Pakistan clamping down on terror financing
Times are changing, new alliances are being forged between the East and the West, old enemies are becoming friends and international boundaries are being altered. Amidst all the chaos and panic which seems to have gripped Asia, Pakistan a country which was for a long time seen as the hub of terror is now turning a new page.
Those of you who have been following Pakistani politics, will be aware that last year the movement to bring an end to the reign of tyranny and oppression in Pakistan, reached its peak after the Model Town Massacre. A long march and sit-in followed which went on for months. Hundreds and thousands of patriotic Pakistanis occupied the state capital to prevent their country from falling into the same trap which was laid down for the ill-fated Middle Eastern countries.
The protest leader Dr. Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri, gave a 10 point agenda to save Pakistan from balkanization which seemed eminent at that time.
At that moment it seemed as if the protest movement had failed to achieve its objective. But now almost 6 months later, the mist has begun to fade. Last year a decisive operation was launched to root out terrorism from the country. Operation Zarb e Azb [Strike of Azb-the sword of Prophet Muhammad(PBUH)] initially targeted the hardcore terrorists who were carrying out terrorist activities. There was some blow back, almost 150 students of Army Public School were brutally massacred, but the operation went on and within 1 year the terrorist activities have now reduced drastically. The change is so great that it feels like a dream.
Terrorism is not easy to tackle because it is linked with 4th generation warfare. Terrorists cannot operate if they do not have local support in the form of logistics, financiers and political backers. As the Operation ZarbeAzb continued, it became apparent upon the Pakistani nation and armed forces that merely taking out the terrorists will not result in long term stability. This meant that the next move was to be against the financiers and backers of terrorists.
For this purpose the National Action Plan (NAP) was prepared and implemented. Under the NAP the financiers and political backers of terrorists were engaged in hot pursuit. The NAP identified corruption as a vital factor for terrorism. Corruption was interlinked with terrorism and terror financing was marked as a form of terrorism.
Beginning with Karachi, the forces moved against the multiple mafias present in the economic hub of Pakistan, these mafias included the elected representatives and the political parties which claimed to be patriotic. However as soon as the noose around their fat necks tightened, the so-called elected representatives contacted their puppet masters in India and abroad to save their necks. The military on the other hand, seems to be in no mood to negotiate with terrorists and terror financiers this time.
The operation went on with full steam. In spite of strong international pressure to call off the arrests of political king makers, the armed forces kept their head down and continued to stream roll the state enemies.
Dr.Asim Hussain who is the chairman of Higher Education Commission, former Minister for Petroleum and a close aide of the former President Asif Ali Zardari, was arrested and put under custody. Under investigation, he revealed mafias were created and highly qualified white-collar terrorists were placed as heads of key institutions to weaken the country. His revelations have led and are still leading to more arrests of white-collar terrorists who were sucking the state institutions dry to fund terrorists.
The politicians who seemingly play with emotions to gather votes, are all internally linked with each other to weaken Pakistan. Pakistan Peoples Party -[A political party based in Dubai], Muttahida Qoumi Movement – [A political party based in London], Pakistan Muslim League(N) – [The ruling political party] are all facing the heat. Those who call the political setup in Pakistan a “Democracy” are wrong, Pakistan was and is still being ruled by mafia bosses who care for nothing but their own hide.
It is not possible to summarize all the details in a single blog post. In short, almost all of the political parties have their hands dripping with the blood of innocent Pakistanis who have died in the last 13 years. The politicians were working on a well laid plan to systematically weaken the state institutions from within by appointing white-collar criminals as heads. This plan has been foiled by the Pakistani Armed Forces who are being hailed all across the country.
In addition to tackling the political terrorists, Pakistan`s Armed Forces are playing a key role to bring stability back in Afghanistan. Under the observation of USA and China, Pakistani armed forces arranged peace talks between Afghan government and Afghan Taliban. India has already attempted to thwart these talks through Karzai era remnants in the Afghan establishment.
Pakistan and China have also agreed upon the China-Pak Economic Corridor which will result in the investment of billions of dollars in Pakistan. India has openly declared that they will not allow this project at any cost. Why? Why is India so concerned with a project that will not just benefit Pakistan but the entire South-Asian region in the long-term? Indian civil and military leaders have a habit of making such statements regularly, yet no one in the wider world dares to reproach them for such stupid remarks. Why? They must understand that Pakistan is not some third world failed state which can be suppressed. On 6th September, the Army Chief replied directly to the statement of the Indian Chief about waging a “limited war” on Pakistan.
The process of extermination has just begun, there is still a lot to do. Political terrorists are running like rats while making empty threats. India is for very obvious reasons not happy. Not the entire Indian population, only the extremist factions who brought the Butcher of Gujrat – Modi at the helm of power and it seems that the Pakistanis are seeing the ray of light in the form of General Raheel Sharif. But the road is a long one for the chief. For almost 30-40 years the “enemies” were planning to systematically weaken and destabilize Pakistan, that plan has just been thwarted and now they must be on their guard as well. Pakistan seems to be stabilizing and many powers will not be pleased to see this.
Nevertheless, Pakistani nation feels galvanized and motivated under the leadership of the current military brass. Yes the current military brass, not the political leadership. No, the people are waiting for the corrupt politicians to be taken in and punished. The process has begun and the rats are running around.