Pak Tea House » Politics » A study of Anti-Americanism in Pakistan (Part II)
A study of Anti-Americanism in Pakistan (Part II)
By Abdul Majeed Abid
History tells us that relations between Pakistan and United States started on the right note, as demonstrated by aforementioned speech of Prime Minister Liaqat Ali Khan. It was followed by the decade of co-operation between the two countries in matters of trade and military training. As we can see, the seeds of perceived animosity were laid during the 1965-71 period during which United States stopped the military aid to both Pakistan and India in the wake of the 1965 war. The people responsible for arousing these sentiments were the dexterous politicians of Pakistan and to some extent the religio-political parties and they did that just to mask their own shortcomings.
A similar attitude was shown by Mr. Bhutto when he blamed the alarming political situation upon the machinations of United States that wanted to “stop him from forming a Muslim-bloc”. In his book ‘Political Dynamics of Sindh 1947-1977’ Tanvir Ahmed Tahir suggests that the post-1971 anti-Americanism in Pakistan was more an occupation of progressive and leftist groups. This is confirmed in Hassan Abbas’ book, ‘Pakistan’s drift into extremism: Allah, the Army and America’s War on Terror’.
According to Lubna Rafique’s 1994 paper, ‘Benazir & British Press, ( Rafiue, Lubna. Benazir and British Press. 1986-1994, Gautam Publishers, Lahore, Pakistan, 1994) it was only in the last year of Z.A. Bhutto’s regime (1977), that he started to allude to moving out of the ‘American camp,’ calling the US a ‘white elephant.’ He also went on to accuse the Jimmy Carter administration for financing the religious parties’ agitation against him in 1977.
After the ousting of Mr. Bhutto came the martial law decade(1977-88) orchestrated by General Zia ul Haq. The setup that came to power because of unrest created by parties that were essentially anti-American in outlook ended up becoming a pawn in the hands of the same Americans. Zia-ul-Haq milked the opportunities when neighbor Afghanistan was attacked by USSR and a communist government was installed there. The flow of dollars towards the coffers of Pakistan continued until 1986. In 1985, Section 620E(e) (the Pressler amendment) was added to the Foreign Assistance Act, requiring the President to certify to Congress that Pakistan does not possess a nuclear explosive device during the fiscal year for which aid is to be provided. With the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan, Pakistan’s nuclear activities again came under intensive U.S. scrutiny and, in 1990, President Bush again suspended aid to Pakistan. Under the provisions of the Pressler amendment, most bilateral economic and all military aid ended and deliveries of major military equipment ceased. In 1992, Congress partially relaxed the scope of the aid cutoff to allow for food assistance and continuing support for nongovernmental organizations (Congressional Research Service Issue Brief for Congress on Pakistan-U.S Relations, Feb 2006).
It was followed by the dwindling relations between the two countries in the 90s culminating in an ebb in the relation during 1998 following the Nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan. Interestingly, when the Pakistan Army was caught with its pants down in Kargil, it was the United States that acted as the peace-ensurer following an ugly fight.
The Musharraf era (1999-2008) witnessed the ascent of Pakistan-U.S relation to an altogether different level of co-operation following 9/11 attacks. Despite the fact that not a single Pakistani was involved in the horrendous attacks on World Trade Center, Pakistanis were targeted by and large by the American media and hate-crimes surfaced against Pakistanis living in the United States. The U.S attack on Afghanistan did not help regarding the negative feelings harbored by Pakistanis towards U.S since the 70s and then the 90s. This anti-U.S sentiment was cashed by the alliance of religio-political parties in NWFP(now Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), one of Pakistan’s provinces bordering Afghanistan and for the first time in the history of Pakistan, religious parties won a landslide victory in 2002 elections. On the official front, Pakistan was awarded the non-NATO ally status while the leaders of various parties kept blaming America for all the ills in the country. The top command of Al Qaeda and Taliban sought refuge in the treacherous terrain of semi-autonomous tribal agencies that form Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. This led to unmanned drone strikes by the U.S to eliminate threats to its personnel in Afghanistan and its own security. The drone strikes not only killed the insurgents but also the innocent people present around that area creating strong grievances against the mighty America and its army. This issue was used to create furor by religious parties and right-wing politicians including a certain Imran Khan. Massive sit-ins were held at various places in the country and media fuelled the emotion even further by inflammatory programs. In the last one year, several major developments happened vis-à-vis relations with the United States that have made the relation more unstable than it already was. Raymond Davis, a security contractor, killed 3 people at a busy thoroughfare in Lahore, a U.S SEAL team raided a house in Abbotabad killing Osama Bin Laden and 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed in a gunfight with NATO forces at the Afghan Border.
(continued)
Filed under: Politics · Tags: Afghanistan, Pakistan, parties, United States
19 Responses to "A study of Anti-Americanism in Pakistan (Part II)"
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AbdulMajeed
Give me good reason against the conspiracy theories, let me tell you how scientists think, they gather all the known facts, and link them together in the most plausible and simple way to make a theory,this is called ingenuity.
If you know the definition of a ‘superpower’, it is that ‘all others will submit to ,wiling or unwilling’.Any nation or entity daring to exercise it sovereignty outside the pleasing of the superpower is a threat. So now if the US is waging war with full military might and alliance in a number of countries, you want the “increasingly paranoid and irrational” Pakis to think that the US is doing it all to bring bliss and progress to these people, if bombing the twin towers can not be taken in any positive way then how can the culling of millions in Iraq, Afghanistan and dozens of other fronts around the world ( /wiki/Timeline_of_United_States_military_operations), muslim and non-muslim, can be justified as humane.
But people like you, who don’t mind calling a black crow white, would very well call the US a savior and an upholder of virtues because the US says so, because main stream media says so, how naive!!
For me the conspiracy is not that they are hegemonic imperialists, but the unintelligible conspiracy is the fact that they can have so many blind lovers around the world. and how about reading your words again with a rational mind and seeing how much paranoid you are in your hate against the common people of Pakistan.
@Mr Majeed
The single most important fact of American alliance with Pakistan within the CENTO, must not be ignored. The American administration refused to come to aid Pakistan in its war with India, indicating for the first time to the muslim countries that the pact was to stop the expansion of the Soviet Union and not of regional powers like China and India.
Did Pakistan military or the civilian leadership learn a lesson from the Americans betrayl? It should be interesting for today’s muslim generation to know?
Rex Minor
It was therefore most logical to remain on the right side of Chinese whose military assistance to Pakistan has been kept secret.
Rex Minor
to rex and aneelshahzad
India is not an expansionist power. It was Pakistan which attacked India. India is the self-defender in all the conflicts with Pakistan. Islam is alien in the indian subcontinent and hence muslims/pakistanis are the expansionist power.
Americans did come to the aid of Pakistan by helping them extricate themselves out of a war which pakistanis had started and lost. The USA had clearly stipulated that arms given by them are to be used only in case of conflict against the communists (incl. China) and not against India. It was Pakistan that betrayed the USA by pacting with China and attacking India. India rightly protested against US-given weapons being used against India in 1965.
China is not Pakistan’s friend but commander. Pakistani rulers have to take permission from China to do anything. It is a relationship of a vassal and underdog to his master.
raj compared Pakistan to a prostitute and the post was censored by the PTH because comparing Pakistan to a prostitute is an insult to the prostitutes of this world. They are more honorable and more honest than Pakistan.
USA indeed is a saviour of Pakistan since 64 years. Whatever reasonable-ness still exists in Pakistan is because of the US connection. Had USA turned away earlier then Pakistan would have been deeper in islamofascism than what it is today. Fact is: USA is now going away and Pakistan will be yet more in trouble. Surely USA is not a saint nation – but in Pakistan they were the good influence in spite of or beyond their own dirty tricks.
It seems even Saudi Arabia would soon dump the Pakistani Army. After all Saudi Arabia is even willing to invest in Indian defense industry.
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Theoretically that would give India better weapons to kill Pakistanis should a war break out! And Pakiistanis can then thank the Saudis for their deaths!
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Well speaking of friends and betrayals!
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Pakistan must be the most stupid country around, thinking any other country would respect its interests, forget America.
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Pakistanis are the traitors who left Dharma, partitioned the land of Dharma, and now they are going to be eaten up by the world! Enjoy your immunity from catastrophes as long as the Gorilla has got his hand caught in the jar of Afghanistan. In 2-3 years, when he is free, Pakistan like Syria, Libya will be taken apart!
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Not one weapon-system of the Pakistani Army would be of any use. Not one soldier of the Pakistani Army would raise his hand!
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Pakistanis are sold out to outside interests and money so thoroughly, that it is a good thing, that you will take the transition more easily!
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Better start coining new names for your little lands now itself!
observ!
India has had war or tension with every country touching its boarder, you can say it is not capable of expansion, but you can’t say it does not intend too, many of its extremist political parties vouch for reuniting the greater India, is that what secular democracies are suppose to do; not respect freedom of choice others make.
So why has India decided to become America’s ‘rakhail’ all of a sudden!
Some history of US in South Asia
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http://political-science.uchicago.edu/faculty/rudolphs/us-asia.pdf
Observer’s 5 points above are sheer brilliance, and then puttar you spoil it all by your usual ‘gaana’ -Islam is an alien expansionist ideology from Arabia – which has a ring of truth in it but debate in a foreign country’s newspaper, requires delicacy of approach.
So observer, pl tone down your rhetoric to be appreciated. too repetitive
Raj 2- you are too confrontational to make an impact and simply unleash counter attacks from right wing Pakistanis like aneel shahzaad.
Shashi Tharoor said it best- India covets absolutely nothing in Pakistan. And i say after 1971, that is 100% true. The only thing that Indians covet in Pakistan are Hafeez Sayeed and Dawood Ibrahim.
Finally Rex minor you once said jaziya was the same as zakaat. What nonsense- detailed economic comparitive analysis shows that for people at THE BOTTOM END- jaziya was 25% of their income and in those days tipped many into starvation. OR CONVERSION
I head a political blog in India- many fine minds there- and I will command them to come here.
Good day Sirs- Sardar Balwinder Sandhu of Hayes, UK
@Aneelshahzad
Do not please be hard with Raj! He is sincere in his views and thinks very loudly sometimes. Indians have genuine grievences with Pakistanis and I reckon they should be encouraged to pour it out! But this article is not about India and Pakistan but to explore into the cause of anti- americanismreasons now visible on streets of Pakistan and Kabulß
Rex Minor
PS
You are right, India somehow failed to be on the right side of its neighbours bcause their God or Guru did not most likely tell them to love your neighbour, but the USA and Israel are aware of this and listen to their clergy each sunday,and yet America is the most hated Nation in South America and Israel in the middle east. Just imagine little cuba and venezuala, even they are not spared from the daily wrath of the Americans.
Balwinder Sandhu,
Why should one be afraid of attacks from Right-Wing Pakistanis! I have been giving them a dhobi-ghat ki dhulai for quite some time now!
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The sooner Pakistanis realize that their country is soon going to be falling apart the better. They can prepare themselves better. The can migrate away sooner. They can reorient themselves earlier.
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Are you aware of the precipice on which Pakistan lives? Have you also been reading the economic feedback coming out of their ministries and IMF?
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I am not here to hold hands with Pakistanis! I am here to be witness to how the truth of their predicament would all of a sudden start dawning upon them, when they realize how deep the hole is they have dug for themselves!
Mr Sandhu please remind me of the words or the sentence which I posted. I shall do my best to give you my opinion.
Also with respect, If you have read my postings then you must also know that usualy I do not discuss Islam with non-believers, nor do I discuss myself with any one. I know that Indians are the unique in the world to learn about other persons with no regard to internet annonymity. By the way the topic was and is “a study of Americanism”.
Rex Minor
Rex and Aneel Shahzad, sorry to be blunt but if India and Pakistan have to be compared then sometimes the most blunt way of highlighting the difference would be to state-
IF YOU ASK ANYONE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD THE NAMES OF THE 5 MOST IMPROVED / IMPROVING COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD- most neutral international people will say- Brazil , China, India etc
And if you were to say, name the 5 most dangerously unstable countries in the world, then most would say- Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq
Therein lies the brutal difference, and therein lies the answer to this blog. Thank you for indulging us Indians Abdul Majid Abid, do you agree with our views?
Mr Mishra
I am not your buddy! AKB is currently resting, wait till he shows up!
Besides your leader had some idea to arrange for the return of $500,000,000,000 to India to feed the poor, they need respect to give respect to India.
Your buddy Observ has already broken a lot of porcelain, take him back to your holy blog!
Rex Minor
Rex, no idea who AKB is. Observer is not my buddy, I merely stated that he sounds like our rajiiv on our ‘home’ blog. But rajiiv is a strong character, would always use his name.
Its actually 1.5 trillion dollars that corrupt Indians have squirelled way abroad, we Indians will never hide our faults. And that is why we have had an Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev movements to try and recover it.
Now maybe you would care to comment on the 5 most improved and most unstable countries I quoted above ?
Would help if you were a bit less tetchy, as our beloved leader Balwinder praaji says- WE COME IN PEACE, EARTHLING, TAKE US TO YOUR LEADER- our spirit is friendly and our demeanour is friendly. Dont get you, if you really are a German muslim, then how come you are so proprietal and territorial on this blog.
Shri Abdul Abidji, are we welcome, can we contribute ? haha
@Mr Mishra
You are changing the subject of the article. No I do not agree with your assuption of five countries puzzle.
. let me change the word improve to emerging economies(not its people necessarily) and then you can sing your song. Turkey is the most improved country in Europe, while all other European economies have taken the battering, Germany retaining its position as the Number ONE.
. Your second assumption about the most dangerous unstable countries is not static either, follow the footsteps of the yanks military and there comes out the answer. Let us start today’s status, it is Iran the most dangerous and unstable country in the world, says the American leadership and its media, followed by Syria in action, Iraq and Somalia have already been written off as outcastes. Afghanistan is the next and Pakistan is stuck in the yanks throat and represent the life or death line for India. This is why I propsed the peace treaty between India and its neighbours, unless Pakistan has been stockpiling its loly pops for the museaums or export markets.
Rex Minor
Why was my post censored. I had answered aneelshahzad. Is he not supposed to know why his comment about my post is wrong?
Why do you insult participants by deleting their posts even before they are read? I had not written anything inappropriate or indecent or filthy. If you can’t refute me, that does not mean you have the right to misuse your right to censor.
If sympathy is given to the whole Paki nation without distinction by banding together all Pakis as say poor and exploited by foreigners – then that becomes pretended and callous. Pretended because of ignoring the very real social-antagonsims between the landowners and the landless for which one can get information without going to Pakistan, in the same way that most of us have grown deepky knowledgable about the dynamics of Paki society from a distance. Callous because most of the Paki nationalist slogans – aimed at rousing anger against foreign sources – comes from the Dawaist+feudal+army sections. These are the very sections who actually exploit the vast majority of poor, common Pakistanis – and the Paki army is very much a preserver and protector of the landowner’s power.
Another article posted a long time ago by me – looked at how JuD itself has been entrusted with the functions of the state that the Paki army is unable or unwilling to finance and the feudals have blocked such financing by blocking every taxation measure that taxes land and agricultural product anything signficantly. JuD owns and controls or manages vast tracts of land. But it also gets a lot of external funds – mainly from the Gulf – to carry out minimal state public activities. JuD does not bypass the land-ownership problem. In fact none of the isalmist parties and orgs like the JuD differe from the Pakistani Supreme Court or the Sharia authorities as to un-Islamicity of land reforms.
JuD claims it runs on Islamic taxation system – but the population is so poor that this claim is not supportable in the areas where JuD holds sway. Anglo journalists have little or no access to the rural labour which is acknowledged quite openly. The vast majority of JuD’s clients needing benefits are themselves poor and have little or no means of production – forget access to land or land ownership – the main source of any economic surplus in that region.
In that sense JuD is an extension of the Paki ruling system and not confrontationist with the feudals or the army. The process had started in earnest right after the fall of Yahya.
There are many sources and detailed studies : but this one is a good intro as to how land is the key to power, bootlicking of foreign imperialism, and theological retrogression:
http://www.pakistanpolicygroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Policy-Brief-Landlessness-in-Pakistan.pdf
I think the author has missed the first and foremost cue in US Pakistan relations. The first major act of anti Americanism in Pakistan happened in the year 1979 when American embassy was burnt to ground resulting in the death of a young American Marine.
The relations between US and Pakistan were not particularly healthy at that time. Americans had stopped aid to Pakistan. But the reason for the incident was not any other political reason, it was a religious reason. An erroneous radio report and American embassy was burnt.
http://thepoliticalopportunist.blogspot.in/