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speak up!
Ghosts from forgotten Kashmir
by Eric S. Margolis
WASHINGTON: The US strategic
think-tank, Rand Corp, estimated
a nuclear exchange between India
and Pakistan would initially kill two
million, wound 100 million, and send
clouds of radioactive dust around the
globe.
That was a decade ago. Since then,
India and Pakistan have quadrupled
their nuclear forces, which are now
on a hair-trigger alert.
Fears an enraged India would
attack Pakistan in revenge for the
Mumbai massacre provoked great
alarm here in Washington. So,
too, the threat Islamabad would
withdraw two Pakistani army corps
supporting the US war in Afghanistan
and redeploy them to face India.
The US quickly forced Pakistan
to arrest the leader of the group
Lashkar-e-Toiba that India blames
for the attack.
Lashkar was founded at the end
of the anti-Soviet Afghan War to
channel jihadist energies into a new
struggle, liberation of the two-thirds
of divided Kashmir ruled by India.
Kashmir is India’s only Muslim
majority state. Muslim Kashmiris
have demanded independence from
India and union with Pakistan since
1947. In 1989, an anti-Indian uprising
erupted. Up to 20 Kashmiri groups,
some secretly aided by Pakistani
intelligence, battled 500,000 Indian
troops and police in a brutal, dirty
war marked by atrocities on both
sides. In the process, between 40,000
and 80,000 Kashmiris died.
I visited many of the Kashmiri
guerilla camps in the Pakistani-
controlled third of Kashmir,
clustered around Muzzafarabad,
and accompanied them on their
operations against Indian forces, as I
recount in my book, War at the Top
of the World.
Two groups, Lashkar and Jaish-e-
Mohammed, ran the biggest camps.
Both were armed and financed until
2002 by ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence
service.
India and the US quickly accused
Lashkar and other Kashmiri guerilla
groups of the Mumbai outrage.
Washington also hinted its old ally,
and my old friend, former ISI chief
Hamid Gul, was involved.
India insists Pakistan is guilty,
but has yet to offer proof. Gul is a
Pakistani patriot, not terrorist. His
real crime: backing Taliban and
calling 9/11 a hoax.
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Pakistan bowed to US
pressure, arresting Lashkar’s
leaders. Pakistan is bankrupt.
Its cash reserves were stolen
during Musharraf’s dictatorship.
Pakistan now subsists on
American money.
Most Pakistanis ardently
support the Kashmiri liberation
struggle as Pakistan’s national
cause. But after 9/11, the US
put a gun to Pakistan’s head,
forcing Musharraf to support
the US war in Afghanistan
and abandon the Kashmiri
liberation movements and
Pakistan’s ally, Taliban, and
denounce them as “terrorists”.
The US and India were
delighted. India always branded
the Kashmir uprising as “cross-
border terrorism” from Pakistan
though the revolt was a genuine
uprising against often brutal,
corrupt Indian rule.
Pakistanis were outraged
by this double betrayal, calling
Musharraf an American stooge.
Now, President Asif Zardari’s
new government is continuing
the same policy under US
pressure, earning contempt and
disgust.
Pakistan has two
governments: civilian and
military. The generals and ISI
have never abandoned their
goal of a Pakistani-dominated
Afghanistan, or continuing the
Kashmir jihad. Both are seen as
vital national strategic interests.
National schools must
appeal to all
OF LATE there has been a great
deal of focus on vernacular schools.
There are those who say that they
should be closed as they believe
that these schools are a hindrance
to racial unity. On the other hand
the proponents of these schools
are vociferous in defending them
as they claim that denying them
of such schools would breach the
provisions of the Constitution.
The role of schools is to provide
wholesome education to children,
which includes just not striving for
academic excellence but instilling
good moral and social values. In
a multiracial country goodwill,
tolerance and a spirit of sharing
are of paramount importance
and education is one of the most
important tools for instilling these
values which will forge unity.
Having children of all races
under one roof will go a long way
to promote unity but the environ-
ment must also be favourable.
Unfortunately such a favourable
environment does not seem to
prevail in our national schools, like
it used to in the fifties and sixties
when people of all ethnicity pre-
ferred these schools.
People want quality education
at an affordable cost. Are our
national schools living up to these
expectations?
The increasing demand for pri-
vate and international schools may
be an indication that our national
school system may be failing in
its obligation not only in uniting
the people but also in providing
quality education as well. People
from all walks of life are willing to
pay a hefty sum for quality educa-
tion for their children elsewhere
| TUESDAY DECEMBER 16 2008
Washington has rented
130,000 Pakistani soldiers to
wage war against Pashtun
tribesmen allied to Taliban on
Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier.
These soldiers, not surprisingly,
detest the mission. The once
proud Pakistani army has
become a mercenary force. Now
Washington wants to send its
rented Pakistani Army to fight
in Afghanistan.
Few in Washington
understand the growing
radicalisation of Pakistan
caused by forcing its rulers and
soldiers to go against the wishes
of the nation.
Instead, the US keeps
listening to the westernised
Pakistani elite, less than 1% of
the population, and left-leaning
“experts”, like Ahmad Rashid,
who keep telling Washington
what it wants to hear, rather
than the hard truth.
The festering Kashmir
conflict that pits nuclear armed
India and Pakistan against
each other lies behind the
Mumbai massacre. Solving this
dangerous business must be
a top priority for the Western
powers.
Eric Margolis is a contributing
editor to the Toronto Sun chain
of newspapers, writing mainly
about the Middle East and
South Asia. Comments: letters@
thesundaily.com
being convinced that our national
schools are not capable of provid-
ing such education.
Closing vernacular schools may
not only be unconstitutional but
such actions would create a lot of
ill feeling, anger and unhappiness.
What needs to be done is to
make our national schools more
attractive to all communities. In the
past our English-medium schools
enjoyed the patronage of all races
because of their high standards.
However due to politicisation of
our education system, our national
schools have ceased to appeal to
all communities as they failed to
reflect the aspirations of all Ma-
laysians. Most Malaysians would
agree that the standard of educa-
tion, discipline, morals and sports
in schools too have declined over
the years.
Politicisation of our education
must stop and drastic measures
taken to improve the standard of
our national schools to make them
premier schools. This can be done
with racially balanced recruitment
of dedicated of headmasters,
teachers and other staff. Nobody
with a sound mind would want
to shun national schools if they
provide high quality education.
There is no doubt that there
can be no genuine inter-ethnic
unity unless the children of all
races study, play and eat under
the same roof. This can only be
achieved if they all go to the na-
tional schools which must strive
to be truly national to attract the
children from all races.
Dr Chris Anthony
Butterworth