2 I LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWS Passion Islam I November 2009
the Passion - By Majed Iqbal
Hillary’s visit to Pakistan-
“We don’t really trust your country!”
authority knew where al Qaeda time high.
leaders were hiding out. A five-year, $7.5-billion aid package
“I find it hard to believe that to Pakistan recently signed into law by
nobody in your government knows President Obama stoked much of the
where they are and couldn’t get animosity. Measures in the legislation
them if they really wanted to,” she aimed at ensuring the money isn’t
told a group of newspaper editors misspent have been perceived by
during a meeting in Lahore. Pakistanis as levers that Washington can
However Hillary Clinton use to exert control over their country.
realised that it wasn’t as simple as The reactions of the ordinary citizen
asking a question like this which in of Pakistan of Americas relationship with
her mind should have stoked these Pakistan may have surprised US officials
journalists and editors to use their on the tour. This was not the expected
positions in media to pressurise outcome.
the government to do more for The very people dissenting against
America and its fight on the war on America should have been the ones
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton terror. praising America’s campaign in
completed her three day tour of Pakistan She soon realised this on her tour Waziristan, they should have been
in the last week of October attempting to where every time she tried to win over supporting the drone attacks on
win the hearts and minds of a population Pakistanis during with her charm, people ‘insurgents’, they should have been
which has become instrumental to fired back a polite but firm message “We cheering on and championing the arrival
Americas War on Terror. don’t really trust your country”. of Private US security firms in Pakistan
Many Pakistani commentators No matter how hard Clinton tried like Blackwater.
dubbed her visit as a ‘charm offensive’ to reassure audiences in Lahore and t was these people who America
to re-build that ‘trust deficit’; a long Islamabad with talk of providing economic wanted on their side- after all they were
overdue initiative to ease tensions with aid where it’s needed most, Pakistanis the moderates. They were the ones
the Pakistani masses that have been seized on her visit as the perfect moment who hate the extremists. America was
having second and third thoughts about to lash out at a U.S. government they cleansing Pakistan of these extremists.
their ‘use and abuse’ partnership with the perceive as arrogant, domineering and So logically, my enemy is your enemy?
US since its inception in 2001. insensitive to their plight. Unfortunately for America, this has
The tour saw concentrated efforts At a televised town hall meeting proven wrong.
in dialoguing directly with the public in Islamabad, the capital, on Friday, a People in Pakistan have clearly
on a range of issues which the people woman in a mostly female audience voiced that turbulence in their country
of Pakistan were thinking about on characterized U.S. drone missile strikes and the weekly blasts and bombings
Pakistan- US relations. on suspected terrorist targets in north in their country were due to American
Hillary Clinton’s “people to people” western Pakistan as de facto acts of interference in the nations politics.
diplomacy -- with journalists, students terrorism. A day earlier in Lahore, a What remains more questionable is
and common people, which included college student asked Clinton why every silence on any discussion by Hillary on
town hall meetings in a “no holds” student who visits the U.S. is viewed as the Pakistani government and the “un-
barred question and answer session at a terrorist stinting support” for US operations in
a university in Lahore were part of a new The opinions Clinton heard weren’t Pakistan, a term which was coined by
packaging. the voices of radical clerics, insurgents, Musharraf in 2001. Both Dictatorships
This was possibly an approach to re- Taliban supporters, extremists or and Democracies in Pakistan have seen
build that trust in an open and transparent politicians with anti-U.S. agendas. Some strengthening relations between the
way, a somewhat ‘revolutionary’ step of the most biting criticisms came from countries despite the master–slave set
away from more clandestine approaches well-mannered university students and up and the uproar against this by the
with Government ministers and opposition respected, seasoned journalists, a Pakistani public.
figureheads to manipulate political will. reflection of the breadth of dissatisfaction There was complete silence of
Clinton, who professes deep personal Pakistanis have with U.S. policy toward America on Musharraf’s Rule so long as
affection for Pakistan and its people, was their country. he executed American Foreign Policy
aiming to be cautiously optimistic in her In those voices what rang clear was a designs in the region. This continues
visit to maybe change as many hearts sense that Pakistan was paying a heavy with Zardari today in the Af-pak strategy,
and minds among Pakistanis. price for America’s “war on terror.” a war which has used the Pakistani army
“I’m going to try as hard as I can. “You had one 9/11, and we are having to kill its own citizens and leave millions
But ultimately, we have to have actions daily 9/11s in Pakistan,” Asma Shirazi, a displaced from the war-torn regions.
between the two of us. Words are journalist with ARY TV, told Clinton during What Hillary saw, heard and felt in her
not enough,” she said at a women’s the Islamabad town hall meeting. tour was not just directed at America, but
gathering. Clinton’s visit came at a time when to all the Political parties in Pakistan and
Clinton got straight to the point; Pakistanis’ suspicions about U.S. the present Government who profess to
expressing disbelief that no-one in intentions in their country are at an all- have the interests of the nation at heart.
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This Magazine contains Ayaat of the Qur’an and Hadith of the Prophet (SAW), please ensure you handle it with respect & care - Sukran
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