By Dr. Syed Hassaan Bokhari
Fear robs the foot of strength to rove abroad,
And filches from the brain the power of thought.
Whatever evil lurks within thy heart,
Thou can be certain that its origin is fear:
Fraud, cunning, malice, lies all these flourish on terror, who is wrapped about with falsehood and hypocrisy for veil,
And fondles foul sedition at her breast.
And since it is least strong when zeal is high, it is most happy in disunion.
Who understands the Prophet’s clue aright sees infidelity concealed in fear.
Translated from Rumuz-e-Bekhudi
The trials, tribulations, and terrors for the Pakistani people keep on multiplying. Political instability, severe economic challenges, terrorism, and foreign wars are converging on our country. The global environment is very tumultuous due to the Zionists’ realization that the world is waking up to their reality, and they might end up losing their foreign sponsors in the next few years. Internally, the turmoil is only poised to increase if the people are consistently repressed from expressing their political will. What are the options for Pakistan in this dire situation? In order to find them, we must first understand the situation facing Pakistan from all angles.
The Global Angle
“The tragedy of Israel is not fortuitous. Driven by history, chance, and cunning, the Zionists wedged themselves between two historical adversaries, the West and Islam, and by harnessing the strength of the first against the second, they have produced a conflict that can only grow deeper over time. In this conflict, Israel’s triumphs are temporary, are indeed illusory, since they evoke a deeper, wider response from the societies that suffer the devastation of its triumphs. In the long run, in the time scale of history, by relentlessly pressing its advantages, Israel only ensures that its adversaries will slowly build the defenses that will eventually rise to match Israel’s military might and its expansionist ambitions.”
Excerpt from “Israeli Exceptionalism – The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism” by Shahid Alam
7 October heralded the beginning of the end for the genocidal settler colonial project named Israel. The predictable Israeli response to the attacks of the Palestinian Resistance that day, in the form of ramping up the genocide in Palestine, precipitated a huge reaction in the societies of Israel’s chief Western backers, most importantly in the USA. Already, many in the USA had been waking up to the fact that forever wars were causing the USA to contract that fatal disease that plagues empires: Overextension. Renowned intellectuals like Dr. John Mearsheimer had already declared Israel to be a strategic liability for the USA. Come 7 October, and every person with even a shred of humanity was forced to condemn the Israeli violence. Episodes like the Epstein blackmailing/honey trapping ring made it clear to many Americans that the US backing for Israeli genocide is not a strategic necessity but a policy forced on the country by those who are compromised tools in the hands of Zionist agents like Epstein and his bosses.
The Zionists took note of the changing winds as well. They know full well that without billions of dollars in US aid and the active involvement of the American military might in all their military adventures, they can’t achieve their goal of complete genocide in the land between the two rivers (its noteworthy to remember that the US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in front of the whole world that Israel has the right to occupy the land between the rivers Nile and Euphrates to create a Greater Israel). They also know that the US is witnessing a demographic shift with the black and Hispanic subsets assuming a more vital role in the running of the state. These two demographic groups were never embroiled in the Zionist web like the White Americans. Even the White Americans are now expressing fatigue and disgust with Israel’s perpetual wars and the resulting carnage. Israel knows that the next few years represent the last opportunity for Israel to complete its genocidal goals in the land between the two rivers and cement its presence in the Middle East. Failure in this endeavor might end up leaving Israel alone against its unvanquished victims.
Trump’s war on Iran on Israeli orders can only be understood in this context. It brings no benefit to America. Its sole goal is to effect regime change followed by the Balkanization of Iran. And it doesn’t stop there at all. If Israel succeeds in Iran, the next target is Turkiye. The denuclearization and balkanization of Pakistan will also rise up in the list of Zionist priorities as soon as Iran is dealt with. The juggernaut will not stop until all the countries from Morocco to Pakistan are wrecked through invasions and civil war, and the complete genocide of indigenous populations in the land between the two rivers.
The Regional Angle
“We consider countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan as ours.”
Mohan Bhagwat, RSS chief, 2021
In the last year alone, Pakistan has fought intense military engagements with both India and Afghanistan. When the Iran war erupted, Pakistan was busy fighting a sharp border war with Afghanistan. The war with Afghanistan is a curious one. Pakistan doesn’t possess the military muscle of the USA to keep bombing Afghanistan virtually infinitely, even though the USA ended up failing to achieve its objectives there as well. With the Indian threat looming on the Eastern border, only the very idiotic can imagine Pakistan occupying sizable chunks of territory in Afghanistan and then holding them to prevent terrorists from entering Pakistan through Afghanistan. With the maximum of two Army Corps available (significant resources of whom are committed in anti-terror operation all over KPK and Balochistan), Pakistan can inflict punishing losses on Afghanistan if it foolishly tries to engage Pakistan with conventional forces on the border but it can’t even seriously contemplate taking over thousands of square kilometres of Afghan territory along the border and then holding it against guerilla warfare unleashed by the Taliban. So, its very uncertain what Pakistan hopes to achieve by bombing Pakistan.
On the other hand, what’s very certain is the fact that wars like this will engender and amplify anti-Pakistan hatred in Afghanistan, unite the bulk of the Afghan population behind the Taliban Government against “Pakistani aggression”, and encourage many (if not all) Taliban leaders to augment their support of groups like the TTP (and the Baloch separatists) to hit Pakistan harder. This will result in:
- Further increasing the unrest and violence in KPK and Balochistan.
- Keep Pakistan in a “forever war” on the Western border, which will require more and more military and economic resources.
- Provide a set of mouth-watering options and opportunities to India so that it can hit Pakistan hard at a time of its choosing.
Keeping all of this in mind, the equation goes completely haywire when we throw the Iran war into it. If Iran falls, this will create huge opportunities for anti-Pakistan armed groups, especially Baloch separatists, to mount attacks against Pakistan. In the short term, this war has provided Afghanistan with a very effective narrative weapon. Referring to Trump’s “love” for the rulers of Pakistan, they have started propagating the theory that Pakistan only chose to bomb Afghanistan at the behest of the USA, as the latter was poised to strike Iran. This might be inaccurate, but given Pakistan’s recent moves like joining Trump’s Board of Peace for Gaza (which is little more than a sick joke and a slap in the face of the victims of the Gaza genocide), it has some plausibility. If this narrative is allowed to take root, Pakistan will decisively lose the battle of narrative against Afghanistan while achieving nothing more than a costly stalemate on the battlefield – a grim outcome.
There is another somewhat remote, but very worrisome possibility. India might decide to take advantage of the proliferation of wars in its neighborhood. We must remember that the Indian Prime Minister Modi was bearhugging Netanyahu in Israel just a couple of days ago. Netanyahu might have hinted to Modi about the impending attack on Iran. With Pakistan’s focus on its Western border, India can restart “Operation Sindoor” (remember that it was only “paused” in May last year). India has a very large missile arsenal at its disposal and the ability to penetrate the Pakistani air defenses. A surprise attack can wreak havoc if we are caught unprepared or busy elsewhere. India can also opt to embroil Pakistan in a longer conflict and bleed us dry on both borders. It can link its aggression to the conflict raging between Pakistan and Afghanistan right now and proclaim that it will only stop once Pakistan accepts a ceasefire on the Western border as well. In this way, India can not only damage Pakistan a lot but also make Afghanistan a pawn in its game by garnering huge popularity in that country.
The Internal Angle
“Cynicism is a product of political disempowerment; it arises when one cannot imagine a future that is better for all, so one tries to work only for oneself and one’s family.”
Excerpt from “Recalling the Caliphate” by Salman Sayyid
For the past four years, Pakistan has been witnessing unending political instability. Despite unprecedented repression, gagging the media, stealing the elections, and even trying every way possible to throttle the social media, the government has utterly failed to pacify the people. In the process, it has made itself possibly the most hated government in Pakistan’s history while Imran Khan, the jailed opposition leader, has gained immense popularity and a near mythical status in the eyes of his followers. The economy has only grown worse, as evidenced by rising poverty rates and the unprecedented brain drain that is vying to compete with the 1947 partition in terms of the number of migrants generated. Even the military, the only institution that unified many Pakistanis behind it, has now lost almost all of its former popularity.
The Iran war might result in skyrocketing oil prices and disruption in many other global markets. The Gulf economies might take huge hits, and Pakistan might experience a drop in remittances from abroad. These twin strikes might cause a collapse of Pakistan’s already ailing economy. An unpopular government in charge of a collapsing economy is a nightmare scenario that routinely gives birth to revolutions and civil wars!
What is to be Done?
We are Easterners, orientals. We want to stand against the West which is trying to finalize and make absolute its own style of civilization, culture, mode of life, and human behavior and to impose a world upon us at the cost of our negation, the elimination of our identity and denial of all of our values, to transform us and make us faceless and, consequently, parrot-like, docile individuals.
Dr. Ali Shariati, Eminent Irani Philosopher
In my humble opinion, Pakistan must take the following three steps immediately:
1) Take immediate steps to end political instability by bringing Imran Khan on board, and telling him to support the government in the following two steps to solidify the populace behind the government in this time of peril.
2) Initiate an immediate ceasefire with Afghanistan, with both countries declaring solidarity with Iran and Palestine against the Israel-USA aggressor alliance.
3) Exit Trump’s Board of Peace.
It’s very clear that Pakistan’s current foreign policy, the only consideration in which is to please Donald Trump at all costs, is a recipe for disaster. Trump is merely a pawn of the Zionists (compromised through Epstein or someone like him?), and the Zionists plan on first denuclearizing and then destroying Pakistan. Iran is a solid bulwark against the Zionist ambitions. So, it is incumbent upon countries like Pakistan and Turkiye (and the Gulf monarchies) to support Iran fully in their own interests. The fall of Iran will create huge disruptive forces, and an embattled country like Pakistan cannot hope to cope with the fallout. Our best bet is to remember why this country was created in the first place and try to live up to that promise. Even if our government seems enamored by amoral politics, it needs to realize that Pakistan’s very survival is at stake in this Zionist Great Game. The Western hegemonic Empire, ostensibly led by the US, is in the iron grip of the Zionists, and all the rest of the world needs to stand together and resist it with unity. Iran and the Palestinian resistance have stood alone against the might of Israel-USA for several decades now. They have been subjected to innumerable hardships through sanctions, wars, and genocide. The rest of the world owes them a huge debt of gratitude. But, more importantly, they are owed complete solidarity and support. It’s high time that we erect a real “Bunyan-um-Marsoos” against Epsteinism and genocide. Only by thwarting the evil empire now can a third world war be prevented.
“Whatever is in the heavens and on earth, let it declare the Praises and Glory of Allah: for He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. O you who have believed, why do you say what you do not do? Greatly hateful in the sight of Allāh is that you say what you do not do. Truly Allah loves those who fight in His Cause in battle array, as if they were a solid cemented structure.”
Al Quran, 61: 1-4
