The Bajaur killings

Dr Ijaz Ahsan
The massacre of eighty students in Bajaur should be condemned in the strongest possible terms. It is a throwback to Jallianwala Bagh. As Justice Khalid Ranjha has stated, this kind of action amounts to extra-judicial killing. He said such actions can be taken only in times of war.

One man in the street rightly said on TV that this can lead to a civil war in Pakistan. In fact it seems possible that the Americans want Pakistan to become engulfed in a civil war, so that this powerful and nuclear-armed Islamic state can be carved up by attaching NWFP with Afghanistan and Balochistan with its Iranian counterpart to make a greater Balochistan, as shown in some maps on the web, and just as Iraq is being quartered into Sunni, Shia and Kurd areas.

To all appearances, the strike has been carried out by the Americans. The United States and Afghanistan had expressed their unhappiness with the agreement arrived at between the Pakistan government and the tribals on a neighbouring area of Waziristan. They said infiltration into Afghanistan had increased after the agreement. They had been saying that they reserved the right of hot pursuit. In fact they went a step further. They said that whenever they got news of the presence of militants in Pakistan, they would hit them.

The Pakistan government could not have ordered the missile attack on the madrassah. Aides to the governor NWFP, Lt Gen Orakzai, had already drafted a peace agreement, whereby the tribals were to undertake not to give refuge to any local or foreign terrorist, not to take part in any military activity, and to pay fine to the tune of Rs five million in case of violation of the undertaking. This undertaking was to be signed within a few hours after the time of the missile attack. The missile strike had effectively killed the agreement. 

If the Pakistan government had had anything to do with this, they would, or at least should, have carried out a ground operation. Suspects should have been arrested and tried in a court of law. After all, everyone has a right to be tried before being punished, except in �Alice in Wonderland�, where the Queen says, �Off with his head�. The Rabbit comments that surely there should be a trial first. The Queen answers, �No, No! Execution first, trial afterwards�. The system of justice has been stood on its head.

When I said this much, a friend said, �Why do you think our authorities are not capable of such unilateral action? After all, they could have arrested the 80-year old Akbar Bugti. But they dispatched him with a missile strike. He was not killed by the Americans! 

I understand Pakistani authorities have broadcast a video of satellite pictures showing suspicious activities at the madrassah. However, our courts do not allow videos and photos as evidence. The whole video could be fake. In other words, what is to prevent the authorities from taking such pictures elsewhere and pretending that they pertain to this compound? Again, they say there was an underground bunker, where Aiman uz Zwahiri used to come and visit. Why do they not let the newsmen go in and see the bunker with their own eyes? A Baloch panelist on TV said if the authorities had nothing to hide, they would have allowed the media in. He said, �We say, call the media. Let them see everything themselves. Why don�t they let in the media?�

Israelis kill Palestinians like this with laser-guided missiles fired from pilot-less predator drones. But they don�t kill their own Israeli citizens like this. We are dispatching our own people without a trial. God, what have we become?