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Is there a Better Alternative than Drones?
Raza Habib Raja
Lately there has been a debate over whether drones are a friend or foe. In response to a “pro drone” article written by Pirzada Hasaan Hashmi, two well-articulated articles written by Mariam Kizilbash and Faisal Moghul have appeared in the Express Tribune, a leading English daily in Pakistan. . Both the authors have raised their objections to the drone attacks and have based their arguments on several points such as loss of innocent lives, illegality of such attacks and availability of better mechanism for the elimination of terrorists. Readers of this article are requested to please read the aforementioned articles to understand the background and context of this particular article.
Before I present my case, let me be absolutely clear that drones do result in the loss of innocent lives. To deny an obvious reality would tantamount to intellectual dishonesty.
Like all military options, drone attacks also entail collateral damage and all the objections in this regard are valid. Moreover, as Ms Kizilbash has pointed out that these drone attacks are at times based on erroneous information and therefore end up killing only the innocent. Mughal has raved about mimicking terrorists in our zest to kill them and stressed on the need to try them through courts. He has given examples of Aimal Kansi and others who were caught and then tried in court. Though divorced from ground realities, his statement is morally appealing and based on “fair trial” legal principle.
Well as I have already acknowledged that loss of life is tragic but in my opinion the situation is akin to kidnapper hostage scenario where you have to take action to prevent greater loss of life and to avoid getting blackmailed into complete appeasement. Let us not forget that drones may be killings innocent as a collateral damage but are aimed at militants. If
killing innocents was the main objective then I am sure USA has much powerful weaponry at its disposal. Drone by design is a precision weapon and is supposed to be used for surgical strikes. If drone strikes are killing innocents then the solution is better intelligence.
What alternative do you have as far as dealing with militants who are hiding in areas which are difficult to control administratively due to its terrain? Now peace deals have been tried a number of times and have failed. The military alternative would be a full scale invasion which would entail much larger loss of life. The last time when Pakistani military was used for that purpose many of us were in protest for using our army against “our own” people. So when peace deals have failed and large scale military action by Pak army is not desirable for political reasons then what is the alternative?
How do you deals with those militants who kill indiscriminately and then openly take responsibility? Yes it is easy to talk about lofty principles of “fair trials” but these notions under these circumstances simply do not apply. We are not dealing with “victims” here but inhuman elements which kill mercilessly. Even as I am writing these sentences, the electronic as well as print media are constantly flashing headlines of merciless killings of Shias. How do you deal with such monsters?
And by the way, how do you even capture such militants? Even to capture them you would again need a combination of intelligence and military strikes. Aimal Kansi was not captured from lawless terrain of tribal areas but from a hotel in Islamabad. Not every militant is going to give that kind of opportunity.
Do you really think legal way is the right way? Do you really think that it is even possible to actually capture so many militants and that too without some sort of military action? Are we being really realistic when we talk about legal trials or are we living in an alternative universe?
In my opinion, the root cause of all the hue and cry about drones is less to do with their legal status or even collateral damage. It is most probably underpinned by feeling of national humiliation. We feel that our sovereignty is violated when a much loathed foreign power like USA is attacking areas falling under our political boundaries. The fact that it is attacking THOSE militants who have targeted our own population repeatedly perhaps does not make much difference to us.
We have rather naïve understanding about sovereignty. Sovereignty is underpinned by writ of the state which does not exist in the areas where drones attacks are taking place. If the state had any writ then these areas would have not become sanctuaries for the militants. In fact over the years a series of Pakistani governments have literally watched helplessly militants using these areas to promote terrorism and have largely been unable to mount a full scale military operation due to fear of large scale loss of lives and negative political repercussions. And the militants have fully capitalized on the inability of the successive governments to take any action. If anything, these drone attacks if rightly directed through better intelligence can help Pakistani state establish its writ through elimination of the rogue elements.
And by the way do we really think that these attacks are taking place WITHOUT any approval of our government and army? Let me remind all of you that before OBL raid these predator drones were being flown from Shamsi base in Baluchistan. Obviously drones strikes launched from there had to be approved by the Pakistani government as well as the armed forces. Even now these drones are not shot when they enter the Pakistani airspace. How come sovereignty is violated when drones are being flown with some sort of approval?
But instead of viewing things through realistic lenses we are just blinded by abstract concepts and American hatred. Over the years, our urban middleclass has developed a knee jerk reaction where anything connected with United States provokes hyper reaction and any sort of rational deliberation becomes very difficult.
Filed under: Uncategorized · Tags: attacks, drone, Drones, Raza Habib Raja
72 Responses to "Is there a Better Alternative than Drones?"
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- tajender
said abu bakr siddiq preaented his daughter to prophet... - Ex-Paki
said Ayesha,
I don’t know anything about Vishnu,... - Phen375 Reality
said I absolutely love your website.. Great colors &... - Ayesha
said Vishnu and Mohammad both were frauds. Vishnu didn&... - tajender said homos,……..SO VISHNU RAPED JALLANDHARS...
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said Lending money to a friend or relative means that y... - Homos of Arabia said http://www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-articles/new-...
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- Homos of Arabia said Baki Munne (Rex Minor),
Homos of Arebia were in re...
- Rex Minor
said Tajener,
Moghuls were Indians; the great migration...
rex please mtg and company in the light of David Livingstone (41), author of Terrorism & Illuminati — a 3,000 year history (2007) — says the zionists claiming to be Jews are not ethnic Jews but have Khazar bloodlines. He embraced Islam in 1992. The “Jews of India” are also Khazars.
The Russian Bolshevik revolution, the 1st and 2nd World Wars and the current financial crisis in the West are the handiwork of these Khazar-origin so-called Jews. They are now preparing for a World War-III against Islam. They are also deeply involved in dividing Muslims
MilesToGo: Shalom:
“…God wants practice not conversion. Practice comes from practice and its results. ..” Why would God be interested in the affairs of human beings? Is God male or female? why worry about this invisible God at all?
So fellows, don’t take this business of religion and God too seriously. Drink cups of good tea and relax.
Wa Salaam
dedicated to mtg rajtoo and his gang,
rex,ISLAM iS SOLE OBSTACLE
The only obstacle they are facing today is Islam.The most favourite pastimes of the Jews and the “Jews of India” are sex, nudity, homosexuality, binge drinking, cricket, Bollywood pomp and boasting. Their media is nothing but shit so that our souls are fed with saw dust. .
kamath
one step at a time…
kamath
you’v run ahead, come back and help your brothers…
The Quantum Activist – highly recommended
Strive to get God, not obey God.
Strive to get God, not obey God
better to follow instruction of god.that way we reach near god.
Internet might be the savior we were all waiting for. Collective conscious has found a way to connect local concious
Promised heaven will materialize here on earth, so will hell. Its our collective choice.
Don’t defend past, defend future.
Don’t defend past, defend future
defend bothpast is the guide of future.
Watch Death by design – its painfully slow but good
http://www.youtube.com/user/MaharishiUniversity
for kuffar only…
watch “10 questions for the Dalai Lama” – for non-Pakistanis only
The forgotten bomb
gn
watch “10 questions for the Dalai Lama” – for non-Pakistanis only
dalai lama is a notorious cia brhmnst agent in india.kept in india to irritate china.
tajender is a notoriuos bootlicker of arabs and a quislings of islamic fascism-imperialism kept for irritating rational, peaceloving, honest human beings.
There is no alternative to constantly reading of Ahems abuses and repeating said words again and again against individuals. The alternative to Drones for the yanks is to cut down the losses and make a run for home, which is now burning and people are killing fellow countrymen.
Rex Minor
to rex
I have merely sent back what tajender wrote with a few relevant changes.
You too keep repeating about some video you saw or some sentences from Hegel that you supposedly read or your own 18% brain function or arabic as the language of knowledge (although it is a language/vehicle of islamic fascism) and so on.
The better alternative to drones is to expose islam’s fascism, backwardness, lies and imperialism and deal with it with strength.
MilesToGo
They say Eyes are the index of the soul. The face expressions of people in the Video tell us their inner peace. Its in such great contrast with typical islamic face expressions dripping with hate and dark thoughts so great that there is no visible sign of the presence of soul, constructive intelligence and conspicious ,complete absence of human essence ,emotion or empathy. The training, jouney start in the childhood when toddler at home start watching the slicing of live animals, blood letting and life slowly slipping away from animal.Human part too start fading away from the child from thatpoint onward. Within a decade immunity have developed to such extent that Qital, life destroying acts become a normal part of life.
The light of Kuffar is the light of life, human intelligence and constructive genius. Good news is that Knowledge is spreading and taking millions out of ignorance and fear of unknown based on the slavery of beliefs.
http://www.thefridaytimes.com/beta3/tft/20120803/large-p-1-a.jpg
Myth and Reality
We hear every now and then a lot of hue and cry with regards to civilian killings by Drone strikes in Waziristan areas of Pakistan, a terrorist hub in Pakistan but if we look closely at the respected & reliable newspaper’s news stories / media reports, it makes the situation clear beyond any shadow of doubt that Drone are in fact killing only Al-Qaida , foreign fighters, Taliban and other terrorists who are entrenched in Waziristan areas and are a clear and present danger to Pakistan’s economy , security and innocent Pakistanis. This finds support from the fact that top level of Al-Qaida leaders and many prominent terrorists have been killed by Drones in this area. In fact the elimination of terrorists through Drones is a blessing in disguise for Pakistan. “Innocent killing” propaganda is the creation of the fertile mind of certain groups with the vested interests who are trying to score points.