Letter from Pakistan

Dear Americans,

The general perception we have of you is that you are a simple and honest nation, that you are naive and do not know or care much about the world beyond your borders. The “‘World’ Series”, which involves only teams from your country and Canada, seems to describe your world vision very well.

I do not intend to portray you as an ignorant nation, but there is so much happening around you that you have no time or need for the rest of the world. The unfortunate events of 9/11 have punctured your insulation and, for the first time, you have had to acknowledge the ugly world beyond your frontiers.

However, I must confess that our perception of your Government is very different from that of the American people. Your Government has a reputation of meddling with the affairs of other sovereign countries. It has double standards. It sermonizes about democracy at home while supporting dictators overseas.

I will not comment on the overall state of US foreign policy simply because I am not qualified to do so. I am, however, aware of what your Government has done to contribute towards the erosion of democracy and rule of law in my country.

I invite you to trip back in time; in 1979, the Soviet Union invaded our neighbor, Afghanistan. Just before that an Army General had overthrown a popularly elected Prime Minister in Pakistan. This General later hanged the Prime Minister and proceeded to rule our country with the proverbial ‘iron fist’. Your Government supported and strengthened this military despot who misruled our country up until he was killed in a plane crash 11 years later.

The US Government’s justification for supporting this dictator was that it needed ground support to push the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Do you know how this was done? The US Government, with the help of this Pakistani military dictator, created the Taliban. Once the Soviets had been pushed out of Afghanistan, your Government left us and the Taliban high and dry. We had inherited not only an extremist military dictator but also the remnants of the Taliban (who then temporarily moved to Afghanistan but left behind heavily influenced areas along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border).

Fast forward to 1999; this time yet another military general, Pervez Musharraf, overthrew a democratically elected Prime Minister and jailed him. It seemed like déjà vu. Now, General Musharraf is portrayed as the darling of the West. He is an ally in the war against terror and all his sins have been washed. What the US Government is ignoring or brushing under the rug is his dismal human rights record. Hundreds of political activists have been missing without a trace for months and years now. Pakistan has one of the worst records in the world for freedom of the media. Journalists have been murdered and threatened. At least two television stations have recently been attacked. The first was attacked by official forces. The second attack took place only last week when hundreds of gun-toting state supported terrorists attacked a local television station. They continued shooting at the station for over four hours. All this was being broadcast live on national television, but no security forces came to the rescue of the hostages.

The US Government is supporting an unelected despot in Pakistan just to achieve its short-term objectives in Afghanistan. In doing so, it is ignoring the much bigger problems that are building up in Pakistan: religious extremism and intolerance. Do you realize that Pakistan has a population of over 160 million people? It is larger than Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan put together!

In recent weeks Musharraf has been trying to bulldoze the judiciary. He has ‘sacked’ the Chief of Justice, and despite the country-wide protest against this move the US Government continues to support this tyrant.

My American friends, can you imagine your great country without justice for all? Can you live in country where justice is not available? Thanks to your Government who is supporting a military dictator in Pakistan, we cannot experience the same freedoms as you.

The rest of the world has traditionally looked up to America and envied the American way of life, but now more and more people all over the world are slowly becoming hostile towards their heroes. Have you ever thought of why the number of terrorists is rising and why the world is becoming increasingly dangerous?

The answer to that question is that your Government is working with despots and dictators who are willing to do anything to secure their own positions. In the process, they cause a large number people to become very disgruntled. These groups of disgruntled people will go to any extreme to express themselves.

In order to make our world safer for us and our future generations, the people of America need to play a responsible role. You have to convince your Government to respect the people of the world and refrain from negotiating or working with unelected people.

You are smart and intelligent, and now know that no country can live in isolation. We have to live together and respect each other’s space. These are basic values that form the American way of life but ironically, they are the crucial missing ingredients in the current US policy.

I request my American friends to please contribute towards achieving global peace by asking your Government to stop supporting unjust Governments overseas, no matter how attractive it may look at the time. It does not work long term!

It is in the interest of the Americans, it is in our interest and in the interest of World Peace. I appeal to the American people to ask their Government to withdraw support being given to dictators all over the world. The day the US Government sides with the oppressed it will be the beginning of the end of global terrorism.

Imran Ahmad

Karachi – Pakistan