Back from the brink: a dramatic turnaround in Pakistan

Ken Hechtman writes:

You wrote:

“Roger Chapin writing in the Washington Times points out that some or all of Pakistan’s nuclear weapons could fall into the hands of the Taliban at any time.”

Not going to happen. The Pakistani army just got serious about finishing them off. They evacuated a million civilians from Swat Valley—“draining the sea where the guerillas swim,” to use the Maoist metaphor—and they’ve turned the whole district into a free-fire zone. Pakistani jets are bombing evacuated Pakistani villages now, something that’s never happened before.

Also, the Pakistani Taliban is losing the support of allies it should be able to count on. In Afghanistan, the Barelvis never really liked the Taliban but when the chips were down they fought on the Taliban’s side. Now, as reported in the May 12 Wall Street Journal, the Barelvis are lining up to fight against the Pakistani Taliban:

By ZAHID HUSSAIN in Islamabad and MATTHEW ROSENBERG in New Delhi

Pakistani soldiers battling Taliban fighters in the country’s northwestern mountains are getting support from more moderate Muslim clerics who say they, too, fear a militant takeover.

The clerics hail from the more tolerant Barelvi Muslim tradition whose followers in Pakistan far outnumber the extremist strain preached by the Taliban and their allies in al Qaeda and other Islamist militant groups in the country. But the Barelvis have usually offered only passive resistance to extremists, reflecting their more inclusive version of Islam.

Now, some prominent Barelvi clerics are publicly supporting the broad military offensive launched last week against the Taliban in the Swat Valley and, in one case, offering to send volunteers to fight. The moves are being greeted as a sign that a growing number of Pakistanis are beginning to realize just how fragile the situation has become after years of ignoring or denying the militant threat.

[…]

“It is against Islamic tenants [sic] to enforce Shariah through violence,” said Maulana Sarwat Qadri, chief of Sunni Tehrik, a group that in the late 1990s and early 2000s tried to retake mosques it said had been taken over by Deobandi and Wahhabi adherents. Sunni Tehrik had since fallen dormant, but it formed a new political wing over the weekend, and, said Mr. Qadri in a telephone interview, “We are ready to send volunteers to fight along the military against Taliban.”

This one, from the Dawn Media Group, is even bigger:

ISLAMABAD: In an unprecedented move, top leaders of the Tableeghi Jamaat have denounced enforcement of Sharia at gunpoint, religious extremism, militancy and terrorism.

Leaders of the Jamaat, who scrupulously avoid speaking on controversial issues, also called for promoting inter-faith harmony, tolerance, human rights, social justice and peace.

They were speaking at the conclusion of a three-day congregation near here on Monday. ‘Shariah cannot be enforced at gunpoint,’ declared Haji Abdul Wahab, Amir of the Tableeghi Jamaat, Pakistan.

The Tablighi Jumaat is the missionary arm of the the same school of Islam that produced the Taliban. Their support for the Taliban has always been unconditional until now. There are millions of them and they travel all over the world and they have respect and influence wherever they go. If they’re now saying the Taliban are “simpletons,” hundreds of millions of Muslims are going to believe it.

Also note this line:

‘Muslims should preach peace, brotherhood and tolerance across the world, including Israel. They must avoid imposing their creed or faith by force because Islam is a religion of peace and promotes tranquillity,’ another scholar told the mammoth gathering.

These guys didn’t used to say the word “Israel,” ever. It used to be worth your life for you to say the word around them. They called the land “Occupied Palestine,” they called the government “The Zionist Entity.”

Ken Hechtman continues:

One other thing. I’m not sure which newspapers Roger Chapin reads that lead him to make claims like this one,

Nor can Pakistan’s professed need to be able to counter India’s nuclear capabilities, especially since India threatens no one.

but they’re definitely not the same ones I read. Again from Dawn.com:

NEW DELHI, Dec 12: The head of India’s rightwing Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS, National Volunteers Corps) has warned that a nuclear war with Pakistan could become inevitable if peaceful means fail to rein in terrorism and voiced the chilling prospect of a Third World War breaking out, which he feels may cleanse the world of evil….

He was asked if such a war would not escalate into a nuclear conflict. “Yes, I know it will not stop there. It will be nuclear war and a large number of people will perish.

“In fact, not me alone but many people around the world have expressed their apprehension that this terrorism may ultimately result in a Third World War. And this will be a nuclear war in which many of us are going to be finished. But according to me, as of now, it is very necessary to defeat the demons and there is no other way.

“And let me say with confidence that after this destruction, a new world will emerge, which will be very good, free from evil and terrorism.”

This is a far more explicit threat than anything Ahmadinejad ever said about the Israeli regime vanishing from the page of time, and it comes from the armed wing of the party that governed India from 1998 to 2004.

LA replies:

Throughout time, the Muslims have been the aggressors against the Hindus, and they have never abandoned their ultimate aim of subduing the Hindus and the whole world.

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Mark P. writes:

This is all baloney and Ken Hechtman is full of it.

No matter how you slice it, all I am seeing is American national security outsourced halfway around the world and utterly dependent on hostile foreigners. Is Ken actually clueless enough to believe that it’s a good thing for American’s to be dependent on something called the Tablighi Jumaat. Yeah…I feel soooo much better now that the Jumaat is on the job!

If Pakistan’s nukes are not in control of US forces or other Western allies, then the security threat has not changed. But I doubt Ken will understand this.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 15, 2009 02:31 PM | Send