Stop This War of Words!

The recent bombings in Mumbai have created more tension within Pakistan. America has already been putting a great amount of pressure on Pakistan and these recent bombings have encouraged the U.S. to put even more pressure on us. It is noteworthy that in an official statement U.S. President Barack Obama condemned the Mumbai attacks and sympathized with the Indians. There is nothing wrong with what he did; rather, it is surprising that he and his government have never expressed condolences or kind words after the many bombings that have taken place in this country. Additionally, the U.S. has stated that it will help India in its investigation of the Mumbai bombings (although something seems suspicious about this). After finding and killing Osama bin Laden, they have been blaming us for many things. When will America stop all its vitriolic attacks against us?

Draw your attention to this: After the killing of investigative journalist, Saleem Shahzad, U.S. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mike Mullen blamed the Pakistani government for letting this happen. If a senior and esteemed U.S. officer such as Mullen — who claims to be a friend of the Pakistani army — can engage in such groundless blaming, then what can we expect from the FBI? It, too, will blame Pakistan and say that it is responsible for the Mumbai bombings. I admit that writing and thinking like this shows how paranoid we Pakistanis really are. But our everyday reality has gotten us into this state of mind. Not a single day goes by that we do not hear something bad about our government or our army. Their government officials issue most of these complaints and the American media mindlessly promotes the views of these officials.

So far, the Indian government and media have been very careful not to blame a specific party for the Mumbai attacks. Maharashtra’s leader has implied that the bombings were caused by people from a foreign country and has also said that he has not received any concrete proofs yet. It is possible that when the public pressure eases he will issue a different statement because blaming and raising suspicion will not benefit any of us in this region; such finger-pointing will only generate more animosity between nations.

Looking at all the recent events, it is quite possible that America will become India’s ally and both countries will jointly put great pressure on us. Won’t this fuel more anger and make South Asia more unstable and dangerous? That is the real question. Anyway, I think that India has understood some of this and it is for this reason that it has maintained a somewhat calm posture up to this point. They know that much of our anger is not because of current external pressure, but rather, has roots in our involvement in the Cold War on America’s behalf.