Terrorism by Eqbal Ahmad

Author:Eqbal Ahmad [Ahmad, Eqbal]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-60980-313-1
Publisher: Seven Stories Press
Published: 2011-01-04T05:00:00+00:00

PAKISTAN AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY

What side effects have U.S. support of the mujahideen had on Pakistani society?

One is the extraordinary proliferation of drugs and guns. Something like $10 billion in arms was pumped into Pakistan and Afghanistan. Half of it at least rebounded and became part of international trade. Much of it ended up in Pakistan. So, you have a situation in Pakistan where almost every third man is armed … with automatic weapons, Kalishnikovs, and grenade launchers. What used to be small crimes have now become big crimes, because petty thieves are armed with weapons that can lead to killings if they feel threatened. In 1979, at the advent of the Afghanistan revolution, there were an estimated 110,000 drug addicts in Pakistan, mostly addicted to opium, some to hashish. Today, we have 5 million addicts. Opium has become a big trade through Pakistan. It comes from Afghanistan and Iran. We have an estimated $4 billion trade in Afghan drugs. In a country whose total foreign exports were $6 billion before all this, you introduce $4 billion in trade in drugs. We have created in Pakistan an entire class of rich drug dealers who are paying off this politician here, that bureaucrat there, that port authority there. The political system of the whole country has become enmeshed with the drug mafia. It is not quite as bad as Colombia yet. But it’s very close to it.

The third effect is probably the most serious. Pakistan is a very heterogenous society. There are six ethnic groups living together with a combination of antagonism and collaboration. The antagonism consists of something like, “You speak Baluch. I speak Urdu. Our children play together. They have quarreled with each other. My child has beaten your child. We get into an argument over whose child was worse.” Previously, it was an argument. Today, bullets can fly. So what used to be, because of ethnic differences in our society, completely minor, local, street arguments, are now made with guns. After a while these little things can accumulate and create ethnic warfare.

Are there any progressive political formations in Pakistan?

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