Do the Right Thing in Pakistan
Dear Steve:
Wow, I'm still reeling over
yesterday's military coup in Pakistan. Less than two weeks ago, my film critic
pal and I were quaffing sodas (no beers in this Islamic republic, remember?)
poolside at the Pearl Continental Hotel in downtown Rawalpindi, running around
Gilgit in disputed Kashmir Province and fending off aggressive beggars on the
overnight sleeper train to Karachi. Certainly there were lots of signs of
political and economic instability: Some of the hotels recommended in our
Lonely Planet guide had closed in the last year, inflation was literally eating
away the rupee by the hour, and Pakistanis, described universally as cheery to
the point of being irritating, were cranky and mean--especially when they heard
our American twangs.
But as I reported on my radio show for the first time
back then, the big news is that the Pakistani government has apparently signed
a devil's bargain with the militant Taliban from neighboring Afghanistan.
They've opened the border between Afghanistan and Pakistani-held Kashmir to let
mujahadeen guerillas in to fight the Indians all summer long. The Taliban,
who've earned a reputation as the new Khmer Rouge by stoning adulterers to
death and denying medical care to women, aren't the most subtle guys in the
world--heavily armed goons have set up checkpoints along the main highway
between Kashmir and China and now occupy between a third and half of Kashmir on
the Pakistani side of the Line of Control; the only thing saving Cole and me
from a night as the star attraction at the Talidrome was our bus's own heavily
armed guard.
That same week, two major Pakistani political parties
called for Taliban-style rule in Pakistan to bring stability and "real" Islam
to the masses. What you have to understand about Pakistan is that it's a
democracy in name only; even before yesterday it was a barely disguised
military junta backed with American tax dollars. (Are we ever not on the wrong
side overseas?) Now the Taliban are trying to take over Pakistan, an incredibly
strategic juncture between East and West, continent and subcontinent. The State
Department, by backing the coup, is defending the very same regime that has
invited the Taliban into its territory--and setting us up for a potential
nuclear hot flash in a big way. Having just returned from Pakistan, I am very
seriously frightened, despite today's insipid headlines saying that things are
peaceful; if you'd seen what I'd just seen, you'd feel the same way. The truth
is, this is the calm before the shit-storm.
So what to do? The Clinton administration ought to
break off formal diplomatic ties with this illegal military government until a
true democratic regime comes to power. Right now, the military runs everything
from road repair to tax collection, and there's no room for free speech in such
a place. As they said back in the '60s, you're either part of the problem or
part of the solution, and we're clearly a big part of the problem. But don't
count on the Clintonites to do the right thing; they never ever do.
Very truly yours,
Ted
