US presence in Pakistan – reality and myth
December 14, 2009 § 10 Comments
Recently, there’s been a lot of US involvement into the region, particularly ever since Pakistan’s recent chapter on counter-insurgency started. There have been rumors of US presence, not only of officials but security personnel too, but it had been denied vehemently by the Pakistan government.
However, as time elapses, several of these rumors are starting to find ground, both at home and abroad. This is rather bad since this only affirms that there’s a lot going on behind the scenes which the government is either not ready to confide the masses with or simply lacks the courage to do so.
The blackwater issue is one example for that case. The Pakistani officials and US embassy both have been actively and explicitly denying the presence of this private security company in Pakistan ever since the rumors surfaced. In fact, the famed Rehman Malik went as far as to saying that he’d resign if such a claim is substantiated. However, a piece in ‘The Nation’ done by Jeremy Scahill pretty much changed things as he provided solid citations to Blackwater’s presence in Pakistan. Although there’s no official admission on the issue as of yet, the army has defended this move with apologetic tones, albeit subtle in actually accepting the charge.
Another thing that has been bugging me is that there’s been a lot of movement of US embassy personnel and vehicles in many major cities. While few of such movements have been intercepted by the police and the army, one can only wonder how much of it goes unnoticed. What’s strikingly similar in nearly all of these interceptions is that the ‘foreigners’ in these vehicles either carry fake identities or drive in cars with fake registration numbers and are nearly always rescued quickly by the embassy officials.
In the most recent of such happening, the embassy personnel were intercepted in Lahore where they were driving in a car with fake registration number.
“Police sources said the vehicle had a fake registration number of Karachi. However, US Consulate officials again intervened and took the vehicle and its occupants with them, without letting the security personnel search them, they added.”
Which also means that whatever it is, the US embassy is totally into it and won’t allow it’s personnel or vehicles be searched. The pieces of news further says:
“It was third incident in a week in the city when security agencies intercepted vehicles owned by US Consulate.”
What is disturbing is that the serious media outlets have not yet taken to issue rather seriously and are, for now, giving it only a passing importance in the bigger picture. However, considering the times we live in, it certainly can’t be ruled out as a mere co-incidence and investigations must look into the exact intent or plans of US embassy in Pakistan.
And so must be done before our internal peace is expended on the chess board of international interests.
its very true.
US embassy has evn bought lands in Islamabad!
It’s strange that our serious media outlets are playing such a blind eye to this whole thing and those who do cite it, do so with embellishments, thus rendering their citations unauthentic.
Alittle bit off topic but:
While I highly appreciate your assertion of the notion of a grander involvement of people in devision the foreign policy of Britain, I also ask, of you, to stand by your stance on resolution of third-world issues – I feel gratified over your statement, albiet just once, over the need for the resolution for Kashmir issue for that shall mark not only the end of a mistake Britain made at the time of parition but it may also eliminate the root cause for the existence and survival of many militancies in the region of Kashmir and Pakistan. I see,in you, an aspiring person who has grander view of things and a brighter vision than other – however I also hope that you turn out to be, unlike other politicians, much more than words alone. :
Posted by Salman Latif on July 07, 2009 at 11:02 AM BST #
You don’t really expect him to do much, do you??
He is, after all, just a lackey of the British Government, the same people who decided on the Partition, the Lackeys of Israel!!!
What does he care about Kashmir, Pakistan, India, Israel, Palestine???
All he cares about is how much he can claim on expenses for his second home!!!!!!
I wish that my fellow Americans would wake up to what’s happening in the world. But they are asleep, fattened by their greed!
And when they talk of american involvement , they(wannabe intellectuals) call them conspiracy theorists.This blackwater debate is nothing new.It’s just that those who made a hue and cry about it (e.g. haroon rashid) were being laughed at initially.They’re being proven right.
The media should strongly confront the punjab government and the shameless Malik.
Frustrating.
Now, as if Pakistan Embassy, USA would ever be allowed similar movements in USA!! Or anywhere in the world!! We’ve become a nation of wimps! Thanks to the corrupts like Rehman Malik!
@Natasha
I would call those ‘wannabe intellectuals’ careful skeptics who do not spring at the earliest opurtunity to cash on some random piece of unauthenticated news!
Just tell me, why exactly should one believe any of the columnists unless there is an authentic proof to that? Those ‘wannabe intellectuals’ believed it once there was some valid proof to substantiate the claim.
And well…the media should indeed confront the provincial and federal government. However, using this to incite the notions of american/indian conspiracies would only make us dwell in our happy dreams of self-exaltation and thwart us from correcting our own wrongs.
@M.M
I agree. The government is acting like a non-entity with absolutely no writ governing the activities of US embassy within Pakistan.
Salman,
There’s no smoke without fire.People like haroon rashid didn’t ‘dream’ of blackwater.The ‘wannabe intellectuals’ can adopt the policy of ‘wait and watch’ but calling others conspiracy theorists is unfair.
Don’t take it personally.I was not referrring to you.
@Natasha
I don’t agree. There is smoke without fire. And the sad fact about us is that so has been the cases most of the times with us. Our ‘intellectuals’ know of the most ‘secret conspiracies’ or ‘most secret missions’ carried out! Isn’t that quite surprising?
And frankly, if haroon rashid writes tommorrow that India is going to attack Pakistan on some ‘inside tip’, I won’t give any damn unless there’s some proof to that – life and decisions of a state and an entire nation can’t be premised on the statements of individuals and that too when unsubstantiated with valid citations. That would simply be against the principle of intellectual inquisition and authentication and would be quite synonymous to blind following.
As for the ‘wannabe intellectuals’, well…I hold high respect for them since they rip asunder every cock and bull story hatching in someone’s mind and try their best not to let it effect the public opinion unless it is proved absolutely true. Quite the job true journalism is about, I believe.