Pakistan and the Security Council
I only read it in passing but Pakistan has been given a seat at the UN Security Council for two years. 3/4 years ago my history professor asked me what I thought about Pakistan getting a permanent seat at the Security Council along with India, South Africa and Brazil, adding to the 5 existing permanent members. Essentially my reply today is the same as it was before.
First, Pakistan does not have an independent foreign policy. Pakistan is a state under a neo-colonial American rule; therefore the country is not capable of contributing positively to the world community. Second, Pakistan has a long history of terrorism, state sponsored terrorism, illegal nuclear proliferation and massive internal and external repression of all sorts.
Pakistan army instigated a war with India in the 60s; and then in the 70s it committed genocide in Bangladesh, slaughtering millions and raping 200,000 women. In 1999 it again provoked India into a near-nuclear conflict over Kargil.
Internally, the Pakistan army has brutally suppressed dissent from all of the country’s provinces (except for Punjab of course). Baluchistan has been the main target with countless murders and military actions.
One cannot talk about Pakistan’s foreign policy without mentioning Afghanistan. A part from organizing and arming the Mujahideen in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation, Pakistan has been the chief backer of Taliban ever since the fall of Najeebullah in the early 90s. It was because of Pakistan’s backing that the Taliban were able to take control of Afghanistan in 1996. After the US invasion in 2001, Pakistan has been playing a double-game, that of allying itself with the US in the war but also keeping a tab on militant groups so that it can have leverage in Afghanistan once the Americans leave. Pakistan is also using the aid money from the US to accelerate its nuclear program, which is currently the quickest growing nuclear arsenal in the world.
Pakistan’s stance is, first of all, harmful to the people of Afghanistan; and secondly, for its own people. Patronizing militant jihadis is not a recipe for peace anywhere in the world. Not only Pakistan has an imperialist line over Afghanistan, but it also does not care about the safety of its own population and the stability of the nation. The alarming increase in nuclear weapons is leading to a scenario which is too scary to even begin to imagine. Pakistan army, whose raison d’être is being anti-Indian, obviously aims its nuclear missiles towards India, which is also armed with the same weapons, and has also refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty just like Pakistan. Both of them are financed by the US.
Pakistan has its criminal hands elsewhere as well, namely in the Gulf region. Pakistan army guarantees protection for monarchies in this region, especially for the House of Saud. Pakistanis are involved in numerous security firms in different Gulf countries, and they provided policing which suppressed the uprisings in Bahrain.
Pakistan also has the distinction of helping the Sri Lankan government slaughter the Tamils. A part from its neighboring region, Pakistan takes credit for butchering Palestinians during Black September.
Looking at the rest of the Council, especially the 5 permanent members, one has to conclude that Pakistan has joined the right club and is in good company.
- Jahanzeb Hussain
