Living In The Fool's Paradise

One of Pakistan's leading newspaper the News has quoted a Pakistani based uncle of Tashfeen Malik, the 27-year-old Pakistani woman involved in the San Bernardino shootout, that she, along with her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, were shot by the police while they were returning from a doctor's visit. The paper quoted him as saying that American police is regularly shooting innocent Muslims. If this is not shocking enough for you, would you believe that a sizeable chunk of Pakistan's educated population believes that the whole 9/11 catastrophe was a Zionist conspiracy to malign the Muslims, and to prompt the Americans to crush the Muslims.

Comments about this on social media, along with a barrage of videos on Whatsapp, can sometimes be overwhelming. If the above two have still failed to shock you, do you know that a section of our same enlightened educated folks seriously think that Osama bin Laden was killed somewhere else but was brought to Abbottabad in a staged attack to malign Pakistan.

When you come across people with such beliefs, you have two options: one is to agree with them, and forward their comments and videos to others on the social media. Or to disagree with them and get accused of being a bad Muslim who is westernized beyond redemption.

The Government of Pakistan and its officials also generally have two versions: one is official where they would remind you of close bonds between the United States and Pakistan since independence and the fact that we have been aligned with the American since the 1950s in the form of anti-communist military alliances. The other version is likely to be somewhat similar to the three widely held opinions described above.

Being opposed to certain policies of the American Government is one thing and subscribing to bizarre theories to explain events is something totally different. I was born in the late fifties and thus cannot vouch for the feelings of the Pakistanis for the period prior to my birth. However, I have always noticed an extreme anti-American bias in the Pakistanis since the early sixties. It was accentuated by the Vietnam War, and the 1967 Six Day Arab Israeli War proved to be a turning point.

The United States has been mismanaging the Palestinian issue is a moot discussion now, and it has suffered immensely for siding with the Israelis since the 1967 War. India and Pakistan fought briefly in 1965 over Kashmir and the United States remained neutral despite Pakistan militarily aligned with the West. This lack of support has never been forgotten.

The intensity and the absurd nature of the hatred towards the Americans can be gauged by the fact that in 1979 some Iranians attacked the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Rumor spread all over Pakistan that American marines had attacked the Mosque and thousands gathered around the American Embassy within a few hours and burnt it down. The United States obviously had nothing to do with the attack on Kaaba.

After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, both Pakistan and the United States discovered each other. Billions of dollars poured into Pakistan and changed the country for ever for the worst: heroin, Kalashnikovs and millions of Afghan refugees. All three remain and unlikely to leave in the foreseeable future. The Americans then left Pakistan and Afghanistan alone after the Soviet withdrawal and both continued to bleed till they were again discovered after 9/11.

The Musharraf administration in Pakistan hardly any option but to side with the Americans, following 9/11. Initially it reluctantly lent its support but gradually the scale started to increase and the country came across unprecedented violence in the form of bomb blasts and unheard of suicide attacks. We are still passing through this stage.

Pakistan now has several dozen news channels and newspapers. Not a single one can dare to take a pro-American position on any issue. In fact, it is the other way around: these media outlets leave no opportunity to fan anti-American and anti-Western feelings amongst the masses and there is almost a competition amongst them as to who does a better job in this. This is not doing the country any good and actually is resulting in growing Talibanisation. For instance, the media and the Government are bending backwards to show that San Bernardino had nothing to do with Pakistan.

Ironically, all of this is happening in the midst of massive American aid pouring into the country since 9/11. Almost 15 billion dollars have been spent by the United States but the results are unfortunately nowhere to be seen including in the shape of good-will of the people towards a generous friend. This is a classic example of misallocation of resources where money is going into avenues where it is not making any difference.

The most important area that the US Government needs to urgently handle is to get the thinking of the people, like the Uncle of Tafsheen, changed. This can only be accomplished by change in policies towards the Muslims the world over, particularly in Palestine; playing an important role in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute with India; undertaking major infrastructural projects the way Chinese are doing here and in Africa; and taking an aggressive stance in the local media to explain one's position instead of lying low all the time. Otherwise, some may continue to believe that the World Trade Center collapsed due to detonators attached to its pillars rather than due to the planes hitting it.

Anees Jillani is a lawyer based in Islamabad.