A Misleading Report
By Nosheen Saeed

PAKISTAN has been rated as the ninth most failed State, slipping from 34th last year to 9th this year— one of the sharpest declines! The report was complied by the US Foreign Policy magazine and the US based Fund for Peace think-tank.

The report reflects on the credibility of the institution, that has conjured such a fallible and fallacious review. We have supposedly joined the top ten Sudan, Dr Congo, Ivory Coast, Iraq, Zimbabwe, Chad, Somalia, Haiti and Afghanistan. Undoubtedly, the think-tank consists of members that belong to the team, that conceived the war in Iraq; the 25 or 30 neo-conservative intellectuals, most of them Jewish, pushing President Bush to change the course of history.

They made America bite more than it can chew? These intellectuals wish to change the political culture of the entire Middle East, by following the neo-conservative doctrine, which is invading Muslim countries, in the name of freedom and democracy.

These war lovers are out to create a new world order, preaching human rights while trampling them in new killing fields. They have made the world a dangerous place to live in; especially for Americans by firstly jeopardizing their security and secondly by dragging them into a war, they disapprove off. They are sowing the seeds of despair and hatred and annihilating civilizations.

Their adventurism is producing bin Ladens by the dozens and spreading terrorism worldwide. While the Muslim world loathes the very name of Osama bin Laden, the neo-conservatives are turning him into a hero. With all the might and latest technology at their disposal, why can’t they capture him?

The answer is simple; if they do, the war on terror will come to an end, which at the present moment is not in the interest of those following a geo-political agenda. They want the Middle East to be another Germany and Japan after World War-II. After Iraq they have set their eyes on Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Syria and Pakistan. T

he web is full of articles with captions of ‘Bye-Bye Pakistan’ and ‘Strike Iran, watch Pakistan and Turkey fall’. According to them the choice is between extremist Islam, secular fascism or democracy. Justifying pre-emptive war, they believe, there are three possible strategies; appeasement, deterrence and pre-emption. Because appeasement and deterrence will not work, preemption is the only strategy.

Therefore the US must implement an aggressive policy. The outcome will shape the world for the next 25 years. The neo-conservatives, who marketed the war, consider the Iraq war a gigantic historical experiment. “If the US wins quickly without a bloodbath, it will be a colossus that will dictate the world order. If the victory is slow and contaminated, it will be impossible to go on to other Arab States after Iraq. It will stop there. But if America is beaten, the consequences will be catastrophic.

Its deterrent capability will be weakened, its friends will abandon it and it will become insular. Extreme instability will be engendered in the Middle East.” Krauthammer, the well-known columnist continues, “The President understands that everything is riding on this. So he will throw everything we’ve got into this. He will do everything that has to be done.”

Getting back to the failed State index; it’s nothing but a pathetic propaganda unleashed by a biased lobby, that wants to demoralize the people of Pakistan. It’s nothing but a Psyop stratagem which is psychological operation or a designed action to reinforce behaviours, favourable to the originators objective or specific agenda, which in this case is to influence the mindset of the people, make them panic, pressurize the Government of Pakistan, arouse feelings of anger and build on the fears of the people.

This report is nothing but a geopolitical well defined agenda, to destabilize the country further. Imagine Pakistan being worse than Afghanistan; a nation reduced to rubble and bitter conflict after decades of warfare. The report ranked nations according to their viability.

They judged States according to 12 criteria; mounting demographic pressures, massive movement of refugees and internally displaced peoples, legacy of vengeance- seeking group grievance, chronic and sustained human flight, uneven economic development along group lines, sharp and / or severe economic decline, criminalization and delegitimisation of the State, progressive deterioration of public services, widespread violation of human rights, security apparatus as “Wtate within State”, rise of factionalized elites and intervention of other States or external actors.

In Pakistan’s case the contributing factors were Pakistan’s inability to police the Tribal Areas, near the Afghan border, the devastating earthquake last October, in Kashmir and rising ethnic tensions. The second annual “failed States index” was based on “tens of thousands of articles” from different sources, gathered over several months in 2005 and reviewed by experts. Since the inception of Pakistan the Tribal Areas lived by their unwritten tribal code, not by the legal code of Pakistan. In these areas rivalries and feuds, crime and punishment were determined by the Tribal Jirga. Successive Governments maintained status quo.

For the first time in the history of Pakistan, the Government is trying to establish its control there. Ethnic violence has diminished to a great extent compared to the 90s. As far as the earthquake is concerned the Pakistani administration has done a better job than the Bush administration, during and after Katrina.

Talking of conflict; both the US and Israel have never managed to exist without conflict with their neighbours and have inherently colonial mandates rooted in religious doctrines that are, at best, incompatible with the post modern world.

If a failed State is one that can’t provide security for their citizens then we are all aware of the failure of the Bush administration, to prevent terror attacks of September 11, 2001, in which innocent Americans died. The mother of all democracies is dealing with twelve insurgencies; Jammu and Kashmir, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Manipur, Assam, and significant parts of Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh are anarchic. Crime rate in Dehli and Mumbai beats all records and only about one third of major crimes are solved. In Mumbai they have godfathers, in western UP they go to caste panchayat; in Bihar they go to the caste mafia leader; and in Telangana and Bastar they go to the Peoples War.

The quality of justice especially in the lower courts is suspect; corruption is well-entrenched and accepted. Almost 70 per cent of the Indian nation lives below the poverty line; deprived of a balanced diet, shelter, access to education, health care and basic civic amenities. Nearly 60 per cent of Indians are illiterate. Infant mortality is 137 per1000 births.

On all infrastructure indices, India is below even Pakistan. There is no focus on education, health, water, work, transport, sewage etc. Would one call India a modernized State or a failed State? States with superior technology have developed a tendency to assess the value of a State or what powers they say a State must have. It was astonishing to hear Manmohan Singh, the Indian Prime Minister describe SAARC as a bunch of “failed States.”

This mischievous report is mind-boggling; on the one hand the US categorizes Pakistan as a strategic partner and a front ally and on the other it continues passing statements to embarrass the Government of Pakistan.

The writer is a free lance columnist.●

© 2005 Shamim Ahmad