RANDOM THOUGHTS: U.S. Aid - BY: Dr. A.Q. Khan

imageRANDOM THOUGHTS
U.S. Aid
Dr. A.Q. Khan

dr.a.quadeer.khan@gmail.com

Recently US President Trump wholeheartedly abused us, accused us of being liars, cheats, frauds, dishonest, etc. There followed some mild public outcry here, but our rulers immediately started advising us to calmly swallow all US insults and to try to resolve our differences by negotiation. Never ever before have the leaders of more than 200 million people, armed with nuclear weapons, missiles and conventional weapons and having almost a million armed forces at their disposal, been so insulted. When President Carter offered US $ 400 million to Gen. Zia, he threw it back at them as being mere peanuts. We were then offered billions of Dollars without selling off our sovereignty and self respect. This reminds me of the blunt response by Dr. Zulfiqar Mirza to MQM’s blackmailing. He said: “We don’t take them seriously. They are like our cooks demanding a higher salary and leaving upon being rejected. After a few days he will be back for the same salary and the same work, i.e. cooking, serving and washing dishes.” Our rulers are no better; both parties are the same, no self-respect, no dignity. Musharraf and Zardari were no better. From Wikileaks we know that Musharraf and his cronies, Zardari and Rehman Malik were all telling the US Ambassador that they had me under house arrest (illegally) and that I was not making any fuss (which I refrained from at the advice of Mr. Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain.) They then used the Chief Justice of the Islamabad High Court to legalize this detention. When the judge announced the verdict (with orders not be disclose the contents to the public), the Interior Secretary, Kamal Shah, rushed to the US Embassy and handed over the judgment to the Ambassador; this while it took us, the concerned party, more than 6 months to lay hands on that very same judgment. This was the kind of treatment our leaders meted out to a person who saved a disgraced and defeated nation from further ignominy. I had offered to travel to the US to tell the whole story, but our rulers feared what I could expose and for their own survival. This malafide judgment was later quashed by Justice Ejaz Choudhry of the Lahore High Court.

Only the All-Knowing Almighty knows the reason why we have been saddled with such corrupt, dishonest rulers almost throughout our whole history as an independent nation. We have been told that a nation who has no self-respect is little more than an animal. Self-respect (ghairat) is an Arabic word not having an equivalent translation in any other language. Its meaning contains elements of self-respect, pride, honesty, impeccable character, etc. Ghairat is a god-given characteristic passed down from generation to generation. I am not advocating assaulting and/or killing people for no good reason. What I do mean is that, as a nation, we should have cordial relations with all nations on an equal footing, not as beggars or mercenaries. We should always keep in mind that nobody shows sympathy or respect to a beggar.

The Sikhs in India showed this kind of pride after the attack on the Golden Temple by the Indian army. They killed Indira Gandhi and the Army Chief and almost killed the Police Chie. They also killed all the Hindu leaders who were involved in the massacre. Much earlier, they had killed the former Lt. Governor, Michael O’Dwyer, in England because he had given orders to shoot and kill unarmed people in Punjab.

Now back to Trump’s insult to our rulers and the public. He said that the US had foolishly given us 33 billion Dollars (under Bush and Obama I guess he meant) and that we were liars, cheats, frauds, etc. Knowledgeable people know that most of the money, the cost of Pakistan’s freedom and sovereignty, was used by Musharraf to let the Americans use airfields, airports, road, etc. People say the government hardly received US $ 22 billion, which come to about 2 billion per year. During the same period, our patriotic expatriates sent home US $ 157,44 billion, In return they are often treated as criminals, forced to pay bribes and sometimes their goods confiscated. However, we are willing to lick the shoes of the Americans for a mere 2 to 2.5 billion per year. I have never heard a whisper from any of our leaders telling the Americans to go to hell or that we should restrict their freedom of movement in our country. You need national pride and self-respect for that – unfortunately a rare commodity in Pakistan.

US aid is not a game-changer. Our nuclear and missile arsenal and the support of the Chinese in the defence field is more than enough to safeguard our security and independence. However, successive rulers have turned us into beggars.

While our soul, sovereignty and pride was sold by a dictator to the USA in 2001, that disgraced body was trampled on and buried by the CIA agent, Raymond Davis, in broad daylight in Lahore. No policeman, no Sultan Rahi was there to shoot this criminal or to burn his car. On the contrary, he was treated almost alike a state guest, well looked after and departed as a distinguished dignitary.

Some Divine Edicts about such people as our rulers: “Such were (also) the A’d people, they rejected the signs of their Lord and Cherisher, disobeyed His apostles and followed the command of every powerful, obstinate transgressor (USA?). And they were pursued by a curse (lanat) in this life and on the Day of Judgment. Ah, behold! For the A’d rejected their Lord and Cherisher. Ah behold! Removed (from sight) were A’d and the people of Hud.” (11:59-60) “When We decide to destroy a nation, We first send a definite order to those among them who are given the good things of this life and yet transgress, so that the word is proved true against them. Then we destroy the utterly.” (17:16) “And We have placed leaders in every town, its wicked men to plot and burrow therein. But they only plot against their own souls and they perceive it not.” (6: 123)

Posted on Jan 16, 18 | 2:26 pm