Daily Times

The Raymond Davis affair has been mismanaged by the Pakistani government and the military from the first day. The Americans have insisted all along that Davis did have immunity, and should not have been arrested at all, for any of the crimes listed by the government, Punjab or federal.

The biggest crime committed by Davis, for which there is no immunity, and which has rankled the people of Pakistan the most, is the act of espionage, committed on a friendly country.

And the person most responsible should be the chief of army staff (COAS), who is the ultimate authority. We have gone along with the corruption and crimes of the politicians assuming it to be the nature of the beast. But all the while we took comfort in believing that we could always rely on the army, who being super patriots would never ever indulge in any actions that could be remotely be construed as against Pakistani interests.

Recently, the breaking news on 50 odd channels simultaneously shattered our faith in the most revered of our institutions — the army — when it was revealed that they had been negotiating with the Americans in a clandestine and surreptitious and decidedly unpatriotic manner, also certainly not in Pakistan’s national interest.

In fact, our leading spymaster General Pasha, whose tenure has just been extended, has reportedly been involved in these murky dealings. In the not too distant past an officer would resign his commission rather than commit an act against his fellow compatriots. It appears that the downward drift in the discipline and moral standards applies to all aspects of Pakistani life, be it political, business or bureaucratic. The General Pashas of the army will have much to explain, if and when the questions are asked.

It is now understood by everyone concerned that the US government does not really care for the Pakistani people and has negotiated its own deal with the Pakistani government. There could be 500 more Davises unaccounted for and on the loose.

The only sane politician it seems is Imran Khan, but the establishment is determined not to let him anywhere near the reins of power. For the establishment has realised that the biggest criminal is the establishment itself. Its actions are deliberate and aimed at increasing its own power network with no room for any dissidence. This establishment has no scruples, and no conscience. With no accountability, it is omnipotent. It is this establishment that has been taken over by the Americans, without a whimper, and has led us into a disastrous war against an enemy not of our choice. The Americans are cribbing over how they have funded the war in Pakistan with money from their Congress. Our people want to know where the millions for the floods have disappeared through the hands of the governments handpicked by the Americans, while the people are desperately hungry. Telling the people that “you elected them” knowing well the high corruption coefficient of the leadership, also that this corruption coefficient was critically important in the American scheme, is not very helpful. Without this ‘corruption fix’, the American plan could not work. So the right people had to be brought in, and ensconced. Voila, you have a 500-man network established in Pakistan. As of now we have been assured that all 500 have the correct diplomatic documents. So there will be no shoddy paperwork, and Rehman Malik will have been suitably admonished. It is being slowly understood that there is no room for a change of heart, as poor Benazir realised at the cost of her life.

It is time for General Kayani to start shooting down the drones. The deaths due to the drones have ominously increased, and connecting the dots is a simple matter. What makes it complicated is the location of the sites stated to be still in Pakistan at Jacobabad. It is equally shocking that the very day Raymond Davis left Pakistan’s borders, a drone attacked Dattakhel, leaving more than 40 civilians dead.

The writer is a freelance columnist