CIA-imposed war enters decisive stage as Pakistan fights back for survival

Empowering Weak & Oppressed

Perwez Shafi

Muharram 04, 1430 2009-01-01

World

by Perwez Shafi (World, Crescent International Vol. 37, No. 11, Muharram, 1430)

One of the original US goals of the controlled demolitions of 9/11 was to target Pakistan to destroy its nuclear capability and ultimately destroy Pakistan itself, a State created in the name of Islam. The CIA-imposed civil war in the tribal areas since 9/11 is being not only accelerated, it has also assumed multi-dimensional roles to destroy the state and society in the manner ofIraq. For years, the Pakistan army was the chief instrument of the US war but now it is beginning to have doubts about the war’s eventual goals because of its recent experience with the CIA. With President-elect Barack Obama about to take office, the CIA wants to accelerate and expand the war to the whole of Pakistan. Thus, it is about to enter a decisive phase threatening the very existence of Pakistan as the army fights back despite remaining under US tutelage for so long. Whether it survives or collapses will depend on the measures it adopts.

US designs on Pakistan

When the Soviet Union abandoned its quest for world domination, it left the US with the false impression that it “won” the cold war. At that fleeting moment, instead of rolling back their empire like Russia, the power-intoxicated Zionists and neo-conservatives in the US, decided to reverse their declining fortunes by re-conquering the Muslim world, redraw its borders and capture its resources. The ultimate aim was to make Israel more secure. The Muslim world possesses huge energy (40 percent of the world’s total) and mineral (20 percent) resources in addition to occupying a strategic landmass. Not finding any pretext from the Muslim world to attack, the Zionist-neo-con cabal decided to create their own in the form of the controlled demolitions of 9/11. Thus, if one keeps in mind the overall motivation for 9/11 and the war’s aims and scope and its various instruments, the subsequent rampaging behavior of the USworldwide becomes clearer.

Pakistan does not seem to fit into the US global geo-strategic and political plans. The US, therefore, has twin objectives vis-à-vis Pakistan: deprive it of nuclear weapons/capability, and cut it down to size to put it under Indian hegemony. This is to be achieved by imposing a civil war, creating unstable political and socio-economic conditions, and maligning it through a series of terrorism charges, to the extent that the US, through the UN or on its own, will declare Pakistan highly unstable and unreliable, a hub of extremists and terrorists and, therefore, a failed and/or terrorist state. Once this is done, the UN will be manipulated to remove Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The Muslims of Pakistan would be denied a state of their own and may be divided along sectarian or ethnic lines. Thus all covert and overt US efforts are directed at destabilizing Pakistan.

CIA establishes infrastructure for war in Pakistan: 9/11 to 2006

In the Middle East, the US had staging areas in all neighboring countries to attack Iraq but no such bases exist in South Asia. Afghanistan was, therefore, an obvious and easy target even though it had nothing to do with 9/11. The US, however, could not have succeeded without critical intelligence and logistic help from Pakistan. Following a single phone call from then USSecretary of State Colin Powell on September 12, 2001, General Pervez Musharraf surprised him by conceding much more than what Powell had demanded. That fateful decision has now come to haunt Pakistan. Musharraf thought it was a small price to pay for securing the long-term interests of Pakistan. Little did he understand that it was only a matter of time beforePakistan was attacked once hostilities in Washington’s next target — Iraq — were brought to a manageable level.

After securing and consolidating its foothold in Afghanistan, the CIA started to weave a web of intelligence networks inside and outside Pakistan and set up an infrastructure whose fundamental aim was to undermine the country. This project had nothing to do with the Taliban or the war in Afghanistan. With the help of Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) that has detailed knowledge of Afghanistan and the adjoining tribal areas of Pakistan, the CIA established direct contacts with intelligence assets that were hitherto handled exclusively by the ISI. The CIA switched the orientation and loyalties of individual tribal elders, indeed entire tribes, either buying them with huge amounts of money or eliminating them if they resisted CIA-sponsorship. Baitullah Mehsud was in Guantanamo Bay where after several bouts of torture interspersed with offers of inducements he finally broke down and agreed to work for the CIA. He was sent back to the tribal areas where he became “leader of the Pakistani Taliban”. Similarly, at Bagram air base north of Kabul, a number of individuals were forced to switch loyalties through similar coercive tactics and sent back to the tribal area.

Next, the CIA demanded that Musharraf purge the ISI of all elements, secular or Islamic, who had association or sympathies with the Taliban or Pakistani tribal population. The CIA alleged that such elements were secretly providing intelligence information obtained from the CIA to the enemy thus undermining US military operations. Musharraf dutifully obeyed and cleansed the ISI of those reluctant to work with or had qualms about siding with the CIA or against their own people. Thus the ISI became isolated from its own intelligence assets and started to rely on the CIA for information inside its own tribal areas.

The CIA also encouraged Musharraf to crackdown on anyone challenging his authoritarian rule. They capitalized on popular resentment against his oppressive rule and tapped most of the takfiris (those who declare other Muslims kafirs thus justify their killing), sectarian and so-called jihadi organizations like Maulana Faqir Mohammad of Bajaur agency, Maulana Fadhlullah in Swat, Sipah-e-Sahaba, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi from southern Punjab, etc. Secular political parties and militant organizations like the Baluchistan Liberation Army (BLA) were also recruited inBaluchistan. The Baluchis had already been alienated because of repeated crackdowns and military operations against them or their organizations for decades.

Organizationally the CIA kept all these groups separate from each other despite being on its payroll. These groups worked in their local areas where they indulged in low-level terrorist activities. These included the kidnapping and killing of Chinese engineers in Baluchistan who are building the seaport at Gwadar on the Arabian Sea, located at the entrance to the Persian Gulf and halfway between Karachi and the Iranian border. Maulana Fadlullah in Swat kept challenging government writ by broadcasting propaganda on his FM radio station, recruited people for his organization, and gradually took over law enforcement functions of the local government. In short, the CIA tapped almost every disgruntled local organization for its own nefarious designs.

All those who came aboard the CIA-destabilization program from Afghanistan or Pakistan were financed, armed and trained to conduct terrorist activities inside Pakistan and against the army. In this program the CIA also sought help from or outsourced projects to India’s intelligence agency, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), as well as Israeli Mossad whose agents swamped Afghan cities bordering Pakistan’s tribal areas. India also opened several consulates there. These are thinly disguised spy dens. On the other hand, the CIA demanded that thePakistan military crush these CIA-sponsored militants. Clearly, US funding and arming of both sides was meant to instigate civil war.

The Pakistani government and military were reluctant to respond militarily and wanted to negotiate with the militants. A number of deals were struck but the CIA ensured that none of them succeeded. Using drones, the CIA and US military killed those tribal elders who signed peace deals with Pakistan. Naik Mohammad was the leader of the Mehsud tribe before Baitullah Mehsud came on the scene but when he (Naik Muhammad) had a change of heart and made a peace agreement with the Pakistani military he was immediately eliminated through a USmissile strike. Similarly all those tribal elders and tribes that had sympathy with Pakistan and its military or made peace agreements with it became the victims of CIA drone attacks. The USkept on insisting that instead of negotiations or peace agreements, Pakistan should militarily crush the CIA-sponsored militants. Thus, Washington deliberately intensified the civil war situation in the tribal areas by pressing the Pakistani military to attack its own people. The US has historically sponsored rebels against governments to carry out terrorist acts and to overthrow them. But in Pakistan’s case, the US is financing both sides in a civil war to weaken the state.

With these policies in place the ISI gradually lost its hold in the tribal areas and could not support military operations effectively. Thus in a short time, the CIA took sole charge of intelligence gathering, recruitment and conducting operations, leaving the ISI and other Pakistani agencies in the cold. Meanwhile, the US kept insisting that Pakistan must intensify its war against the militants ostensibly to eliminate terrorism. The ISI lost its eyes and ears and has been virtually blinded from the ground realities in its own tribal areas.

ISI confronts CIA — 2006-07

Finally, in 2006-07 the military and ISI realized the double game the CIA was playing. They wondered why only those tribesmen were being targeted and killed by CIA-drones who sympathized with Pakistan or wanted peace agreements to resolve disputes. They questioned why CIA-sponsored rebels were better paid and equipped than the military, how rebels obtained accurate intelligence about the military’s positions and how they had better logistical support. A number of rebels not only had support from India’s RAW and Israeli Mossad but these agencies were also sending their own men inside Pakistan to perpetrate terrorist acts. Evidence emerged when some of these foreign intruders were killed and local tribesmen found out at the time of ghusl that these people were not Muslims because they were not circumcised. The ISI also spotted local CIA-sponsored rebels in the company of RAW and Mossad agents in Kabul, Nepal and other foreign cities.

Realizing their blunder in relying on the CIA, the ISI decided to confront the Americans with such evidence but without upsetting them. The Musharraf regime and ISI could not do much else except distance themselves on intelligence matters and to try to be independent of the CIA. But it was already too late.

War begins with Lal Masjid massacre — July 2007

The clash at Lal Masjid in Islamabad in July 2007 between the security forces and the Lal Masjid administration provided the trigger for a wider war. The security forces surrounded the religious complex that comprised the masjid and the adjoining Jamia Hafsa (a girls’ madrassah and hostel) where hundreds of teachers and students—male and females—were holed up far away from the tribal areas where hostilities were taking place. The US encouraged Musharraf to show his mettle and offered a big reward if he crushed them successfully. Finally the USand the Western world pumped Musharraf so much that he was trapped, like Saddam Husain in invading Kuwait, to attack the mosque-madrassah complex.

Pakistani commandos attacked the Lal Masjid complex and massacred the men, woman and children in cold blood using guns as well as chemical weapons. Resentment against the army and the ISI was already running high. Over the years Musharraf had made millions of dollars by kidnapping ordinary people —t he “missing persons” — and handed them over to the CIA branding them as al-Qaeda, Taliban or their sympathizers. Numerous petitions were filed in the Supreme Court where the independent-minded Chief Justice Iftekhar Mohammad Chaudhry was conducting hearings to force government agencies and their officials to account for or free those kidnapped people.

This was the moment the US was waiting for; a majority of the people felt revulsion against the military and sided with the Lal Masjid administration, teachers and students despite the latter’s radical views. In sympathy with the massacred teachers and students of the Lal Masjid, the CIA-sponsored rebels declared open war against the state. The takfiri sectarian outfits and Baitullah Mehsud’s tribe unleashed a wave of suicide attacks against the military, the ISI and other law enforcement agencies that were already totally alienated from the people. In most cases people were happy to see the military get a bloody nose. Hundreds of soldiers and paramilitary personnel were killed. The bombers did not spare any place; they exploded bombs in the mess hall of the commandos that had launched the Lal Masjid operation, they attacked the ISI head office, the Ordnance factory at Wah and a number of political party leaders who opposed their ideology. Thousands of innocent people were also killed in these suicide attacks.

By the end of 2007, Musharraf was further alienated as he felt threatened by the Supreme Court where a Full Bench was hearing a petition whether Musharraf could run for President while serving as army chief. Without waiting for the court’s verdict Musharraf dismissed the entire top judiciary by imposing a state of emergency on November 3. As a result the Lawyers’ movement to restore the superior judiciary became quite popular.

By the end of 2007 the US encouraged CIA-supported tribes and takfiri sectarian outfits hitherto working independently against the state to come under one umbrella, the Tehrik-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) in November 2007 with Baitullah Mehsud as its head. The Afghan Taliban immediately denounced this group for using their name causing confusion among ordinary Pakistanis who thought that the Taliban were now coming to Pakistan as well. Mullah Umar of the Afghan Taliban condemned the TTP for having political designs in Pakistan. He made clear that his organization had no association with the TTP and did not have any political aims in Pakistan. Curiously, the TTP has not revealed its own political aims or objectives in Pakistan. The US considered the TTP chief Baituallh Mehsud officially a terrorist but he was controlled, directed, funded and armed by the CIA to wage war in Pakistan. Even Musharraf lamented in his resignation speech on TV that the ISI had given exact location and coordinates of Baituallh to the CIA a number of times but the attack never took place.

US multi-dimensional war moves to Pakistan for destabilization

While CIA-sponsored rebels launched attack throughout the country, US forces started to attack the tribal areas regularly by early 2008 firing missiles from drones killing hundreds of innocent people. Initially confined to the tribal areas, the war now moved to the cities and the adjoining areas as well. By the late summer of 2008 CIA-sponsored insurgents had fanned out into Bajaur agency and Swat. Using hundreds of caves, a complex maze of tunnels and underground facilities with huge storage of lethal weapons including antitank missile, rocket launchers and machine guns, they started to ambush Pakistani troops. In an unprecedented act of hostility, on September 3, US ground forces entered Pakistani territory and attacked a village in the tribal area.

Musharraf was already deeply unpopular for supporting the US “war on terror”; the US, therefore, successfully tried its old trick of political change. It patched up his differences with Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). Negotiations led to a three-way deal under the inappropriate title, the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), under which all corruption charges against the PPP leaders were withdrawn; they were allowed to return from exile and participate in elections. If they won they would be allowed to form a government while Musharraf would become a figurehead President. But before elections were held, Benazir was assassinated. Elections were naturally delayed but the subsequent results gave the PPP a majority leading to Asif Ali Zardari, Benazir’s widower, becoming the president. As an insignificant owner of a tiny cinema hall, he always aspired to riches; for that he was prepared to indulge in every immoral act. He soon earned the reputation of the most corrupt person in Pakistan.

Zardari is a venal character and is even worse than Musharraf. He has obeyed every US order; under his leadership the system has become more corrupt, the economy has been weakened and within a few months he has brought the country to the brink of default. Instead of generating resources from within, he has gone with a begging bowl to the IMF to rescue Pakistan. Still the country is on the verge of bankruptcy. The US could not be happier with Zardari for he has accelerated the pace to create the conditions for US intervention.

In 2008 the US also expanded its war at the international and diplomatic levels to further weaken Pakistan. The West keeps pressuring Pakistan “to do more” to stop the Taliban from entering Afghanistan, allegedly from safe havens in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Simulta-neously, the West has escalated the stakes by first accusing individuals of committing terrorism, then linking these private citizens with retired ISI officers accusing them of training, and finally directly blaming the agency for committing or aiding and abetting numerous terrorist acts outside the country. However, no hard evidence has ever been provided. The US and India also blamed the ISI for the July 2008 suicide attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul without any shred of evidence. The aim is to malign the agency so much that demands for its dismantling would become irresistible. If the ISI were dismantled, both the military and government would be blinded and the West would move on to bigger targets to cut the military and the country to size.

The US has been grooming India as a regional power to rival China’s rise. This makes the dismantling of ISI imperative before Pakistan’s military and state could be cut down to a Bhutan-size country where it would be unable to resist Indian domination. Thus India was brought onboard by the West and allowed to conduct a campaign of vilification and defamation using terrorism charges against Pakistan. Every few years a major terrorist incident is conducted in India either by Hindu fanatics and terrorists organizations or by the CIA-Mossad combine but the blame always falls on Pakistan. The Mumbai attacks fit this pattern, falsely accusing Pakistan without offering any evidence. Each such incident raises tensions and brings the two countries to the brink of war. But the purpose of such Indian exercises is not to wage war, rather it is to malign with false charges the Pakistan army, the ISI as a rogue agency and the so-called democratic government as too weak to control all this.

The US has also used nuclear proliferation charges to build a case for “unstable” Pakistan. Since the inception of the Pakistani nuclear program in the mid-1970s, charges of nuclear proliferation against Pakistan have frequently been heard. The Zionists have been the principal instigators but during the cold war, the US looked the other way. However, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the West became emboldened. If the Zionists are so concerned about the nonexistent nuclear weapons of Iran then they must be going crazy over Pakistan’s real nuclear weapons. Musharraf tried to calm their fears by using a tactic that pro-Western rulers know well: bow before them to gain their sympathy and hope he will be spared. Musharraf secretly built friendship and then made overt contacts with the Zionist entity by publicly arranging the foreign ministers’ meeting in Istanbul. He was about to recognize Israel when public anger stopped him.

US President-elect Barack Obama has also launched a surprise foreign policy initiative to resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan. It is not due to US goodwill; Pakistanis and Kashmiris should not get exited. They should be aware that anytime the US or the West shows interest in solving the Kashmir dispute it is strictly for their own interest. But here the USgoodwill announcement has another sinister twist; since Islamabad’s only enemy is India, Pakistan has announced repeatedly that its nuclear weapons are India-specific and if the Kashmirdispute were somehow resolved there would be no reason to keep these weapons. Hence, after “resolution” of the Kashmir dispute, Pakistan would be forced to forfeit its nuclear weapons and associated capability to the US through the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Politically and socially also Pakistan has been considerably weakened as almost all political leaders remain under US influence. Whatever the issue, it is the US ambassador in Islamabadthat acts as the viceroy and gives direction. The Awami National Party (ANP) that was traditionally considered as left oriented did not feel any qualms in quietly accepting the US role as arbitrator. Its leaders have also accepted millions of dollars in bribes from the US. Similarly the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) has remained firmly in the Western camp willing to do their bidding. Though both serve the same master, at the street level the ANP and MQM have waged gun battles and paralyzed the port city of Karachi for years. Their collaboration with the US and India can be gauged from the fact that as soon as the terrorists attacked Mumbai hotels, ethnic riots broke out in Karachi. There are widespread rumors that perhaps early next year such riots will again erupt with even greater ferocity. Both organizations are widely perceived as lackeys of the US and follow their instructions to instigate riots instantly. Similarly theUS has placed its men in important positions in the bureaucracy controlling all levers of power.

The CIA war plans for Obama

The stage is thus set for the US noose to tighten around Pakistan’s neck. The country was weakened by the CIA-sponsored guerrilla war while the US made Pakistan unstable politically, economically and socially. Internationally also Pakistan has been maligned on every issue, from nuclear proliferation to terrorism and the arms race.

The Zionists have given President-elect Barack Obama a tight agenda to destabilize Pakistan and eliminate its nuclear capability. To carry this agenda forward, Obama has asked Robert Gates to continue as Secretary of Defense to oversee the war on Pakistan. The US is withdrawing its forces from Iraq and will deploy three more combat brigades in Afghanistan by late spring. They are not to fight the Taliban who already control more than 70 per cent of the country and have almost encircled Kabul. They will be deployed mostly in the South, according to Gates during his visit to Qandahar on December 11.

Similarly the assignment given to Obama is to achieve the Pakistani project in his first term, that is, in about three to four years. This time frame is significant and can be independently confirmed. After meeting with Robert Gates, the top US commander in Afghanistan, General David McKiernan, told reporters that “it would take three to four years to buildup Afghan security forces sufficiently to reach a ‘tipping point’ leading to less reliance on some 70,000 foreign troops (emphasis added). For this the US has contracted India to provide 150,000 troops to train Afghan security forces; the Indians might also participate in the war in Afghanistan and perhaps also in Pakistan. India is already training Afghan intelligence agency personnel.

An even more exact date than the time frame mentioned above was given by another arm of the US government. A US report released in early December by the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism stated that if there were a WMD attack on the US, it would originate in Pakistan. “Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan,” and that “the focus of US policy should be to help Pakistan achieve political and economic stability”, the report said.

The date given to achieve this is 2013 — exactly four years from now. The commission briefed President Bush, Vice President-elect Joe Biden and senior congressional leaders on December 3 and warned: “it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013”.

“Our highest priority is to prevent an attack on American citizens, to prevent weapons of mass destruction from being used here in our country and around the world,” said Ms Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary when asked to comment on the report. “We recognise that there is more to do, but what we have done is provided a really good foundation for the next team to be able to take that on and continue to try to keep us safe,” she said.

The report observed that while Pakistan was a US ally, “there is a grave danger it could also be an unwitting source of a terrorist attack on the United States — possibly using weapons of mass destruction”. The Commission urged the next administration and Congress to pay particular attention to Pakistan, “as it is the geographic crossroads for terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. Indeed, the border provinces of Pakistan today are a safe haven, if not the safe haven, for Al Qaeda.”

The covert US policy is to weaken over time the Pakistani state to such an extent that it would justify depriving it of nuclear weapons capability. But to deflect the charge they talk in general terms of “weakness” without saying who is causing it while at the same time raising the bogey of radical Islamic militants gaining access to and possession of nuclear weapons thereby increasing the risk considerably. Although the report acknowledged that Pakistan’s 85 nuclear weapons are under complete control of the Pakistani military and these weapons and their components are safe from inside or outside theft, “the risk that radical Islamists — Al Qaeda or Taliban — may gain access to nuclear material is real,” the report claimed. “Should the Pakistani government become weaker, and the Pakistani nuclear arsenal grow, that risk will increase,” the report said. Hence US policy is clear: once the Pakistani state is weakened to where they think it is time to move, they would raise a hue and cry about the bogey of Islamic radicals and militants gaining access to and control of weapons.

The US plan is to deprive Pakistan of its nuclear weapons/capability and reduce the country to manageable size like Nepal or Sikkim. Pakistan would not then be in a position to challenge Indian hegemony, and the US would be able to get a Baluchistan corridor to the warm water port at Gwadar. This will encircle Iran and China and control the energy resources of thePersian Gulf and Central Asia as well as their access routes.

Who has the right to change dictatorship and the corrupt system

Thus, the writing is on the wall; the target, the timeframe and date, and the mechanism by which it is to be achieved are all spelled out. If the generals do not wake up, in a few years’ time they will not have their perks and powerful divisions to command. Rather they might be performing traffic duties in a rump Pakistan. Their pursuit of narrow personal and class interests at the expense of the country’s interests and their greed and narrow vision have brought Pakistan to the brink of disaster where its very survival is at stake.

Some people are pleased that the military and law enforcement agencies are bearing the brunt of suicide bombings; they can no longer come out of their homes in uniform. People feel that they are reaping what they sowed. While this may be correct, it is shortsighted. Everyone will suffer if the country falls under total US control or the entire system collapses.

Others are pleased that the current pro-western and corrupt political order is coming to an end and, although there are no positive signs on the horizon, they continue to hope for some form of Islamic system to be built on the ruins of the colonial system. This is too simplistic and based on wishful thinking; an Islamic system does not come into existence on its own. The fact is that the US will not dismantle the pro-western system to set up an Islamic order as is apparent from its behavior in Iraq. Why should the US do what is primarily the responsibility of the Muslims? On the other hand, if Muslims do not have a country or state, how can they dream of bringing about Islamic change — small or big, such as an Islamic revolution?

Dictatorships and corrupt and unjust systems are bad, demoralizing and lead to despondency but living under occupation and subjugation that result from foreign invasion are a curse (a form of aazaab) from Allah subhanu wa ta’ala which Muslims should not pray for. After the US occupied Iraq, Mossad agents secretly entered the country and assassinated most of the nuclear and missile scientists and engineers. This has not received much media attention. Similarly they blew up most of the mosques in Shia and Sunni areas to instigate religious and sectarian conflict in society. This leads to a dysfunctional society that is unable to stand on its own feet for a long time. This explains why the period after independence from colonial rule is called neo-colonialism where the system, values, norms and laws of the colonial power continue to be embraced willingly and may last for three or more generations.

It is the duty of all people, especially Muslims to overthrow a corrupt and unjust system otherwise they will pay a heavy price. It is also their right and duty to change the system in any way possible to bring it closer to the values of Islam, regardless of how long it takes. Foreign subjugation that results from an invasion exacts a much higher price and lasts much longer; the society’s productive capacity is stymied keeping it dependent on external powers for decades.

There is, however, nothing inevitable about the US designs on Pakistan. These can be countered effectively if there is a will and unity. The key is to gradually distance oneself from the USand its policies. The following steps can act as guides to save and strengthen the country:

1. As a first step, the incompetent and thoroughly corrupt Zardari should be removed from office and impeached. So must the government he heads. He has become a security risk. His apologetic behavior toward India and statements on a number of issues are disturbing and reflect his lack of loyalty to Pakistan. For instance, he has accepted false terrorism charges byIndia and the US; he has termed Indian air force violations of Pakistani airspace as only a “technical mistake”; he has remained silent on India’s blocking the flow of water in the ChenabRiver that has rendered tens of thousands of acres of fertile agricultural land in Pakistan barren and waste. Despite this, he insists India is not an enemy but a “good friend” of Pakistan.

2. The ISI and other law enforcement agencies should stop interfering in politics and in the lives of ordinary people.

3. The deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry should be immediately restored to November 2, 2007 position.

4. An open trial of the former President General Musharraf should be held for abrogating the Constitution and for other equally serious crimes.

5. No politician holding public office should be allowed to keep his assets and money outside the country. He should move all his foreign assets and cash to Pakistan, declare these prior to running for public office. And general elections should be held every four instead of five years.

6. Two commissions should be constituted; one on national security and the other on planning economic policies whose independent members should not be pro-western or IMF-dominated. The purpose of these commissions would be to make policies for the country while a government’s performance should be measured in terms of how faithfully they implement them. Thus, planning and implementing functions should be separated. The chief characteristic of economic commission members should be that they plan economic policies based on self-reliance to generate local resources and complete projects locally.

7. To institute a two-year compulsory military training for students after college (17 or 18 years of age) before going to higher studies to prepare them for the defence of the country against the US-imposed war.

8. Identify and ban all takfiri and secular organizations that are supported, financed, and armed by the CIA and are being used against Pakistan.

9. End all cooperation in the so-called “war on terror” immediately while continuing the crackdown on those organizations that are serving as tools of the US and CIA.

10. At the international level, participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) should be enhanced and cooperation with the US and NATO reduced. It is logical to cooperate more with ascending powers than with declining oppressive ones. Neither Allah subhanahu ta’ala nor human beings like a person to ride two boats (divided loyalties) at the same time.

11. Complete the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) pipeline project on an accelerated basis even if India does not join because of US influence. China has already shown its willingness to join the IPC (Iran-Pakistan-China) route.

12. Re-orient Pakistan’s foreign policy to “look East”, i.e., toward Iran and China and promote regional cooperation.

13. Pakistan, Iran and China should resolve the Afghanistan issue with Afghan Taliban only so that Afghanistan will not act against its neighbors or their regional interests. Their land will not be used for terrorism or become a safe haven for foreign terrorists. Western forces could then be asked to leave.

14. Pakistan military and air force should immediately engage US and NATO forces to stop them from attacking Pakistani land directly or through CIA-operated drones.

15. If the US retaliates, it should be considered an abrogation of the agreement by which Pakistan has provided logistical support and allowed transportation of water, food, fuel, and arms to US and NATO forces through its territory.

These are the minimum steps necessary to save the country from the impending disaster. These steps will not only test the Pakistani leadership’s sincerity in saving the country but also strengthen it. If smaller countries without possessing nuclear weapons can successfully defend their freedom from US designs then Pakistan, a much bigger and more powerful country, could also do so unless it lacks the vision and the will to do so.