelvi clashes to further divide and weaken the Muslim Ummah."[17]
Addressing young students on the 23rd day of an ideological summer school in Lahore in July 2009, Majeed Nizami, editor-in-chief of the influential Urdu-language Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, stated: "The trinity of satanic alliance [U.S., Israel, and India] is opposed to Pakistan..."[18] This is one point on which Nizami has consistently campaigned to create mass public opinion, especially among young students from schools across Pakistan. In October 2010, Nizami stated that the "real target" of the U.S.-led war on terror is Pakistan, adding: "The U.S. has currently launched a Crusade against the world of Islam... Instead of ending the drone attacks [in Pakistan], the U.S. has increased them. It will not desist until we reply to them [i.e. to the drone attacks]."[19] He also accused India of being on a mission to "undo Pakistan."[20] Nizami has regularly described India, the U.S. and Israel as "three Satans" out to destroy Pakistan.[21]
In mid-2009, Colonel Imam, a prominent and widely interviewed former Pakistani spy who is credited for raising the Taliban and whose real name is Amir Sultan, was speaking about the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province. He went on to speak about Israel, stating that six intelligence international agencies are active against the state of Pakistan, though he named only three – RAW of India, the CIA and Israel's Mossad, and also alleged that Mossad has opened an office in Kabul to eliminate Pakistan.[22]
Over the past few years, the Jang Group, the largest media conglomerate in Pakistan, has carried out a concerted campaign to unseat the elected government of President Asif Zardari. Late in 2009, several senior journalists writing in the Urdu-language dailyRoznama Jang were dubbed "Israeli agents" by Gul Muhammad Jakhrani, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP).[23] Jakhrani said: "[Journalists] Kamran Khan, Shaheen Sehbai, Shahid Masood, Ansar Abbasi and Saleh Zaffir are Israeli agents and they were assigned the task of creating instability in Pakistan and pitting the institutions of the country against one another so that the Israeli desire to keep Pakistan unstable might be fulfilled."[24] It can be said that the lawmaker was probably not serious about his statement that these journalists are Israeli agents; nevertheless, his statement illustrates how Pakistani leaders blame Jews and Israel for every issue that is not even remotely connected to Jews.
b) Antisemitism is Used Instrumentally by the Pakistani Military
Such conspiracy theories against Jews and Israel have also penetrated the Pakistani military establishment, which is strengthened by the day-to-day arguments forwarded by a large number of Pakistani religious organizations. In early 2009, Pakistan's secular leaders signed a shari'a-for-peace deal with Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah; soon after the deal, the Taliban imposed a total ban on girls' education in Swat district. Later, an international outcry against the Taliban forced Pakistan to carry out a military operation in Swat, leading to arrests of hundreds of militants and seizure of arms and ammunition.
The Urdu-language daily Roznama Express alleged in a report that Pakistani "security officials have also confirmed that the weapons seized [from militants in Swat] were Russian-, Indian- and U.S.-made, while Israel provided them modern technology. Evidences have also been secured regarding the use of such technology in the installation of FM radio by Maulana Fazlullah."[25] The reference to FM radio means a radio channel that was run by Maulana Fazlullah to advocate his mission of jihad and the need to enforce Islamic shari'a in Pakistan.
In June 2009, the mass-circulation Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang quoted senior Pakistani military and national security officials as saying that there is "irrefutable evidence" that Israel and India are fomenting trouble in Pakistan's Baluchistan and Waziristan region.[26] The military and security officials were unidentified in the report, as is the norm. Another report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Expressalleged that there is evidence that Taliban commanders Maulana Fazlullah and Baitullah Mehsud (who was killed later in August 2009) conducted meetings with officials of India's external intelligence Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).[27]
Throughout 2010, Pakistan Army was under pressure from the U.S. to carry out a military operation in North Waziristan, a safe haven for terrorists belonging to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Al-Qaeda. In early 2010, the Pakistan Army dropped pamphlets in North Waziristan, linking the Taliban with Israel, India and Al-Qaeda.[28]According to a report in the Lahore-based newspaper Daily Times, the pamphlet gave a detailed account of how the Taliban derives its power from its connections with "[the] anti-Islamic (Indian) RAW and (the Israeli) Mossad intelligence agencies and Indian consulates in Afghanistan."[29]
Urging the tribes to support the government, the two-page pamphlet "informed the tribal people about the Taliban's source of income, which is mainly generated from drug smugglers and 'contacts' (India and Israel)."[30] According to another report in The Newsdaily, the military's pamphlet, which was titled "Correct Decision and First Step Towards Right Direction," accused the Taliban of acquiring funds from India, Israel and Al-Qaeda to buy heavy weapons and brainwash innocent youth.[31]
Earlier, in October 2009, when the Pakistan Army launched an operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed described the military offensive to be the "result of an Indian and Israeli conspiracy to create distance between jihadi organizations and the Pakistan Army."[32] He also said that the "tribesmen" – a reference to Taliban militants belonging to the Mehsud tribe – of South Waziristan who were considered the Pakistan Army's hands, and the U.S. and India were afraid of, are now being pitched against the Pakistan Army.[33]
c) Antisemitism in Pakistan Used to Designate Threats to Pakistan, Such As the Taliban
Pakistan has seen a wave of suicide attacks in recent years. There is a trend of explaining such threats to Pakistan as emanating from outside Pakistan. For example, the Pakistani leaders generally accuse the Taliban militants of being agents of the United States, India and Israel.
In November 2009, a Peshawar-based daily, The Post quoted what it called "reliable sources" as saying that India and Israel had in 2008 agreed on a plan "to start a deadly episode from July 2009 in which regular suicide attacks will be a permanent feature in Pakistan, and no one knows how long this episode will take."[34] The newspaper accused the two countries of setting up what it called the Indo-Israel Intelligence (Triple III) agency to carry out this plan, adding: "The trained commandos of the said agency have been given the tasks to attack security forces, foreign donor agencies offices, communication lines and public places [in Pakistan]... Sources also disclosed that the Mumbai terrorist attack [of November 2008] was actually a conspiracy against Pakistan, planned by the Triple III Agency, to defame Pakistan."[35]
In December 2009, lawyers belonging to the Islamabad Bar Association did not attend court proceedings in order to protest against what they called "the unreasonable interference of the U.S. in Pakistan and the presence of Blackwater (Xe) in the country."[36] Riast Ali Azad, general secretary of the Islamabad Bar Association, told the protesters at a public rally, "Besides the Taliban, Blackwater is also involved in the current incidents of terrorism in the country. Blackwater, Mossad and RAW have teamed up against Pakistan and are supporting miscreants to destabilize our country."[37]
Addressing a meeting in Sialkot town of Punjab province in April 2010, Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the Pakistan-based terrorist organizations alliance Muttahida Jihad Council, accused the Zardari government of describing "heroes of jihad" as terrorists, adding: "Declaring heroes [of jihad] as terrorists is the worst dishonesty this government could do with history under the pressure of Jews and Hindus."[38]
General Mirza Aslam Baig, former Pakistan Army chief, , has accused Indian, U.S. and Israeli secret agencies of supporting the militant organization Jundallah – a Sunni militant organization formed by two Pakistan military officers and that has carried out attacks against Shi'ite Muslims in Iran and Pakistan.[39] General Baig said, "The Indian secret agency RAW, the CIA, and Israel's Mossad are supporting Jundallah. Unfortunately, all this is being carried out from [the Jundallah base in] Baluchistan."[40]
In March 2010, Professor Sajid Mir, emir of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith, said that the United States, India and Israel are carrying out acts of terrorism in Pakistan while the Pakistani rulers are wrongly holding the Taliban responsible for terrorism. He stated: "The policy to put terrorism on the account of the Taliban is baseless and has failed, and needs to be reviewed."[41] Syed Munawwar Hasan, emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has accused India of sending suicide bombers into Pakistan, stating: "India is engaged in destabilizing Pakistan under Israeli and U.S. patronage... India is engaged in hatching conspiracies against the ideological and geographical borders of Pakistan and is creating unrest in the country... India is sending suicide bombers to our country and is also involved in terrorism [in Baluchistan]."[42]
In mid-2009, Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, criticized the Taliban for attacks on Sufi shrines in Pakistan, describing the militants as agents of Jews and Christians. According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, Zubair said that the Taliban attacks are part of a conspiracy aimed at creating sectarian conflict in Pakistan, calling for confronting the "agents of Jews and Christians who are attacking the shrines of Sufis (mystics) and are killing the Sunni scholars and mystics."[43]
At a Defense of Pakistan conference in Lahore in June 2009, several clerics, including Dr. Sarfraz Naeemi (who later that month was killed by a Taliban suicide bomber) and Pir Sajid-ur-Rehman, asked the Pakistani government to stop fighting in the U.S.-led war on terror and "instead to wage the war to save Pakistan from external and internal enemies, by cutting off the Taliban's supply line of funds from U.S., India, Israel, UAE, and Saudi Arabia."[44] Pir Sajid-ur-Rehman, who called for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Mustafa (the rule of the Prophet) in Pakistan, also accused Washington and New Delhi of running over 50 training centers in Pakistan's tribal areas to prepare Taliban fighters and suicide bombers.[45]
III. Range of Motifs Used in Antisemitic Attacks
The antisemitic thinking of Pakistani leaders spills over into many issues, from sports, the polio vaccination campaign, the Pakistan-India water dispute, Valentine's Day, and April's Fool Day to the United Nations, the Taliban, Islam, and many more. Some, given below, illustrate the extensive scale of antisemitism in Pakistan.
a) Sports – Jews and Indians Lobby against Pakistani Cricketers
In August 2010, Pakistani cricketers were allegedly involved in a match-fixing scandal in England, which was revealed in a sting operation by the British tabloid News of the World. Although the cricket scandal was not even distantly linked to Israel or to Jews, the Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper Roznama Khabrain carried a report alleging that "Indian and Jewish lobbies" in the United Kingdom were responsible for trapping the Pakistani cricket team in order to defame Pakistan and to get rising Pakistani cricketers banned from international cricket.[46]
The Roznama Khabrain report also stated that Jews, through the Indian lobby and Indian bookmakers, paid cash to the match fixers who had Indian wives.[47]
b) The Polio Vaccination Campaign – A Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy
In October 2009, Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha, an Urdu-language monthly magazine which is part of the Haftroza Al-Qalam group of publications belonging to the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad, alleged in a lengthy article that the international polio eradication campaign was a "dangerous Jewish conspiracy."[48] The article, "Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy," read in part:
"The Jews, who dream of ruling the world, have invented different types of vaccines, drugs, and injections in an organized way to weaken Muslims in their beliefs on spiritual, practical, and moral levels, and make their bodies contaminated.
"The oral polio vaccine campaign is being run under a worldwide conspiracy – except in the Zionist countries. Its total focus is now on South Asian countries – India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The U.S. has already marked this area as an extremely strategic region..."[49]
"Have we ever thought why these greedy Jews and Christians are spending millions of dollars on this campaign...? An analysis of how the polio vaccination is prepared is sufficient in order to understand how the viruses of haram [forbidden] and unpious animals... are being injected into our [Muslim] bodies..."[50]
c) Pakistan-India Water Dispute – Israel's Hand
The dispute between India and Pakistan over the issue of sharing the waters of the rivers that flow from India into Pakistani territory is a purely bilateral matter between the two neighbors. Nevertheless, while articulating their grievances against India, Pakistani leaders make it a point to drag Jews and Israel into the dispute.
In October 2008, Majeed Nizami, editor-in-chief of Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, wrote an article about the water dispute in which he also described Israel, the U.S. and India as "three Satans" – accusing them of being united against "nuclear-capable Pakistan" and warning: "If, in order to resolve our [water and other] problems, we have to wage a nuclear war with India, we will."[51]
At a seminar on the water issue held by the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Trust in April 2008, Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), spoke about the water issue but also added: "Two states came into existence in 1947 and 1948: one, Pakistan; two, Israel. The two are threats to each other. Ultimately, only one of them will survive... Pakistan can be saved by making a role model of the Prophet [Muhammad]."[52]
The former ISI chief also alluded to Samuel P. Huntington's clash-of-civilizations thesis, stating: "At this point, the matter is not of a war between civilizations, but that of a clash between systems. Islam is a humanity-loving religion. The West is fighting the last battle for its survival."[53]
Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan Dahir, a prominent anti-India Pakistani activist who works with Hamid Gul and Majeed Nizami, has repeatedly argued the following point about the water dispute: "With the cooperation of the Jewish lobby, India has opened a battlefront of a water war aimed at making Pakistan's fertile lands barren."[54]
d) The UN – A Jewish Conspiracy
In 2008, the British government expressed support for India's bid for the permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC). This move was declared by Raja Basharat Khan, convener of the Jamaat-e-Islami (South Zone-UK), to be a result of the West's "enmity with Islam," and warned that if India became a permanent UNSC member, there would be a new campaign against the interests of Pakistan and other Islamic nations.[55] Islamic clerics of Pakistani origin in the UK such as Raja Basharat Khan and those visiting regularly from Pakistan make similar allegations routinely.
In November 2010, when U.S. President Barack Obama expressed support for India's bid for permanent UNSC membership, former Pakistan Army Chief General (retired) Mirza Aslam Baig criticized Obama and added: "After India, the U.S. will make Israel a member of the Security Council."[56]
In June 2010, when the UNSC approved a new set of sanctions against Iran, former ISI chief Lt.-General Hamid Gul said that the move was part of a plot hatched by the U.S. and Israel against Islam and Iran.[57] Gul added: "The U.S. and the Zionist regime (of Israel) are plotting against Islam, and Iran in particular... 'The enemies of Islam do not know that Iran's nation and government will stand against these sanctions as they stood up to the previous sanctions..."[58]
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan commented on the UN sanctions on Iran, stating that they had been "clamped [due to] the plea that Tehran was continuing its nuclear programme despite UN warnings and was not cooperating with the world body – a complaint levelled against Tel Aviv with higher intensity... The Zionists and the Hindus are united against the Muslims, but the Muslim rulers are acting as the U.S. stooges... Israel also rejected the UN resolutions on Palestine, but no sanctions were imposed against it."[59]
Speaking on the issue of Israel's May 2010 commando action against the Gaza flotilla, Mian Mehboob Ahmed, retired chief justice of Pakistan's Federal Shariat Court, said in June 2010: "Muslim countries should quit the United Nations Organization (UNO) and strengthen the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to contest the conspiracies by the Jews and the Christians."[60] The former chief justice went on to describe the United Nations as "an extension of the power of Jews and nothing else."[61]
e) Pakistani Interests Abroad – Harmed by Jews/Israel
In Pakistani consciousness, nurtured by the religious organizations over the past six decades, Pakistan is seen as an Islamic nation, leading the likely emergence of a global Islamic caliphate. Dr. Rafiq Ahmed, a right-wing thinker and motivational speaker, said in June 2010 that Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was not secular, and described the Pakistan movement that had led to the creation of the country as an Islamic movement. Addressing a congregation of madrassa students in Lahore, Ahmed said, "The Pakistan movement was an Islamic movement which aimed at establishing and reviving the Caliphate after achieving a separate state for Muslims."[62]
Issues related to Pakistanis abroad as well as to Islam are also explained in Pakistan in terms of antisemitic references to Israel and Jews, as Pakistan is viewed as defender of Islamic interests internationally.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who is of Pakistani origin, as the chair of his Conservative Party. Warsi's rise to prominence in British politics has been celebrated in Pakistan. In 2010, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was barred by her party from attending an Islamist conference in London. The Global Peace and Unity conference was organized by the Islam television channel, which has been accused of promoting Islamic extremism. The Urdu-language daily Roznama Nawa-i-Waqtpublished a report stating that the "Jewish lobby" played a key role in stopping Warsi from taking part in the Islamic conference.[63] The report alleged that UK Home Secretary Theresa May and her advisor Mr. Nick Timothy acted at the behest of the Jewish lobby in Britain to stop Warsi from taking part in the event, stating that Ms. May told Warsi that she could not attend the conference. When, according to the report, Warsi told her that she could not stop her, Ms. May contacted her superiors in the Conservative Party and used her influence to stop Ms. Warsi.[64]
The report added that the UK's denial of a visa to former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed to attend the same conference came at the behest of the Jewish lobby.[65]
In February 2010, there was a row in India over a newspaper's publication of a sketch of Jesus Christ. It provoked a strong reaction in Pakistan, where Islamic clerics, speaking at an event organized by the Muhammadia Students, a pro-jihadist youth group, alleged an "Israeli hand" in the publication of the "blasphemous" sketch of Jesus and urged the Indian government to take action against such "an old habit of infidels."[66]
In mid-May 2010, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, a Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan cleric, addressed a meeting of religious leaders in Karachi soon after attending the funeral ceremony of a Jamaat-e-Islami militant who was killed in Indian Kashmir. He told them: "The majority of the Kashmiri population wants annexation of Kashmir with Pakistan, but India, with the consent of the U.S. and Israel, is forcefully depriving them of their right to self-determination. The Muslim Ummah is facing the wrath of Allah for it has distanced itself from Jihad. Jamaat-e-Islami supported jihad and the mujahideen yesterday and will always support them."[67] Maulana Javaid Kasoori, a senior militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen was among those present at the meeting.
f) Valentine's Day and April Fools' Day – Used by Jews and Hindus against Muslims
Pakistani leaders use almost every occasion to talk negatively about Israel, the U.S. and India. While some religious leaders can be credited for terming events like Valentine's Day and April Fools' Day in purely scholarly terms, as bid'a (innovation in Islam), and therefore lacking sanction in Islam, a large number of them make Jews, Hindus, and Christians targets in their public speeches.
In February 2008, Samia Raheel Qazi, the daughter of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussein Ahmed, described Valentine's Day as an irreligious event and criticized the Pakistani media for presenting it in a positive manner. In the same breath, she added: "Jews and Hindus have specially designed this occasion in order to weaken the beliefs and traditions of Muslims."[68]
Any event that might have originated in the West is seen by Pakistani leaders as anti-Islam and therefore as anti-Pakistan. Prominent Pakistani cleric Allama Qazi Ahmad Noorani Siddiqui, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, stated in 2010 that events like April Fools' Day or Valentine's Day are bid'ah (innovation or digression), blind imitations of the West, and have no connection to Islam.[69] He noted that April Fools' Day marks the large-scale killings of Muslims in Islamic Granada (Spain) on April 1, 1492 by the armies of Christian ruler Ferdinand II, and the defeat of the Muslims in Spain.
g) Ahmadi Muslims – Israeli/Indian Agents
Ahmadi Muslims, whom Islamic clerics accuse of not believing that the Prophet Muhammad is God's final prophet, have been declared to be non-Muslims in Pakistan, are barred from calling themselves Muslims, may not use Islamic symbols, and may not call their places of worship mosques. They are simply called Ahmadis, even by fair-minded Pakistani nationals, due to legal reasons, or pejoratively dismissed as Qadianis, after the Indian town of Qadian where the Ahmadiyya movement began in the late 19th century.
Haftroza Al-Qalam, an Urdu-language weekly published by jihadist organization Jaish-e-Muhammad, published an article accusing "the U.S., Israel and India" of trying to divide Pakistan into pieces.[70] The article alleged that India has sent 10,000 troops to Afghanistan, adding: "The U.S. and NATO forces based in Afghanistan have also deployed 40,000 personnel along Pakistan's border... The U.S. also plans to establish a Qadiani state, consisting of Kashmir and northern areas; Greater Pashtunistan; Greater Baluchistan; Punjab; and Karachi Free Port."[71]
Maulana Allahyar Arshad, the leader of the International Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat, an anti-Ahmadi Muslim movement, accused Qadianis (Ahmadi Muslims) of utilizing their pilgrimages to Qadian in India to connect with Israeli spy agencies and Israeli Qadianis, and added: "The Qadianis [Ahmadi Muslims] are spying on Pakistan and reveal Pakistani secrets during their visit to Qadian for pilgrimage... The Qadianis were traitors yesterday and are so also today; trusting them means playing with the stability of Pakistan."[72]
In March 2010, Liaqat Baloch, general secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, accused Ahmadi Muslims and the Israeli Mossad of trying to jointly destabilize religious institutions, adding: "Anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces want to destabilize religious institutions by igniting violence between the Deobandi and Barelvi [sects of Sunni Islam]. The Mossad and Qadiani lobby are involved in this wicked conspiracy..."[73]
In April 2010, Islamic clerics from the International Khatm-e-Nabuwat Movement, which campaigns against Ahmadi Muslims, accused the "Qadiani lobby" of engaging in activities to eliminate Islam from Pakistan, adding: "Qadianis [i.e. Ahmadi Muslims] have always been trying to achieve the status in Pakistan that Jews have in America."[74] The statement was made at a conference in Lahore where Maulana Abdul Hafeez Makki, a leading cleric of the anti-Ahmadi Muslims movement, was among the speakers.
h) Video of Taliban Flogging Woman – Made by Jews to Smear Pakistan
In early 2009, a video emerged showing Pakistani Taliban militants flogging a girl in Pakistan's Swat district, as she lay sobbing in pain. There has been some debate in Pakistan about the authenticity of the video.
Senator Azam Khan Swati, Pakistan's U.S.-educated science and technology minister, blamed the Jews for the video, stating: "The flogging of the 17-year-old girl in Swat was a Jewish conspiracy aimed at destroying peace in Swat and [at] distorting the image of Islamists who sport beards and wear turbans."[75]
i) Facebook – A Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
In 2010, the social networking site Facebook was the focus of an international controversy, after one of its millions of users launched a Draw Muhammad Day page asking people to post sketches of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Facebook was condemned widely in Pakistan and was, along with YouTube and hundreds of other websites, blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) for publishing content blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad. However, the PTA did not block any of the numerous websites of Pakistani religious organizations that publish hateful materials.
Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, a prominent Pakistani cleric from the International Khatm-e-Nabuwat Movement, which campaigns to enforce the Islamic doctrinal principle that Islam's Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet of god, commented on the Facebook campaign, urging Muslims worldwide to boycott all products marketed or made by companies that are owned by Jews.[76]
Addressing a public protest meeting against Facebook, Chinioti blamed the Jews for organizing the drawing contest, and added: "We will foil all conspiracies against the sanctity of the prophet; and I have submitted a proposition to condemn this shameful act in the Punjab legislative assembly... I appeal to all the Muslims to stop buying products made by Jews. They earn from us and spend the money on heretic activities against our religion. We are indirectly supporting them in heresy by paying thousands of dollars to them daily."[77]
In July 2010, a report in the pro-Taliban Urdu-language daily Roznama Islam described Facebook as anti-Islam, noting that Facebook is owned by a Zionist Jew, that Israel is using Facebook to recruit spies from Muslim countries, and that after collecting information about people from the website, they are trapped or blackmailed into spying for Israel.[78]
j) Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons – Targeted by Jews/Israel
Over the past few years, there has been an ongoing international concern over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons amid the Taliban terror attacks. Pakistani leaders think that there is an international game plan to destroy the Islamic nuclear identity of Pakistan.
In November 2009, in the town of Wana, the headquarters of Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan, Pakistani tribesmen held a protest rally against a report in the U.S. magazine The New Yorker that Pakistan and the U.S. were in talks about ways to secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons. According to a report in the Pashtu-language newspaperWrazpanra Wahdat, thousands of weapons-brandishing tribesmen took part in a jirga, a meeting of tribal elders, which passed a resolution stating: "Pakistan's nuclear command and control system is active. Patriotic tribesmen are always ready for the defense of the motherland."[79] The same resolution inserted an argument about Israel, asking the Afghan government to stop international intelligence agencies' anti-Pakistan activities on Afghan soil, and added: "Israel's secret agency Mossad and the Indian secret agency RAW are using Afghan soil against Pakistan."[80]
According to an Urdu-language daily, Major-General (Retired) Rahat, a former military officer, has said: "The U.S., India and Israel have been trying to capture our nuclear assets or to get the nuclear program rolled back. For this purpose, they have been hatching conspiracies to weaken the two strong institutions of Pakistan, the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)."[81] Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, the emir of Jamaat-e-Islami for Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly North West Frontier Province), has urged the Pakistani government to quit its role in the war on terror, stating: "The U.S.-India-Israel nexus is against Pakistan, and is busy hatching conspiracies against Pakistan's nuclear power."[82]
Lt.-Gen. Talat Masood, a retired military officer and well-known political commentator, has accused India, Israel and U.S. non-proliferation lobbies of demonizing Pakistan. In an article that urged the Pakistan Army to stop supporting militant organizations, Masood accused the U.S., India, Israel, and non-proliferation groups worldwide of demonizing Pakistan. He said: "Indian, Israeli and non-proliferation lobbies are... active in demonizing Pakistan and trying to block, delay and reduce U.S. assistance. And these detractors are working overtime to keep reminding the Obama administration of Pakistan's history of proliferation and its support of the Taliban and jihadi groups – not realizing that all of these policies were adopted in a certain historical and geostrategic context. The situation now is indeed very different, as Pakistan is locked in a survival struggle fighting the Taliban and militants on a broad front..."[83]
Majeed Nizami, the veteran editor, told a seminar: "The United States has drawn up a plan to hand over Pakistan to India, and Iran to Israel, because Pakistan is an atomic power and Iran is heading to be an atomic power."[84] The Urdu-language newspaperRoznama Khabrain wrote in late 2008 that there was "confirmed information about a [likely] Indian attack on Pakistan's nuclear installations" and added: "In order to attack Pakistan's nuclear installations and the installations of [Pakistan] air force with the help of Israel, the Indian Air Force painted the Indian flag on Israeli fighters planes."[85]
Criticizing the deployment of additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said: "India and Israel have placed stress upon the U.S. to destroy Pakistan's nuclear assets before leaving Afghanistan... India and Israel will not be safe if the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and Pakistan's nuclear assets, ISI, and Pakistan Army remain intact."[86]
In early 2009, Roznama Jasarat, an Urdu-language newspaper of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, alleged that Israel is spying on Pakistani nuclear program via Fatah, the organization of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas. It added: "Israel is directly monitoring Pakistan's nuclear program through the Fatah network in Pakistan..."[87] The Urdu daily added that Israel has stations in Afghanistan and India to monitor the Pakistani nuclear program.[88]
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaqat Baloch, arguing that the Americans are now suffering defeat in Afghanistan, said: "The U.S. and Israel want to capture the nuclear installations of Pakistan and gain access to the water and air of Pakistan to reach Iran and China."[89] Abdul Basit, the spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office, has also officially described what he called "India-Israel nexus" as a threat to regional security in South Asia, adding: "We are concerned over the domination of India in traditional and nuclear arms. However, minimum nuclear deterrence would be maintained [by Pakistan] in the region for lasting peace in the region."[90]
k) Faisal Shehzad's Times Square Attack – A CIA/Mossad Plot to Implicate Pakistan
On the evening of May 1, 2010, Faisal Shehzad, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin, carried out a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square. A video that emerged of Faisal Shehzad afterward showed him embracing Hakimullah Mehsud, the emir of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban).
However, Sajid Ansari, a columnist with The Frontier Post, a Peshawar-based daily, alleged that the Times Square terror attack was plotted by the CIA and the Israeli Mossad. He wrote: "It may be true, in the wake of 'Times Square Bomb,' possibly a 'set-up' plan [has been] made by CIA and Mossad, to create pleas and justifications to attack and invade Pakistan, as a last resort after failing to achieve the 'desired objectives' to denuclearize Pakistan, exactly as they did with Iraq on a fake CIA report of the presence of WMDs in Iraq... However, in the case of Pakistan, after miserably failing to lay hands on Pakistani nuclear sites and arsenals, through the... Pakistani Taliban and Indian army infiltrators in the cities of the... [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of] Pakistan, the U.S./CIA and the Mossad have now possibly 'set up' a plan to attack Pakistan [using the pretext provided by the] 'Times Square bomb.' And they will, as they are out of time, because President Barack Obama has asked them to 'finish the job' by July 2011... I foresee a possible pre-emptive (nuclear) attack by U.S. and NATO on Pakistan, in collaboration with India..."[91]
Soon, Faisal Shehzad was arrested by the U.S. authorities as he tried to flee the U.S. A report in the Urdu-language Pakistani daily Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt underlined the fear of an international conspiracy in the arrest of Faisal Shehzad, stating: "The fact that [U.S.] federal attorney [Preet Bharara] is a Hindu with a Jewish wife gives the story an air of a conspiracy against Pakistan, jointly hatched by Indian and Israeli lobbies in the U.S."[92]The report also alleged that a number of Pakistani-American citizens are working as American agents and that Faisal Shahzad could be one of them.[93]
IV. The Jews and the West Undermine the Identity ofPakistan
In the intellectual world of Pakistani leaders, Israel, India and the U.S. are out to wipe out the identity and existence of Pakistan. Much of the antisemitism that is being witnessed in Pakistan is rooted in perceived threats seen by Pakistani leaders as emanating from a range of national and international issues, including from statements on the human rights situation in Pakistan by various nongovernmental organizations. Even the internal struggle between secularists and religious groups to shape the identity of Pakistan – a struggle that has been ongoing since the creation of the Islamic nation in 1947 – is described in terms of antisemitic references to Jews and Israel, Hindus and India, Christians and the U.S.-led Western world.
In 2008, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed accused "the United States and the Jews" of trying to make Pakistan a secular country.[94] He went on to state that the U.S.-led war on terror is a pretext for secularizing Pakistan, and called U.S. aid a dangerous conspiracy against Pakistan.[95] In late 2010, a move by liberal politicians of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to press for amendment in Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law invited strong opposition from all religious organizations in Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan called for foiling "secular conspiracies" against Pakistan.[96] A number of religious organizations joined hands against what they called a "conspiracy of the secular lobby in Pakistan at the behest of the West to repeal the blasphemy laws."[97] During the August 2010 floods that devastated most of Pakistan, Qari Hanif Jalandhari, secretary general of the Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia (which controls thousands of Deobandi madrassas in Pakistan), condemned the secular nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for their flood relief work, stating that the NGOs are anti-Islam and are advancing a Western agenda through their relief work.[98]
Madrassas – i.e. the Islamic seminaries responsible for training Taliban militants – are seen as fortresses of Islam and as essential to the identity of Pakistan. Commenting on the role of Pakistani madrassas, Pakistani women's rights activist Dr. Fouzia Saeed remarked in early 2010: "All Madrassa students are not suicide bombers, but every suicide bomber hails from a madrassa... The ideology of militancy uses Madaris [Islamic seminaries] as breeding grounds for extremists, militants and suicide bombers."[99]
However, demands by Pakistani social reformers and the Western countries for eradicating extremist influence from madrassas are seen as a Western and Jewish plot to attack at the roots of Pakistan. An attempt in April 2008 to organize a cricket competition – a sport widely popular in South Asia – among students of various madrassas was opposed by the clerics of Jamiat Ahle Sunnat and Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, who said: "None of our madrassas will take part in the cricket tournament, and if anyone does, we will take action against it as per the rules."[100] These views were expressed during a press conference by the deputy secretary of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, Maulana Qazi Abdur Rashid, and other Islamic scholars.
Pakistan's Minister of Education Khwaja Asif Ahmed Ali said in November 2010 that the madrassa system of education in Pakistan cannot be abandoned just because the Western countries do not like it.[101] In January 2010, the executive council of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, which controls more than 10,000 madrassas in Pakistan, adopted a resolution criticizing negative media propaganda against madrassas. The resolution said that linking religious seminaries to lawlessness, insecurity and terrorism is the "biggest lie of history" and "part of Jewish and Christian propaganda."[102] The executive council which adopted the resolution included Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maulana Samiul Haq, Salimullah Khan, Mufti Rafi Usmani and others. On another occasion, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, chief of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, said that the "baseless propaganda campaign" against the madrassas was launched under "a Jewish plan to defame them."[103]
Views about Jews and Israel are also defined by a conception held by numerous ideologues in Pakistan – that out of the two states of Pakistan and Israel, only Pakistan should exist. This viewpoint has been singularly articulated by Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul who, as noted above, has said: "Two states came into existence in 1947 and 1948: one, Pakistan; two, Israel. The two are threats to each other. Ultimately, only one of them will survive."[104]
In 2010, a pro-Palestinian Pakistani website published an article stating: "All Pakistanis who support the just cause of Palestine and like-minded people across the world are on the same page. Our supporters across the world are our natural allies. Our opponents are on wrong side of history. They cannot be our friends or allies without siding with us against Zionist Israel. Factually speaking, founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam [Great Leader] Mohammad Ali Jinnah always demanded a just and honorable solution to the Palestine problem. A just solution means one Palestine, and not the Zionist state of Israel. The supporters of Israel are not qualified to influence Pakistan's foreign policy. The United States must choose between support for Israel and friendship with the Pakistani nation. We Pakistanis must ask the U.S. and other allies of Israel in Europe and other continents who they choose: the Pakistani nation or the Zionist regime of Israel. It is high time to tell everyone that Pakistan and supporters of Israel cannot go together..."[105]
In 2010, the WikiLeaks website published classified Pentagon documents and diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies worldwide, causing an international controversy. Some of the WikiLeaks revelations exposed Pakistani military and political leaders' private opinions of each other and Arab leaders' opinions of Pakistani leaders, thereby straining relationships and ties among Islamic nations. The Pakistani Defense Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), which held a meeting under the chairmanship of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad, described the WikiLeaks revelations as "an attempt to damage the tashakkhus [identity/image] of Pakistan."[106]
Speaking about the Pentagon documents, which referred to Pakistan's continued support of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, former ISI chief Hamid Gul blamed Israel and India for the leaks, stating that India and Israel want to use the U.S. against the ISI.[107] A report in the Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt daily also quoted Gul as saying that the documents were leaked by WikiLeaks to create a charge sheet against Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lt.-Gen. Shuja Pasha, the current chief of ISI and Kayani's successor, over the issue of support to the militants in Afghanistan.[108]
Former Pakistani minister Azam Khan Hoti described the release of U.S. diplomatic cables as part of "the CIA's game plan" to create differences between Islamic nations and to defame all those who refuse to toe the U.S. line on international relations.[109] Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan said: "The U.S. is behind the WikiLeaks revelations, the purpose of which is to cause turmoil in Pakistan and conflicts among Islamic nations."[110]
Pakistani columnist Matloob Ahmad Warraich penned a lengthy article in the Urdu language, alleging a Jewish/Christian/Indian conspiracy behind the WikiLeaks revelations. Given that his article summarizes many arguments at one place which otherwise are articulated by Pakistani leaders in bits and pieces, detailed excerpts from the lengthy article are worth stating here:
"The facts are something like this: the owners of the WikiLeaks website are purely Americans and Jews, who from time to time achieve their objectives by causing havoc to international peace..."[111]
"In the U.S., the fast growing and prospering religion of Islam was giving trouble to the orthodox Christians and Jews. And according to a survey, by 2010 an added seven percent of Americans would have converted to Islam if there had been no 9/11, and by 2050 Islam would have become the largest religion followed in the U.S... After the Twin Towers incident in America, we find a wave of transformation and hatred there, the brunt of which was borne only by the Muslim community there..."[112]
"After the tragedy of 9/11, which was in fact a tragedy for Muslims, the alliance between our eternal enemy India and Israel has prospered so much that Israel, which used to fear us [i.e. Pakistan], now together with our enemy is grinning at us. And we keep quiet at times due to the allegations [against us] in the [2008] Mumbai attacks and at times for the allegation of the [2001] attack on the Indian parliament... If the present WikiLeaks revelations are seen in an international context, it comes near to the possibility that Israel and the international organization of Jews [WikiLeaks, probably] have once again tried to hatch a conspiracy to cause instability in the Islamic world by making Muslims fight against each other..."[113]
"On the one hand, there is an attempt to pit Saudi ruler Shah Abdullah against Iran. The world knows that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once declared Hitler by WikiLeaks, is not only fighting valiantly against the international conspiracy of the U.S., but was also successful in briefing world opinion about the truth, in his last UN address. The U.S. would not dare to attack Iran... despite all efforts, while in the past it has achieved its goal by bringing Iran and Iraq to the battlefield. The two big Muslim forces were weakened not only in their defense and economy by the Iraq-Iran War [of the 1980s], but over two million people were killed in this war, which lasted for more than 10 years.
"Even then the thirst of these white wolves [i.e. Western nations] was not quenched. And the U.S. unleashed a reign of barbarism on the defeated Iraqis, and trampled the remaining Iraqis under its defiled feet. The American and the Jewish lobbies, whose mouths have tasted human blood – these wolves now want to create confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran... According to WikiLeaks, the Saudi ruler has suggested to the U.S. to attack Iran's nuclear program.
"And on the other hand, India is engaged in its unpious game plan [against Pakistan], and the world knows that Indians residing in the U.S. make the second largest community and these Indian-born Hindus are occupying major posts and positions in the U.S., including in the daily life there.
"On the other hand, Pakistan, which is trapped in its internal trouble and economic instability, has been getting monetary benefits from its friendly country Saudi Arabia. In every difficult situation – be it the wars of 1965 and 1971 or be it the Pakistani nuclear program or the earthquake of 2006 [sic] or the flood of 2010 – the Saudi government has always stood by Pakistan; it has never left the Pakistani people alone in a difficult time. There might be some truth in this fact [revealed by WikiLeaks] that Saudi Arabia may have had differences of opinion on the issue of the woman ruler [i.e. Benazir Bhutto being the prime minister of Pakistan] or due to personal dislike of [her widower] President Asif Ali Zardari; but when it comes to the people of Pakistan, the Saudi people have always been ready to give free oil and blood to Pakistan.
"Through WikiLeaks, Jewish and Indian lobbies have tried to kill many birds with one stone... WikiLeaks and the Jewish and Christian lobbies should note that no rescue operation can save them if the jungle catches fire. India and Israel go unmentioned in WikiLeaks, and this is what [leads] us to wonder."[114]
Conclusion
In addition to the thousands of Islamic clerics in small towns whose opinions fail to appear in the major newspapers for want of space, some of the prominent Pakistani personalities and ideologues who are engendering anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudices and conspiracy theories in Pakistani society are senior editor Majeed Nizami, former Pakistani Army officer Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, jihadist demagogue Zaid Hamid, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan and his predecessor Qazi Hussain Ahmed. While it can be argued that the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan cannot, for example, win an election on its own, it is nevertheless the largest mass organization in the country. Like other religious organizations, its role in shaping public opinion in Pakistan is thorough.
Retired Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of the Pakistani military's all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has assumed the role of a spokesman for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in recent years. On numerous occasions and in media interviews, he analyzes various Pakistani and international issues of the day in terms of a presumed unified role played by the U.S., India and Israel internationally. Zaid Hamid is a political campaigner who has been leading the mass movement in Pakistan in favor of jihad and has been strengthening antisemitism in the country.
Majeed Nizami is not an average Pakistani journalist trying to shape public opinion in Pakistani society. He enjoys a greater role in influencing a generation of Pakistani journalists. Nizami heads the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Trust, or the Ideology of Pakistan Trust – a think tank created under a legislation passed by the legislative assembly of Punjab, the most influential province in Pakistani politics, armed forces and governance. In October 2010, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani lauded Nizami for his 50 years of journalism and for keeping alive "in all circumstances" the Two-Nation Theory – the idea that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together, which led to the creation of Pakistan.[115]
The use of antisemitism is prevalent among all sections of Pakistani society, including leaders of a large number of religious organizations which have mass followings, military officers who cannot be identified, former military leaders who can be quoted by name in the media, politicians and lawmakers, columnists and journalists, and others. There is a small liberal class of political commentators, members of non-governmental organizations, columnists and journalists whose views are limited to mainly English-language media, especially the Dawn and Daily Times newspapers.
However, in Pakistan it is the Urdu-language newspapers and magazines, not the English-language media, which exercise massive influence on mass public opinion. It is also pertinent here to note that in Pakistan, the right-wing is the mainstream, which means that the public space for expression of views by the secular commentariat is indeed small.
* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project.
Endnotes:
[1] www.dawn.com (Pakistan), January 18, 2010.
[2] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[3] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[4] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[5] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[6] www.dawn.com (Pakistan), February 27, 2010.
[7] Dawn (Pakistan), February 27, 2010.
[8] The Nation (Pakistan), August 12, 2008.
[9] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), June 22, 2009.
[10] The News (Pakistan), May 11, 2009.
[11] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[12] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[13] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[14] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 15, 2010.
[15] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 10, 2010.
[16] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 7, 2010.
[17] The News (Pakistan), October 21, 2010.
[18] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 22, 2009.
[19] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 6, 2010.
[20] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 6, 2010.
[21] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 27, 2008.
[22] Roznama Mashriq (Pakistan), July 6, 2009.
[23] The News (Pakistan), December 24, 2009.
[24] The News (Pakistan), December 24, 2009.
[25] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[26] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[27] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[28] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[29] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[30] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[31] The News (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[32] Roznama Express (Pakistan), October 19, 2009.
[33] Roznama Express (Pakistan), October 19, 2009.
[34] The Post (Pakistan), November 9, 2009.
[35] The Post (Pakistan), November 9, 2009.
[36] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 17, 2009.
[37] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 17, 2009.
[38] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), April 19, 2010.
[39] About how Pakistani military officers created Jundallah, see Pakistani TV Program: Jundallah Was Formed By Two [Pakistan] Army Junior Officers... Within the Military, in February 2000, at the Quetta Military Camp; MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 3347, November 4, 2010.
[40] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), October 20, 2009.
[41] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), March 15, 2010.
[42] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 4, 2009.
[43] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), May 3, 2009.
[44] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2009.
[45] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2009.
[46] www.khabrain.com (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.
[47] www.khabrain.com (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.
[48] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[49] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[50] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[51] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 27, 2008.
[52] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[53] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[54] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), May 26, 2009.
[55] Roznama Ausaf (UK), March 21, 2008.
[56] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 11, 2010.
[57] http://english.farsnews.com (Iran), June 16, 2010.
[58] http://english.farsnews.com (Iran), June 16, 2010.
[59] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2010.
[60] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 3, 2010.
[61] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 3, 2010.
[62] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 17, 2010.
[63] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[64] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[65] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[66] Roznama Express (Pakistan), February 23, 2010.
[67] Roznama Ummat (Pakistan), May 18, 2010.
[68] Roznama Khabrain (Pakistan), February 13, 2008.
[69] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), April 1, 2010.
[70] Haftroza Al-Qalam (Pakistan), Vol. No. 5, Issue No. 10, October 9-15, 2009.
[71] Haftroza Al-Qalam (Pakistan), Vol. No. 5, Issue No. 10, October 9-15, 2009.
[72] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 25, 2009.
[73] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), March 5, 2010.
[74] Roznama Express (Pakistan), April 14, 2010.
[75] Daily Times (Pakistan), April 5, 2009.
[76] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), May 27, 2010.
[77] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), May 27, 2010.
[78] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 27, 2010.
[79] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 11, 2009.
[80] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 11, 2009.
[81] Roznama Express (Pakistan), November 10, 2009.
[82] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), November 15, 2009.
[83] The News (Pakistan), May 25, 2009.
[84] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 22, 2009.
[85] Roznama Khabrain (Pakistan), December 23, 2008.
[86] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 16, 2009.
[87] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), January 6, 2009.
[88] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), January 6, 2009.
[89] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), September 24, 2009.
[90] The Post (Pakistan), August 10, 2009.
[91] The Frontier Post (Pakistan), May 14, 2010.
[92] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), May 6, 2010.
[93] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), May 6, 2010.
[94] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 15, 2008.
[95] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 15, 2008.
[96] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), November 24, 2010.
[97] Roznama Express (Pakistan), November 28, 2010.
[98] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), August 24, 2010.
[99] The News (Pakistan), February 15, 2010.
[100] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), April 5, 2008.
[101] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 9, 2010.
[102] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), January 18, 2010.
[103] Haftroza Zarb-e-Momin (Pakistan), Issue No. 7, Vol. No. 14, January 29-February 4, 2010.
[104] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[105] www.plfpakistan.com (Pakistan), April 13, 2010.
[106] www.jang.com.pk (Pakistan), December 3, 2010.
[107] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 28, 2010.
[108] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 28, 2010.
[109] www.jang.com.pk (Pakistan), December 3, 2010.
[110] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), December 2, 2010.
[111] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[112] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[113] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[114] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[115] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 28, 2010.
By: Tufail Ahmad*
http://www.memri.org/report/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/5090.htm
Table of Contents
Introduction
I. Brief Historical Background: The Jews and Pakistan
II. Main Characteristics of Antisemitism in Pakistan
a) Antisemitism in Pakistan is Interconnected with Pakistan's Other Perceived Enemies: The "Three Satans" – India, the U.S. and Israel (i.e. Hindus, Christians and Jews)
b) Antisemitism is Used Instrumentally by the Pakistani Military
c) Antisemitism is Used to Designate Threats to Pakistan, Such As the Taliban
III. Range of Motifs in Antisemitic Attacks
a) Sports – Jews and Indians Lobby against Pakistani Cricketers
b) Polio Vaccination Campaign – A Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy
c) Pakistan-India Water Dispute – Israel's Hand
d) The U.N. – A Jewish Conspiracy
e) Pakistani Interests Abroad Harmed by Jews/Israel
f) Valentine's Day and April's Fool Day – Used by Jews and Hindus against Muslims
g) Ahmadi Muslims – Agents of Israel/India
h) Video of Taliban Flogging Woman – Made by Jews to Smear Pakistan
i) Facebook – A Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
j) Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons – Targeted by Jews/Israel
k) Faisal Shehzad's Times Square Attack – A CIA/Mossad Plot to Implicate Pakistan
IV. The Jews and the West Undermine the Identity of Pakistan
Conclusion
Introduction
This paper examines: a) the history of Jews in Pakistan; b) violence against Jews and their synagogues following the creation of the Islamic nation of Pakistan in 1947; c) contemporary protests by Pakistani Muslims against Jews and Israel; and d) Pakistani political and religious leaders' penchant for blaming most problems facing Pakistan on a U.S.-India-Israel axis.
Looking at Pakistani media reports over the past few years, this paper outlines how Pakistani opinion makers – barring a small segment of liberal intelligentsia – are deepening the anti-Jewish mindset that is typical across the Islamic world. For the purposes of this analysis, this paper does not include statements, protests, editorials, cartoons or viewpoints of Pakistani leaders and the government that are deemed to be justified criticism of Israel over its policies regarding the Palestinian problem and the occupied territories.
This paper does discuss the narrative of antisemitism in Pakistani society, examining how Israel is seen by Islamic scholars and political leaders in Pakistan as representing the Jews rather than the state and government of Israel in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. In the context of this paper, a definition of antisemitism means political/religious/cultural attacks on Jews and Israel that are not related to the Palestinian problem but over supposed Jewish-Israeli involvement in international conspiracies.
I. Brief Historical Background: The Jews and Pakistan
There is a long-held view that the Pashtun tribes, who inhabit the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, are one of the 10 lost tribes of Israel. Navraas Aafreedi, a Pashtun academic at Lucknow University in northern India, told a newspaper in January 2010: "Pathans, or Pashtuns, are the only people in the world whose probable descent from the lost tribes of Israel finds mention in a number of texts from the 10th century to the present day, written by Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars alike, both religious as well as secularists."[1] However, attempts by anthropologists to establish a definitive Jewish link to the Pashtun tribes have been unsuccessful.
Nevertheless, historical records indicate that Jews, with no connection to the Pashtuns, have lived in Pakistan and the wider South Asian region over the past several centuries. A 2007 report in the Pakistani daily Dawn noted: "The earliest graves... [of Jews in Karachi] are from 1812 and 1814, with a vast majority from the 1950s."[2] The report also cited Aitken's Gazetteer of the Province of Sind, a British-era government document which was published from Karachi in 1907, as recording that "there were only 428 Jews enumerated in the census of 1901, and these were really all in Karachi. Many belonged to the Bene Israel community who observed Sephardic Jewish rites and are believed to have settled in India [which included Pakistan] shortly after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus [the Roman Emperor in 69 AD]."[3]
The Dawn report added: "Other research documents record about 2,500 Jews in Karachi, with about 100 in Peshawar at the beginning of the 20th century. At the time of [Pakistan's] independence [in 1947], many Jews migrated to India, but about 2,000 stayed in Pakistan. Their first real exodus occurred soon after the creation of Israel, which triggered many incidents of violence against Jews, and the Karachi synagogue became a site of anti-Israel demonstrations."[4]
In the late 19th century, one of Karachi's notables was Soloman David, who died in March 1902. He was a surveyor of the Karachi municipality and built the Magain Shalom synagogue in Karachi. His gravestone reads: "The widely known and highly respected Soloman David always sought the welfare of the Jewish community and through his liberality erected at his own expense a handsome synagogue, Magain Shalome [sic]."[5]
Another report estimated the Jewish population of Karachi at 2,500 prior to August 14-15, 1947 when Pakistan was created.[6]
After Pakistan's creation as an Islamic nation, relations between the Jews and their Muslims neighbors began to deteriorate. This strain in Jewish-Muslim relations also resulted from Muslim protests in Pakistan against the newly created State of Israel. Some Pakistani Jews migrated to India and the U.K., and others to Israel. In early 2010, a Pakistani daily carried this first-person observation of anti-Jewish violence in the newly created Islamic nation of Pakistan: "The synagogue in Karachi was set on fire, and several Jews were attacked. The frequency of attacks increased after each of the Arab-Israeli wars, i.e. 1948, 1956 and 1967."[7]
In 2008, a Karachi resident reminisced about the Jews of Karachi in a conversation with Pakistani journalist Syed Intikhab Ali: "[The Jews] were peaceful people having limited relations with local people and used to keep a distance from political activities. When [the] Arab-Israel war broke out in late sixties, they were isolated and started migrating silently and only a few Jewish people [were] left in the city."[8]
From various accounts, it appears that some Jews might be living in Pakistan even now, possibly by hiding their religious identity lest it may not be possible for them to move to Israel due to absence of diplomatic ties between the two countries.
Although there is no notable Jewish presence in Pakistan now, the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel protests in Pakistan have taken on an ideological nature, with religious and political leaders blaming Jews/Israel, Christians/the West/U.S., and Hindus/India as the cause of almost all of their problems. By 2010, it could be said that not a week passed in Pakistan without a religious leader, a columnist, or a politician issuing a statement against Israel and the Jewish people, blaming them as well as the United States and India for one or another of the problems facing Pakistan. Although not all criticism of Israel can be described as antisemitic, it does not appear that the Pakistani leaders in their own minds see subtle differences between their hateful ideological sloganeering against the Jews and possibly justified criticism of Israel's policies.
II. Main Characteristics of Antisemitism in Pakistan
The new generations of Pakistani youth are being taught by the influential Urdu-language press that all major problems facing the society and state of Pakistan are created by Israel, the U.S., and India – or Jews, Christians, and Hindus respectively. Such thinking originates from deep-rooted antisemitism that has become part of the collective conviction in the Islamic world in contemporary times and has become solidly rooted in the Pakistani public consciousness, with Jews and Israel blamed for almost every problem even when they are not remotely connected to an issue.
With India strengthening its ties to Israel since the mid-1990s, and the United States enhancing its relations with India rapidly in recent years, Pakistani religious leaders view these developments in international relations of the early 21st century as a tripartite "alliance" that threatens the Pakistani state and its Islamic identity. Such an ideological pattern informs the conspiracy-theory narrative that runs through the collective Pakistani psyche and public debate in Pakistan.
a) Antisemitism in Pakistan is Interconnected with Pakistan's Other Perceived Enemies: The "Three Satans" – India, the U.S. and Israel (i.e. Hindus, Christians and Jews)
India, the United States, and Israel are seen in Pakistani public consciousness as three Satans acting against the Islamic nuclear state of Pakistan. This view is illustrated in various statements of Pakistani opinion makers. A sample of such statements is given below as representative of a sustained ideological campaign against the three countries.
In 2009, Liaqat Baloch, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, the country's largest religious-political party and a mobilizer of mass public opinion, accused India, Israel and the U.S. of pursuing "a single agenda" against Pakistan, stating: "The U.S., Israel and India are pursuing a single agenda [of weakening Pakistan]. The U.S. aims to weaken Pakistan on the economic and military fronts, while India wants to weaken Pakistan internally."[9] Syed Munawwar Hassan, emir of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has criticized the Pakistani Army operations against the Taliban, arguing that Pakistan faces threats not from the militants but from the "three enemies, in the form of the U.S., Israel and India, which are the center of evils."[10]
In July 2010, the Taliban suicide bombers, who enjoy theological support from Deobandi clerics, bombed the shrine of 11th century Sufi mystic Syed Ali Hajveri in Lahore. The Sufi shrines in South Asia get their theological justification from Barelvi clerics, a school of Sunni Islam disapproved of by Deobandi clerics. Soon after the attack, clerics of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan accused "U.S. Marines, Jews, and Blackwater" (the private U.S. security firm now known as Xe Worldwide Services) of planning and executing the shrine bombing.[11] Syed Munawwar Hasan, emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, said that the Pakistani government was accusing religious organizations of attacking the shrine in order to divert public attention from the U.S.'s role in the shrine bombing, and added: "No Muslim can do what happened in the tomb of Data Sahab [aka Syed Ali Hajveri]. American Marines and Blackwater are responsible for it."[12] Former Jamaat-e-Islami Emir Qazi Hussain Ahmed claimed that India and Israel were involved in the bombings, and stated: "[Indian intelligence] RAW and [Israel's] Mossad are responsible for attacks on the tombs of Sufi mystics. They want to spread sectarian strife in Pakistan."[13]
Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, secretary-general of the religious organization Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, blamed India, American agents such as Blackwater, and the Jews for the terror attacks in Pakistan, stating: "Blaming the Taliban for every terrorist activity serves the purpose of the United States. The fact that Blackwater and Jewish elements are involved in terrorism gets ignored. It's not that the Taliban are not involved – yet blaming them for everything is not right."[14]
A few weeks before the July 2010 Lahore shrine bombing, Hafiz Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, general secretary of the puritan Islamic group Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith, accused India and Israel of fomenting terrorism in Pakistan, stating: "The government of Pakistan needs to check the involvement of India and Israel in the current stream of terror attacks in Pakistan. India and Israel... are patronizing the terrorist activities in Pakistan."[15]
The Lahore shrine bombing led to the emergence of anti-Deobandi, anti-Taliban alliance called Sunni Ittehad Council, which has pressed ahead with its demand that the government act against the Sunni militant organizations. To counter this group led by Barelvi clerics, the rival Deobandi scholars organized a conference in the first week of July at the Jamia Naeemia madrassa of Karachi, where prominent cleric Mufti Mohammad Naeem slammed the terrorists for attacking the shrine but in the same breath also criticized the Sunni Ittehad Council for demanding action against pro-militant religious organizations as well as the Tablighi Jamaat's congregations. Mufti Mohammad Naeem told the press conference: "The demand for a ban on Tablighi congregations by the Sunni Ittihad Council is like reiterating demands by the Jews and Christians. The demands for a ban on Lashkar-e-Taiba and Tablighi Jamaat are being put forward at the behest of India and other anti-Islam forces."[16] Tablighi Jamaat is a revivalist Islamic movement while Lashkar-e-Taiba is a jihadist organization, with both the organizations having their bases in Muridke, near Lahore.
In October 2010, a joint statement on the issue of the emerging Deobandi-Barelvi dispute was signed by clerics of various Islamic schools, among them: Maulana Abdul Malik, the Emir of Jamiat-e-Ittehadul Ulema Pakistan (JIUP); Maulana Abdur Rauf Malik, the chief of Muttahida Ulema Council; JIUP Secretary General Allama Ghulam Rasool Rashidi and his deputy Maulana Abdul Jalail Naqshbandi; JIUP's Punjab chief Maulana Ataur Rehman; and prominent clerics Maulana Abdul Akbar Chitrali and Hafiz Muhammad Idrees of Idara Ma'raf-e-Islami Mansoorah. The statement accused what it called the "U.S.-India-Israel troika" of hatching a conspiracy to foment Deobandi-Barelvi clashes, and expressed concern that "a conspiracy is being implemented by the U.S.-India-Israel troika to cause Deobandi-Barelvi clashes to further divide and weaken the Muslim Ummah."[17]
Addressing young students on the 23rd day of an ideological summer school in Lahore in July 2009, Majeed Nizami, editor-in-chief of the influential Urdu-language Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, stated: "The trinity of satanic alliance [U.S., Israel, and India] is opposed to Pakistan..."[18] This is one point on which Nizami has consistently campaigned to create mass public opinion, especially among young students from schools across Pakistan. In October 2010, Nizami stated that the "real target" of the U.S.-led war on terror is Pakistan, adding: "The U.S. has currently launched a Crusade against the world of Islam... Instead of ending the drone attacks [in Pakistan], the U.S. has increased them. It will not desist until we reply to them [i.e. to the drone attacks]."[19] He also accused India of being on a mission to "undo Pakistan."[20] Nizami has regularly described India, the U.S. and Israel as "three Satans" out to destroy Pakistan.[21]
In mid-2009, Colonel Imam, a prominent and widely interviewed former Pakistani spy who is credited for raising the Taliban and whose real name is Amir Sultan, was speaking about the U.S. military operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province. He went on to speak about Israel, stating that six intelligence international agencies are active against the state of Pakistan, though he named only three – RAW of India, the CIA and Israel's Mossad, and also alleged that Mossad has opened an office in Kabul to eliminate Pakistan.[22]
Over the past few years, the Jang Group, the largest media conglomerate in Pakistan, has carried out a concerted campaign to unseat the elected government of President Asif Zardari. Late in 2009, several senior journalists writing in the Urdu-language dailyRoznama Jang were dubbed "Israeli agents" by Gul Muhammad Jakhrani, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP).[23] Jakhrani said: "[Journalists] Kamran Khan, Shaheen Sehbai, Shahid Masood, Ansar Abbasi and Saleh Zaffir are Israeli agents and they were assigned the task of creating instability in Pakistan and pitting the institutions of the country against one another so that the Israeli desire to keep Pakistan unstable might be fulfilled."[24] It can be said that the lawmaker was probably not serious about his statement that these journalists are Israeli agents; nevertheless, his statement illustrates how Pakistani leaders blame Jews and Israel for every issue that is not even remotely connected to Jews.
b) Antisemitism is Used Instrumentally by the Pakistani Military
Such conspiracy theories against Jews and Israel have also penetrated the Pakistani military establishment, which is strengthened by the day-to-day arguments forwarded by a large number of Pakistani religious organizations. In early 2009, Pakistan's secular leaders signed a shari'a-for-peace deal with Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah; soon after the deal, the Taliban imposed a total ban on girls' education in Swat district. Later, an international outcry against the Taliban forced Pakistan to carry out a military operation in Swat, leading to arrests of hundreds of militants and seizure of arms and ammunition.
The Urdu-language daily Roznama Express alleged in a report that Pakistani "security officials have also confirmed that the weapons seized [from militants in Swat] were Russian-, Indian- and U.S.-made, while Israel provided them modern technology. Evidences have also been secured regarding the use of such technology in the installation of FM radio by Maulana Fazlullah."[25] The reference to FM radio means a radio channel that was run by Maulana Fazlullah to advocate his mission of jihad and the need to enforce Islamic shari'a in Pakistan.
In June 2009, the mass-circulation Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jang quoted senior Pakistani military and national security officials as saying that there is "irrefutable evidence" that Israel and India are fomenting trouble in Pakistan's Baluchistan and Waziristan region.[26] The military and security officials were unidentified in the report, as is the norm. Another report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Expressalleged that there is evidence that Taliban commanders Maulana Fazlullah and Baitullah Mehsud (who was killed later in August 2009) conducted meetings with officials of India's external intelligence Research & Analysis Wing (RAW).[27]
Throughout 2010, Pakistan Army was under pressure from the U.S. to carry out a military operation in North Waziristan, a safe haven for terrorists belonging to the Taliban, the Haqqani Network and Al-Qaeda. In early 2010, the Pakistan Army dropped pamphlets in North Waziristan, linking the Taliban with Israel, India and Al-Qaeda.[28]According to a report in the Lahore-based newspaper Daily Times, the pamphlet gave a detailed account of how the Taliban derives its power from its connections with "[the] anti-Islamic (Indian) RAW and (the Israeli) Mossad intelligence agencies and Indian consulates in Afghanistan."[29]
Urging the tribes to support the government, the two-page pamphlet "informed the tribal people about the Taliban's source of income, which is mainly generated from drug smugglers and 'contacts' (India and Israel)."[30] According to another report in The Newsdaily, the military's pamphlet, which was titled "Correct Decision and First Step Towards Right Direction," accused the Taliban of acquiring funds from India, Israel and Al-Qaeda to buy heavy weapons and brainwash innocent youth.[31]
Earlier, in October 2009, when the Pakistan Army launched an operation against the Taliban in South Waziristan, former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed described the military offensive to be the "result of an Indian and Israeli conspiracy to create distance between jihadi organizations and the Pakistan Army."[32] He also said that the "tribesmen" – a reference to Taliban militants belonging to the Mehsud tribe – of South Waziristan who were considered the Pakistan Army's hands, and the U.S. and India were afraid of, are now being pitched against the Pakistan Army.[33]
c) Antisemitism in Pakistan Used to Designate Threats to Pakistan, Such As the Taliban
Pakistan has seen a wave of suicide attacks in recent years. There is a trend of explaining such threats to Pakistan as emanating from outside Pakistan. For example, the Pakistani leaders generally accuse the Taliban militants of being agents of the United States, India and Israel.
In November 2009, a Peshawar-based daily, The Post quoted what it called "reliable sources" as saying that India and Israel had in 2008 agreed on a plan "to start a deadly episode from July 2009 in which regular suicide attacks will be a permanent feature in Pakistan, and no one knows how long this episode will take."[34] The newspaper accused the two countries of setting up what it called the Indo-Israel Intelligence (Triple III) agency to carry out this plan, adding: "The trained commandos of the said agency have been given the tasks to attack security forces, foreign donor agencies offices, communication lines and public places [in Pakistan]... Sources also disclosed that the Mumbai terrorist attack [of November 2008] was actually a conspiracy against Pakistan, planned by the Triple III Agency, to defame Pakistan."[35]
In December 2009, lawyers belonging to the Islamabad Bar Association did not attend court proceedings in order to protest against what they called "the unreasonable interference of the U.S. in Pakistan and the presence of Blackwater (Xe) in the country."[36] Riast Ali Azad, general secretary of the Islamabad Bar Association, told the protesters at a public rally, "Besides the Taliban, Blackwater is also involved in the current incidents of terrorism in the country. Blackwater, Mossad and RAW have teamed up against Pakistan and are supporting miscreants to destabilize our country."[37]
Addressing a meeting in Sialkot town of Punjab province in April 2010, Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the Pakistan-based terrorist organizations alliance Muttahida Jihad Council, accused the Zardari government of describing "heroes of jihad" as terrorists, adding: "Declaring heroes [of jihad] as terrorists is the worst dishonesty this government could do with history under the pressure of Jews and Hindus."[38]
General Mirza Aslam Baig, former Pakistan Army chief, , has accused Indian, U.S. and Israeli secret agencies of supporting the militant organization Jundallah – a Sunni militant organization formed by two Pakistan military officers and that has carried out attacks against Shi'ite Muslims in Iran and Pakistan.[39] General Baig said, "The Indian secret agency RAW, the CIA, and Israel's Mossad are supporting Jundallah. Unfortunately, all this is being carried out from [the Jundallah base in] Baluchistan."[40]
In March 2010, Professor Sajid Mir, emir of the Jamiat Ahle Hadith, said that the United States, India and Israel are carrying out acts of terrorism in Pakistan while the Pakistani rulers are wrongly holding the Taliban responsible for terrorism. He stated: "The policy to put terrorism on the account of the Taliban is baseless and has failed, and needs to be reviewed."[41] Syed Munawwar Hasan, emir of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, has accused India of sending suicide bombers into Pakistan, stating: "India is engaged in destabilizing Pakistan under Israeli and U.S. patronage... India is engaged in hatching conspiracies against the ideological and geographical borders of Pakistan and is creating unrest in the country... India is sending suicide bombers to our country and is also involved in terrorism [in Baluchistan]."[42]
In mid-2009, Sahibzada Abul Khair Muhammad Zubair, the chief of Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, criticized the Taliban for attacks on Sufi shrines in Pakistan, describing the militants as agents of Jews and Christians. According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, Zubair said that the Taliban attacks are part of a conspiracy aimed at creating sectarian conflict in Pakistan, calling for confronting the "agents of Jews and Christians who are attacking the shrines of Sufis (mystics) and are killing the Sunni scholars and mystics."[43]
At a Defense of Pakistan conference in Lahore in June 2009, several clerics, including Dr. Sarfraz Naeemi (who later that month was killed by a Taliban suicide bomber) and Pir Sajid-ur-Rehman, asked the Pakistani government to stop fighting in the U.S.-led war on terror and "instead to wage the war to save Pakistan from external and internal enemies, by cutting off the Taliban's supply line of funds from U.S., India, Israel, UAE, and Saudi Arabia."[44] Pir Sajid-ur-Rehman, who called for the enforcement of Nizam-e-Mustafa (the rule of the Prophet) in Pakistan, also accused Washington and New Delhi of running over 50 training centers in Pakistan's tribal areas to prepare Taliban fighters and suicide bombers.[45]
III. Range of Motifs Used in Antisemitic Attacks
The antisemitic thinking of Pakistani leaders spills over into many issues, from sports, the polio vaccination campaign, the Pakistan-India water dispute, Valentine's Day, and April's Fool Day to the United Nations, the Taliban, Islam, and many more. Some, given below, illustrate the extensive scale of antisemitism in Pakistan.
a) Sports – Jews and Indians Lobby against Pakistani Cricketers
In August 2010, Pakistani cricketers were allegedly involved in a match-fixing scandal in England, which was revealed in a sting operation by the British tabloid News of the World. Although the cricket scandal was not even distantly linked to Israel or to Jews, the Urdu-language Pakistani newspaper Roznama Khabrain carried a report alleging that "Indian and Jewish lobbies" in the United Kingdom were responsible for trapping the Pakistani cricket team in order to defame Pakistan and to get rising Pakistani cricketers banned from international cricket.[46]
The Roznama Khabrain report also stated that Jews, through the Indian lobby and Indian bookmakers, paid cash to the match fixers who had Indian wives.[47]
b) The Polio Vaccination Campaign – A Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy
In October 2009, Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha, an Urdu-language monthly magazine which is part of the Haftroza Al-Qalam group of publications belonging to the militant group Jaish-e-Muhammad, alleged in a lengthy article that the international polio eradication campaign was a "dangerous Jewish conspiracy."[48] The article, "Polio: Disease or Dangerous Jewish Conspiracy," read in part:
"The Jews, who dream of ruling the world, have invented different types of vaccines, drugs, and injections in an organized way to weaken Muslims in their beliefs on spiritual, practical, and moral levels, and make their bodies contaminated.
"The oral polio vaccine campaign is being run under a worldwide conspiracy – except in the Zionist countries. Its total focus is now on South Asian countries – India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh. The U.S. has already marked this area as an extremely strategic region..."[49]
"Have we ever thought why these greedy Jews and Christians are spending millions of dollars on this campaign...? An analysis of how the polio vaccination is prepared is sufficient in order to understand how the viruses of haram [forbidden] and unpious animals... are being injected into our [Muslim] bodies..."[50]
c) Pakistan-India Water Dispute – Israel's Hand
The dispute between India and Pakistan over the issue of sharing the waters of the rivers that flow from India into Pakistani territory is a purely bilateral matter between the two neighbors. Nevertheless, while articulating their grievances against India, Pakistani leaders make it a point to drag Jews and Israel into the dispute.
In October 2008, Majeed Nizami, editor-in-chief of Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt, wrote an article about the water dispute in which he also described Israel, the U.S. and India as "three Satans" – accusing them of being united against "nuclear-capable Pakistan" and warning: "If, in order to resolve our [water and other] problems, we have to wage a nuclear war with India, we will."[51]
At a seminar on the water issue held by the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Trust in April 2008, Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), spoke about the water issue but also added: "Two states came into existence in 1947 and 1948: one, Pakistan; two, Israel. The two are threats to each other. Ultimately, only one of them will survive... Pakistan can be saved by making a role model of the Prophet [Muhammad]."[52]
The former ISI chief also alluded to Samuel P. Huntington's clash-of-civilizations thesis, stating: "At this point, the matter is not of a war between civilizations, but that of a clash between systems. Islam is a humanity-loving religion. The West is fighting the last battle for its survival."[53]
Hafiz Zahoorul Hassan Dahir, a prominent anti-India Pakistani activist who works with Hamid Gul and Majeed Nizami, has repeatedly argued the following point about the water dispute: "With the cooperation of the Jewish lobby, India has opened a battlefront of a water war aimed at making Pakistan's fertile lands barren."[54]
d) The UN – A Jewish Conspiracy
In 2008, the British government expressed support for India's bid for the permanent membership of the UN Security Council (UNSC). This move was declared by Raja Basharat Khan, convener of the Jamaat-e-Islami (South Zone-UK), to be a result of the West's "enmity with Islam," and warned that if India became a permanent UNSC member, there would be a new campaign against the interests of Pakistan and other Islamic nations.[55] Islamic clerics of Pakistani origin in the UK such as Raja Basharat Khan and those visiting regularly from Pakistan make similar allegations routinely.
In November 2010, when U.S. President Barack Obama expressed support for India's bid for permanent UNSC membership, former Pakistan Army Chief General (retired) Mirza Aslam Baig criticized Obama and added: "After India, the U.S. will make Israel a member of the Security Council."[56]
In June 2010, when the UNSC approved a new set of sanctions against Iran, former ISI chief Lt.-General Hamid Gul said that the move was part of a plot hatched by the U.S. and Israel against Islam and Iran.[57] Gul added: "The U.S. and the Zionist regime (of Israel) are plotting against Islam, and Iran in particular... 'The enemies of Islam do not know that Iran's nation and government will stand against these sanctions as they stood up to the previous sanctions..."[58]
Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan commented on the UN sanctions on Iran, stating that they had been "clamped [due to] the plea that Tehran was continuing its nuclear programme despite UN warnings and was not cooperating with the world body – a complaint levelled against Tel Aviv with higher intensity... The Zionists and the Hindus are united against the Muslims, but the Muslim rulers are acting as the U.S. stooges... Israel also rejected the UN resolutions on Palestine, but no sanctions were imposed against it."[59]
Speaking on the issue of Israel's May 2010 commando action against the Gaza flotilla, Mian Mehboob Ahmed, retired chief justice of Pakistan's Federal Shariat Court, said in June 2010: "Muslim countries should quit the United Nations Organization (UNO) and strengthen the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) to contest the conspiracies by the Jews and the Christians."[60] The former chief justice went on to describe the United Nations as "an extension of the power of Jews and nothing else."[61]
e) Pakistani Interests Abroad – Harmed by Jews/Israel
In Pakistani consciousness, nurtured by the religious organizations over the past six decades, Pakistan is seen as an Islamic nation, leading the likely emergence of a global Islamic caliphate. Dr. Rafiq Ahmed, a right-wing thinker and motivational speaker, said in June 2010 that Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was not secular, and described the Pakistan movement that had led to the creation of the country as an Islamic movement. Addressing a congregation of madrassa students in Lahore, Ahmed said, "The Pakistan movement was an Islamic movement which aimed at establishing and reviving the Caliphate after achieving a separate state for Muslims."[62]
Issues related to Pakistanis abroad as well as to Islam are also explained in Pakistan in terms of antisemitic references to Israel and Jews, as Pakistan is viewed as defender of Islamic interests internationally.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron appointed Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, who is of Pakistani origin, as the chair of his Conservative Party. Warsi's rise to prominence in British politics has been celebrated in Pakistan. In 2010, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was barred by her party from attending an Islamist conference in London. The Global Peace and Unity conference was organized by the Islam television channel, which has been accused of promoting Islamic extremism. The Urdu-language daily Roznama Nawa-i-Waqtpublished a report stating that the "Jewish lobby" played a key role in stopping Warsi from taking part in the Islamic conference.[63] The report alleged that UK Home Secretary Theresa May and her advisor Mr. Nick Timothy acted at the behest of the Jewish lobby in Britain to stop Warsi from taking part in the event, stating that Ms. May told Warsi that she could not attend the conference. When, according to the report, Warsi told her that she could not stop her, Ms. May contacted her superiors in the Conservative Party and used her influence to stop Ms. Warsi.[64]
The report added that the UK's denial of a visa to former Jamaat-e-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed to attend the same conference came at the behest of the Jewish lobby.[65]
In February 2010, there was a row in India over a newspaper's publication of a sketch of Jesus Christ. It provoked a strong reaction in Pakistan, where Islamic clerics, speaking at an event organized by the Muhammadia Students, a pro-jihadist youth group, alleged an "Israeli hand" in the publication of the "blasphemous" sketch of Jesus and urged the Indian government to take action against such "an old habit of infidels."[66]
In mid-May 2010, Mohammad Hussain Mehnati, a Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan cleric, addressed a meeting of religious leaders in Karachi soon after attending the funeral ceremony of a Jamaat-e-Islami militant who was killed in Indian Kashmir. He told them: "The majority of the Kashmiri population wants annexation of Kashmir with Pakistan, but India, with the consent of the U.S. and Israel, is forcefully depriving them of their right to self-determination. The Muslim Ummah is facing the wrath of Allah for it has distanced itself from Jihad. Jamaat-e-Islami supported jihad and the mujahideen yesterday and will always support them."[67] Maulana Javaid Kasoori, a senior militant commander of Hizbul Mujahideen was among those present at the meeting.
f) Valentine's Day and April Fools' Day – Used by Jews and Hindus against Muslims
Pakistani leaders use almost every occasion to talk negatively about Israel, the U.S. and India. While some religious leaders can be credited for terming events like Valentine's Day and April Fools' Day in purely scholarly terms, as bid'a (innovation in Islam), and therefore lacking sanction in Islam, a large number of them make Jews, Hindus, and Christians targets in their public speeches.
In February 2008, Samia Raheel Qazi, the daughter of Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussein Ahmed, described Valentine's Day as an irreligious event and criticized the Pakistani media for presenting it in a positive manner. In the same breath, she added: "Jews and Hindus have specially designed this occasion in order to weaken the beliefs and traditions of Muslims."[68]
Any event that might have originated in the West is seen by Pakistani leaders as anti-Islam and therefore as anti-Pakistan. Prominent Pakistani cleric Allama Qazi Ahmad Noorani Siddiqui, a leader of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan, stated in 2010 that events like April Fools' Day or Valentine's Day are bid'ah (innovation or digression), blind imitations of the West, and have no connection to Islam.[69] He noted that April Fools' Day marks the large-scale killings of Muslims in Islamic Granada (Spain) on April 1, 1492 by the armies of Christian ruler Ferdinand II, and the defeat of the Muslims in Spain.
g) Ahmadi Muslims – Israeli/Indian Agents
Ahmadi Muslims, whom Islamic clerics accuse of not believing that the Prophet Muhammad is God's final prophet, have been declared to be non-Muslims in Pakistan, are barred from calling themselves Muslims, may not use Islamic symbols, and may not call their places of worship mosques. They are simply called Ahmadis, even by fair-minded Pakistani nationals, due to legal reasons, or pejoratively dismissed as Qadianis, after the Indian town of Qadian where the Ahmadiyya movement began in the late 19th century.
Haftroza Al-Qalam, an Urdu-language weekly published by jihadist organization Jaish-e-Muhammad, published an article accusing "the U.S., Israel and India" of trying to divide Pakistan into pieces.[70] The article alleged that India has sent 10,000 troops to Afghanistan, adding: "The U.S. and NATO forces based in Afghanistan have also deployed 40,000 personnel along Pakistan's border... The U.S. also plans to establish a Qadiani state, consisting of Kashmir and northern areas; Greater Pashtunistan; Greater Baluchistan; Punjab; and Karachi Free Port."[71]
Maulana Allahyar Arshad, the leader of the International Tehreek-e-Tahaffuz-e-Khatm-e-Nabuwat, an anti-Ahmadi Muslim movement, accused Qadianis (Ahmadi Muslims) of utilizing their pilgrimages to Qadian in India to connect with Israeli spy agencies and Israeli Qadianis, and added: "The Qadianis [Ahmadi Muslims] are spying on Pakistan and reveal Pakistani secrets during their visit to Qadian for pilgrimage... The Qadianis were traitors yesterday and are so also today; trusting them means playing with the stability of Pakistan."[72]
In March 2010, Liaqat Baloch, general secretary of Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, accused Ahmadi Muslims and the Israeli Mossad of trying to jointly destabilize religious institutions, adding: "Anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan forces want to destabilize religious institutions by igniting violence between the Deobandi and Barelvi [sects of Sunni Islam]. The Mossad and Qadiani lobby are involved in this wicked conspiracy..."[73]
In April 2010, Islamic clerics from the International Khatm-e-Nabuwat Movement, which campaigns against Ahmadi Muslims, accused the "Qadiani lobby" of engaging in activities to eliminate Islam from Pakistan, adding: "Qadianis [i.e. Ahmadi Muslims] have always been trying to achieve the status in Pakistan that Jews have in America."[74] The statement was made at a conference in Lahore where Maulana Abdul Hafeez Makki, a leading cleric of the anti-Ahmadi Muslims movement, was among the speakers.
h) Video of Taliban Flogging Woman – Made by Jews to Smear Pakistan
In early 2009, a video emerged showing Pakistani Taliban militants flogging a girl in Pakistan's Swat district, as she lay sobbing in pain. There has been some debate in Pakistan about the authenticity of the video.
Senator Azam Khan Swati, Pakistan's U.S.-educated science and technology minister, blamed the Jews for the video, stating: "The flogging of the 17-year-old girl in Swat was a Jewish conspiracy aimed at destroying peace in Swat and [at] distorting the image of Islamists who sport beards and wear turbans."[75]
i) Facebook – A Jewish/Israeli Conspiracy
In 2010, the social networking site Facebook was the focus of an international controversy, after one of its millions of users launched a Draw Muhammad Day page asking people to post sketches of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Facebook was condemned widely in Pakistan and was, along with YouTube and hundreds of other websites, blocked by the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) for publishing content blaspheming against the Prophet Muhammad. However, the PTA did not block any of the numerous websites of Pakistani religious organizations that publish hateful materials.
Maulana Ilyas Chinioti, a prominent Pakistani cleric from the International Khatm-e-Nabuwat Movement, which campaigns to enforce the Islamic doctrinal principle that Islam's Prophet Muhammad was the last prophet of god, commented on the Facebook campaign, urging Muslims worldwide to boycott all products marketed or made by companies that are owned by Jews.[76]
Addressing a public protest meeting against Facebook, Chinioti blamed the Jews for organizing the drawing contest, and added: "We will foil all conspiracies against the sanctity of the prophet; and I have submitted a proposition to condemn this shameful act in the Punjab legislative assembly... I appeal to all the Muslims to stop buying products made by Jews. They earn from us and spend the money on heretic activities against our religion. We are indirectly supporting them in heresy by paying thousands of dollars to them daily."[77]
In July 2010, a report in the pro-Taliban Urdu-language daily Roznama Islam described Facebook as anti-Islam, noting that Facebook is owned by a Zionist Jew, that Israel is using Facebook to recruit spies from Muslim countries, and that after collecting information about people from the website, they are trapped or blackmailed into spying for Israel.[78]
j) Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons – Targeted by Jews/Israel
Over the past few years, there has been an ongoing international concern over the security of Pakistan's nuclear weapons amid the Taliban terror attacks. Pakistani leaders think that there is an international game plan to destroy the Islamic nuclear identity of Pakistan.
In November 2009, in the town of Wana, the headquarters of Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan, Pakistani tribesmen held a protest rally against a report in the U.S. magazine The New Yorker that Pakistan and the U.S. were in talks about ways to secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons. According to a report in the Pashtu-language newspaperWrazpanra Wahdat, thousands of weapons-brandishing tribesmen took part in a jirga, a meeting of tribal elders, which passed a resolution stating: "Pakistan's nuclear command and control system is active. Patriotic tribesmen are always ready for the defense of the motherland."[79] The same resolution inserted an argument about Israel, asking the Afghan government to stop international intelligence agencies' anti-Pakistan activities on Afghan soil, and added: "Israel's secret agency Mossad and the Indian secret agency RAW are using Afghan soil against Pakistan."[80]
According to an Urdu-language daily, Major-General (Retired) Rahat, a former military officer, has said: "The U.S., India and Israel have been trying to capture our nuclear assets or to get the nuclear program rolled back. For this purpose, they have been hatching conspiracies to weaken the two strong institutions of Pakistan, the army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)."[81] Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, the emir of Jamaat-e-Islami for Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly North West Frontier Province), has urged the Pakistani government to quit its role in the war on terror, stating: "The U.S.-India-Israel nexus is against Pakistan, and is busy hatching conspiracies against Pakistan's nuclear power."[82]
Lt.-Gen. Talat Masood, a retired military officer and well-known political commentator, has accused India, Israel and U.S. non-proliferation lobbies of demonizing Pakistan. In an article that urged the Pakistan Army to stop supporting militant organizations, Masood accused the U.S., India, Israel, and non-proliferation groups worldwide of demonizing Pakistan. He said: "Indian, Israeli and non-proliferation lobbies are... active in demonizing Pakistan and trying to block, delay and reduce U.S. assistance. And these detractors are working overtime to keep reminding the Obama administration of Pakistan's history of proliferation and its support of the Taliban and jihadi groups – not realizing that all of these policies were adopted in a certain historical and geostrategic context. The situation now is indeed very different, as Pakistan is locked in a survival struggle fighting the Taliban and militants on a broad front..."[83]
Majeed Nizami, the veteran editor, told a seminar: "The United States has drawn up a plan to hand over Pakistan to India, and Iran to Israel, because Pakistan is an atomic power and Iran is heading to be an atomic power."[84] The Urdu-language newspaperRoznama Khabrain wrote in late 2008 that there was "confirmed information about a [likely] Indian attack on Pakistan's nuclear installations" and added: "In order to attack Pakistan's nuclear installations and the installations of [Pakistan] air force with the help of Israel, the Indian Air Force painted the Indian flag on Israeli fighters planes."[85]
Criticizing the deployment of additional U.S. troops in Afghanistan, Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), said: "India and Israel have placed stress upon the U.S. to destroy Pakistan's nuclear assets before leaving Afghanistan... India and Israel will not be safe if the U.S. withdraws from Afghanistan and Pakistan's nuclear assets, ISI, and Pakistan Army remain intact."[86]
In early 2009, Roznama Jasarat, an Urdu-language newspaper of the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, alleged that Israel is spying on Pakistani nuclear program via Fatah, the organization of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 'Abbas. It added: "Israel is directly monitoring Pakistan's nuclear program through the Fatah network in Pakistan..."[87] The Urdu daily added that Israel has stations in Afghanistan and India to monitor the Pakistani nuclear program.[88]
Jamaat-e-Islami leader Liaqat Baloch, arguing that the Americans are now suffering defeat in Afghanistan, said: "The U.S. and Israel want to capture the nuclear installations of Pakistan and gain access to the water and air of Pakistan to reach Iran and China."[89] Abdul Basit, the spokesman of Pakistan's Foreign Office, has also officially described what he called "India-Israel nexus" as a threat to regional security in South Asia, adding: "We are concerned over the domination of India in traditional and nuclear arms. However, minimum nuclear deterrence would be maintained [by Pakistan] in the region for lasting peace in the region."[90]
k) Faisal Shehzad's Times Square Attack – A CIA/Mossad Plot to Implicate Pakistan
On the evening of May 1, 2010, Faisal Shehzad, a U.S. citizen of Pakistani origin, carried out a failed car bombing in New York's Times Square. A video that emerged of Faisal Shehzad afterward showed him embracing Hakimullah Mehsud, the emir of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP or the Movement of Pakistani Taliban).
However, Sajid Ansari, a columnist with The Frontier Post, a Peshawar-based daily, alleged that the Times Square terror attack was plotted by the CIA and the Israeli Mossad. He wrote: "It may be true, in the wake of 'Times Square Bomb,' possibly a 'set-up' plan [has been] made by CIA and Mossad, to create pleas and justifications to attack and invade Pakistan, as a last resort after failing to achieve the 'desired objectives' to denuclearize Pakistan, exactly as they did with Iraq on a fake CIA report of the presence of WMDs in Iraq... However, in the case of Pakistan, after miserably failing to lay hands on Pakistani nuclear sites and arsenals, through the... Pakistani Taliban and Indian army infiltrators in the cities of the... [Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of] Pakistan, the U.S./CIA and the Mossad have now possibly 'set up' a plan to attack Pakistan [using the pretext provided by the] 'Times Square bomb.' And they will, as they are out of time, because President Barack Obama has asked them to 'finish the job' by July 2011... I foresee a possible pre-emptive (nuclear) attack by U.S. and NATO on Pakistan, in collaboration with India..."[91]
Soon, Faisal Shehzad was arrested by the U.S. authorities as he tried to flee the U.S. A report in the Urdu-language Pakistani daily Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt underlined the fear of an international conspiracy in the arrest of Faisal Shehzad, stating: "The fact that [U.S.] federal attorney [Preet Bharara] is a Hindu with a Jewish wife gives the story an air of a conspiracy against Pakistan, jointly hatched by Indian and Israeli lobbies in the U.S."[92]The report also alleged that a number of Pakistani-American citizens are working as American agents and that Faisal Shahzad could be one of them.[93]
IV. The Jews and the West Undermine the Identity ofPakistan
In the intellectual world of Pakistani leaders, Israel, India and the U.S. are out to wipe out the identity and existence of Pakistan. Much of the antisemitism that is being witnessed in Pakistan is rooted in perceived threats seen by Pakistani leaders as emanating from a range of national and international issues, including from statements on the human rights situation in Pakistan by various nongovernmental organizations. Even the internal struggle between secularists and religious groups to shape the identity of Pakistan – a struggle that has been ongoing since the creation of the Islamic nation in 1947 – is described in terms of antisemitic references to Jews and Israel, Hindus and India, Christians and the U.S.-led Western world.
In 2008, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed accused "the United States and the Jews" of trying to make Pakistan a secular country.[94] He went on to state that the U.S.-led war on terror is a pretext for secularizing Pakistan, and called U.S. aid a dangerous conspiracy against Pakistan.[95] In late 2010, a move by liberal politicians of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) to press for amendment in Pakistan's controversial blasphemy law invited strong opposition from all religious organizations in Pakistan. Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan called for foiling "secular conspiracies" against Pakistan.[96] A number of religious organizations joined hands against what they called a "conspiracy of the secular lobby in Pakistan at the behest of the West to repeal the blasphemy laws."[97] During the August 2010 floods that devastated most of Pakistan, Qari Hanif Jalandhari, secretary general of the Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia (which controls thousands of Deobandi madrassas in Pakistan), condemned the secular nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for their flood relief work, stating that the NGOs are anti-Islam and are advancing a Western agenda through their relief work.[98]
Madrassas – i.e. the Islamic seminaries responsible for training Taliban militants – are seen as fortresses of Islam and as essential to the identity of Pakistan. Commenting on the role of Pakistani madrassas, Pakistani women's rights activist Dr. Fouzia Saeed remarked in early 2010: "All Madrassa students are not suicide bombers, but every suicide bomber hails from a madrassa... The ideology of militancy uses Madaris [Islamic seminaries] as breeding grounds for extremists, militants and suicide bombers."[99]
However, demands by Pakistani social reformers and the Western countries for eradicating extremist influence from madrassas are seen as a Western and Jewish plot to attack at the roots of Pakistan. An attempt in April 2008 to organize a cricket competition – a sport widely popular in South Asia – among students of various madrassas was opposed by the clerics of Jamiat Ahle Sunnat and Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, who said: "None of our madrassas will take part in the cricket tournament, and if anyone does, we will take action against it as per the rules."[100] These views were expressed during a press conference by the deputy secretary of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, Maulana Qazi Abdur Rashid, and other Islamic scholars.
Pakistan's Minister of Education Khwaja Asif Ahmed Ali said in November 2010 that the madrassa system of education in Pakistan cannot be abandoned just because the Western countries do not like it.[101] In January 2010, the executive council of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, which controls more than 10,000 madrassas in Pakistan, adopted a resolution criticizing negative media propaganda against madrassas. The resolution said that linking religious seminaries to lawlessness, insecurity and terrorism is the "biggest lie of history" and "part of Jewish and Christian propaganda."[102] The executive council which adopted the resolution included Maulana Fazlur Rehman, Maulana Samiul Haq, Salimullah Khan, Mufti Rafi Usmani and others. On another occasion, Qari Muhammad Hanif Jalandhari, chief of Wafaqul Madaris Al-Arabia, said that the "baseless propaganda campaign" against the madrassas was launched under "a Jewish plan to defame them."[103]
Views about Jews and Israel are also defined by a conception held by numerous ideologues in Pakistan – that out of the two states of Pakistan and Israel, only Pakistan should exist. This viewpoint has been singularly articulated by Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul who, as noted above, has said: "Two states came into existence in 1947 and 1948: one, Pakistan; two, Israel. The two are threats to each other. Ultimately, only one of them will survive."[104]
In 2010, a pro-Palestinian Pakistani website published an article stating: "All Pakistanis who support the just cause of Palestine and like-minded people across the world are on the same page. Our supporters across the world are our natural allies. Our opponents are on wrong side of history. They cannot be our friends or allies without siding with us against Zionist Israel. Factually speaking, founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam [Great Leader] Mohammad Ali Jinnah always demanded a just and honorable solution to the Palestine problem. A just solution means one Palestine, and not the Zionist state of Israel. The supporters of Israel are not qualified to influence Pakistan's foreign policy. The United States must choose between support for Israel and friendship with the Pakistani nation. We Pakistanis must ask the U.S. and other allies of Israel in Europe and other continents who they choose: the Pakistani nation or the Zionist regime of Israel. It is high time to tell everyone that Pakistan and supporters of Israel cannot go together..."[105]
In 2010, the WikiLeaks website published classified Pentagon documents and diplomatic cables from U.S. embassies worldwide, causing an international controversy. Some of the WikiLeaks revelations exposed Pakistani military and political leaders' private opinions of each other and Arab leaders' opinions of Pakistani leaders, thereby straining relationships and ties among Islamic nations. The Pakistani Defense Committee of the Cabinet (DCC), which held a meeting under the chairmanship of Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in Islamabad, described the WikiLeaks revelations as "an attempt to damage the tashakkhus [identity/image] of Pakistan."[106]
Speaking about the Pentagon documents, which referred to Pakistan's continued support of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, former ISI chief Hamid Gul blamed Israel and India for the leaks, stating that India and Israel want to use the U.S. against the ISI.[107] A report in the Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt daily also quoted Gul as saying that the documents were leaked by WikiLeaks to create a charge sheet against Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Kayani and Lt.-Gen. Shuja Pasha, the current chief of ISI and Kayani's successor, over the issue of support to the militants in Afghanistan.[108]
Former Pakistani minister Azam Khan Hoti described the release of U.S. diplomatic cables as part of "the CIA's game plan" to create differences between Islamic nations and to defame all those who refuse to toe the U.S. line on international relations.[109] Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan said: "The U.S. is behind the WikiLeaks revelations, the purpose of which is to cause turmoil in Pakistan and conflicts among Islamic nations."[110]
Pakistani columnist Matloob Ahmad Warraich penned a lengthy article in the Urdu language, alleging a Jewish/Christian/Indian conspiracy behind the WikiLeaks revelations. Given that his article summarizes many arguments at one place which otherwise are articulated by Pakistani leaders in bits and pieces, detailed excerpts from the lengthy article are worth stating here:
"The facts are something like this: the owners of the WikiLeaks website are purely Americans and Jews, who from time to time achieve their objectives by causing havoc to international peace..."[111]
"In the U.S., the fast growing and prospering religion of Islam was giving trouble to the orthodox Christians and Jews. And according to a survey, by 2010 an added seven percent of Americans would have converted to Islam if there had been no 9/11, and by 2050 Islam would have become the largest religion followed in the U.S... After the Twin Towers incident in America, we find a wave of transformation and hatred there, the brunt of which was borne only by the Muslim community there..."[112]
"After the tragedy of 9/11, which was in fact a tragedy for Muslims, the alliance between our eternal enemy India and Israel has prospered so much that Israel, which used to fear us [i.e. Pakistan], now together with our enemy is grinning at us. And we keep quiet at times due to the allegations [against us] in the [2008] Mumbai attacks and at times for the allegation of the [2001] attack on the Indian parliament... If the present WikiLeaks revelations are seen in an international context, it comes near to the possibility that Israel and the international organization of Jews [WikiLeaks, probably] have once again tried to hatch a conspiracy to cause instability in the Islamic world by making Muslims fight against each other..."[113]
"On the one hand, there is an attempt to pit Saudi ruler Shah Abdullah against Iran. The world knows that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, once declared Hitler by WikiLeaks, is not only fighting valiantly against the international conspiracy of the U.S., but was also successful in briefing world opinion about the truth, in his last UN address. The U.S. would not dare to attack Iran... despite all efforts, while in the past it has achieved its goal by bringing Iran and Iraq to the battlefield. The two big Muslim forces were weakened not only in their defense and economy by the Iraq-Iran War [of the 1980s], but over two million people were killed in this war, which lasted for more than 10 years.
"Even then the thirst of these white wolves [i.e. Western nations] was not quenched. And the U.S. unleashed a reign of barbarism on the defeated Iraqis, and trampled the remaining Iraqis under its defiled feet. The American and the Jewish lobbies, whose mouths have tasted human blood – these wolves now want to create confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran... According to WikiLeaks, the Saudi ruler has suggested to the U.S. to attack Iran's nuclear program.
"And on the other hand, India is engaged in its unpious game plan [against Pakistan], and the world knows that Indians residing in the U.S. make the second largest community and these Indian-born Hindus are occupying major posts and positions in the U.S., including in the daily life there.
"On the other hand, Pakistan, which is trapped in its internal trouble and economic instability, has been getting monetary benefits from its friendly country Saudi Arabia. In every difficult situation – be it the wars of 1965 and 1971 or be it the Pakistani nuclear program or the earthquake of 2006 [sic] or the flood of 2010 – the Saudi government has always stood by Pakistan; it has never left the Pakistani people alone in a difficult time. There might be some truth in this fact [revealed by WikiLeaks] that Saudi Arabia may have had differences of opinion on the issue of the woman ruler [i.e. Benazir Bhutto being the prime minister of Pakistan] or due to personal dislike of [her widower] President Asif Ali Zardari; but when it comes to the people of Pakistan, the Saudi people have always been ready to give free oil and blood to Pakistan.
"Through WikiLeaks, Jewish and Indian lobbies have tried to kill many birds with one stone... WikiLeaks and the Jewish and Christian lobbies should note that no rescue operation can save them if the jungle catches fire. India and Israel go unmentioned in WikiLeaks, and this is what [leads] us to wonder."[114]
Conclusion
In addition to the thousands of Islamic clerics in small towns whose opinions fail to appear in the major newspapers for want of space, some of the prominent Pakistani personalities and ideologues who are engendering anti-Jewish and anti-Israel prejudices and conspiracy theories in Pakistani society are senior editor Majeed Nizami, former Pakistani Army officer Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul, jihadist demagogue Zaid Hamid, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawwar Hasan and his predecessor Qazi Hussain Ahmed. While it can be argued that the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan cannot, for example, win an election on its own, it is nevertheless the largest mass organization in the country. Like other religious organizations, its role in shaping public opinion in Pakistan is thorough.
Retired Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, the former chief of the Pakistani military's all-powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), has assumed the role of a spokesman for the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in recent years. On numerous occasions and in media interviews, he analyzes various Pakistani and international issues of the day in terms of a presumed unified role played by the U.S., India and Israel internationally. Zaid Hamid is a political campaigner who has been leading the mass movement in Pakistan in favor of jihad and has been strengthening antisemitism in the country.
Majeed Nizami is not an average Pakistani journalist trying to shape public opinion in Pakistani society. He enjoys a greater role in influencing a generation of Pakistani journalists. Nizami heads the Nazaria-e-Pakistan Trust, or the Ideology of Pakistan Trust – a think tank created under a legislation passed by the legislative assembly of Punjab, the most influential province in Pakistani politics, armed forces and governance. In October 2010, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani lauded Nizami for his 50 years of journalism and for keeping alive "in all circumstances" the Two-Nation Theory – the idea that Hindus and Muslims cannot live together, which led to the creation of Pakistan.[115]
The use of antisemitism is prevalent among all sections of Pakistani society, including leaders of a large number of religious organizations which have mass followings, military officers who cannot be identified, former military leaders who can be quoted by name in the media, politicians and lawmakers, columnists and journalists, and others. There is a small liberal class of political commentators, members of non-governmental organizations, columnists and journalists whose views are limited to mainly English-language media, especially the Dawn and Daily Times newspapers.
However, in Pakistan it is the Urdu-language newspapers and magazines, not the English-language media, which exercise massive influence on mass public opinion. It is also pertinent here to note that in Pakistan, the right-wing is the mainstream, which means that the public space for expression of views by the secular commentariat is indeed small.
* Tufail Ahmad is Director of MEMRI's South Asia Studies Project.
Endnotes:
[1] www.dawn.com (Pakistan), January 18, 2010.
[2] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[3] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[4] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[5] Dawn (Pakistan), May 6, 2007.
[6] www.dawn.com (Pakistan), February 27, 2010.
[7] Dawn (Pakistan), February 27, 2010.
[8] The Nation (Pakistan), August 12, 2008.
[9] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), June 22, 2009.
[10] The News (Pakistan), May 11, 2009.
[11] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[12] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[13] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 5, 2010.
[14] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 15, 2010.
[15] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 10, 2010.
[16] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 7, 2010.
[17] The News (Pakistan), October 21, 2010.
[18] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 22, 2009.
[19] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 6, 2010.
[20] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 6, 2010.
[21] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 27, 2008.
[22] Roznama Mashriq (Pakistan), July 6, 2009.
[23] The News (Pakistan), December 24, 2009.
[24] The News (Pakistan), December 24, 2009.
[25] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[26] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[27] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 23, 2009.
[28] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[29] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[30] Daily Times (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[31] The News (Pakistan), March 3, 2010.
[32] Roznama Express (Pakistan), October 19, 2009.
[33] Roznama Express (Pakistan), October 19, 2009.
[34] The Post (Pakistan), November 9, 2009.
[35] The Post (Pakistan), November 9, 2009.
[36] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 17, 2009.
[37] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 17, 2009.
[38] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), April 19, 2010.
[39] About how Pakistani military officers created Jundallah, see Pakistani TV Program: Jundallah Was Formed By Two [Pakistan] Army Junior Officers... Within the Military, in February 2000, at the Quetta Military Camp; MEMRI Special Dispatch Series No. 3347, November 4, 2010.
[40] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), October 20, 2009.
[41] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), March 15, 2010.
[42] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 4, 2009.
[43] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), May 3, 2009.
[44] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2009.
[45] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2009.
[46] www.khabrain.com (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.
[47] www.khabrain.com (Pakistan), August 31, 2010.
[48] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[49] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[50] Mahnama Banat-e-Aisha (Pakistan), Vol. 9, Issue No. 10, October 2009.
[51] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 27, 2008.
[52] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[53] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[54] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), May 26, 2009.
[55] Roznama Ausaf (UK), March 21, 2008.
[56] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 11, 2010.
[57] http://english.farsnews.com (Iran), June 16, 2010.
[58] http://english.farsnews.com (Iran), June 16, 2010.
[59] The News (Pakistan), June 11, 2010.
[60] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 3, 2010.
[61] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), June 3, 2010.
[62] Roznama Express (Pakistan), June 17, 2010.
[63] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[64] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[65] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 26, 2010.
[66] Roznama Express (Pakistan), February 23, 2010.
[67] Roznama Ummat (Pakistan), May 18, 2010.
[68] Roznama Khabrain (Pakistan), February 13, 2008.
[69] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), April 1, 2010.
[70] Haftroza Al-Qalam (Pakistan), Vol. No. 5, Issue No. 10, October 9-15, 2009.
[71] Haftroza Al-Qalam (Pakistan), Vol. No. 5, Issue No. 10, October 9-15, 2009.
[72] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), December 25, 2009.
[73] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), March 5, 2010.
[74] Roznama Express (Pakistan), April 14, 2010.
[75] Daily Times (Pakistan), April 5, 2009.
[76] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), May 27, 2010.
[77] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), May 27, 2010.
[78] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), July 27, 2010.
[79] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 11, 2009.
[80] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 11, 2009.
[81] Roznama Express (Pakistan), November 10, 2009.
[82] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), November 15, 2009.
[83] The News (Pakistan), May 25, 2009.
[84] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 22, 2009.
[85] Roznama Khabrain (Pakistan), December 23, 2008.
[86] Wrazpanra Wahdat (Pakistan), November 16, 2009.
[87] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), January 6, 2009.
[88] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), January 6, 2009.
[89] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), September 24, 2009.
[90] The Post (Pakistan), August 10, 2009.
[91] The Frontier Post (Pakistan), May 14, 2010.
[92] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), May 6, 2010.
[93] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), May 6, 2010.
[94] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 15, 2008.
[95] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 15, 2008.
[96] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), November 24, 2010.
[97] Roznama Express (Pakistan), November 28, 2010.
[98] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), August 24, 2010.
[99] The News (Pakistan), February 15, 2010.
[100] Roznama Jasarat (Pakistan), April 5, 2008.
[101] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 9, 2010.
[102] Roznama Islam (Pakistan), January 18, 2010.
[103] Haftroza Zarb-e-Momin (Pakistan), Issue No. 7, Vol. No. 14, January 29-February 4, 2010.
[104] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), April 25, 2008.
[105] www.plfpakistan.com (Pakistan), April 13, 2010.
[106] www.jang.com.pk (Pakistan), December 3, 2010.
[107] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 28, 2010.
[108] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), July 28, 2010.
[109] www.jang.com.pk (Pakistan), December 3, 2010.
[110] Roznama Jang (Pakistan), December 2, 2010.
[111] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[112] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[113] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[114] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), November 30, 2010.
[115] Roznama Nawa-i-Waqt (Pakistan), October 28, 2010.
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