Clinton’s belief that this deal can 'stabilize civilian democracy and the rule of law' in Pakistan would be laughable were it not so tragic

Clinton Puts US Head in Pakistani Sand

Dr. Richard Benkin  Bio

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Rudrapur, India.  If Americans (or anyone else) needed proof that our government is hopelessly lost in South Asia, this morning’s Indian papers provide all the confirmation they need.  The article in question featured a beaming Secretary of State Hillary Clinton praising the Pakistanis for “themselves resolving [their] difficulties.”

Now, to be sure, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and his political rival Nawaz Sharif did resolve their internecine spat, but only because the military “convinced” Zardari that it would be in his best interests to give into to Sharif and re-appoint sacked judges loyal to the latter.  Some accomplishment.

But Clinton’s belief that this deal can “stabilize civilian democracy and the rule of law” in Pakistan would be laughable were it not so tragic.  Before their falling out, Zardari and Sharif appeared to be allies in the wake of last year’s Pakistani elections that ended the one-man rule of former president and military strongman Pervez Musharraf.  The coalition of the hopeful hailed that election as a new democratic era in Pakistan.  This recent events showed us first that the military is still in charge in Pakistan and second, that the Obama administration along with the European Union are willing to sacrifice the freedom and very lives of others so they can claim victory for their misguided South Asian policies.

Clinton forgot to mention that even when things were all hunky dory between the two rivals, Pakistan continued to slide into chaos.  The two never even began to address Pakistan’s endemic corruption at all levels of officialdom.  The population’s radicalization by Islamist forces proceeded with a fury.  And the military never stopped calling the shots even as westerners were jumping over each other praising the nation’s fig leaf of a civilian government.

Worse, over the past weeks South Asians have watched Pakistan crumble into chaos while its political leaders quarreled with each other instead of the Taliban at the gate.  What seems to have slipped Clinton’s mind is that Taliban forces are taking over larger and larger swaths of this nuclear power.  In February, the Zardari government even made a deal with them.  It agreed to cede Pakistan’s Swat Valley to the Taliban (who were controlling without effective government opposition anyway) and allow it to operate under Sharia law.  The Swat Valley, it should be noted, is only 100 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad and home to over 1.2 million people who might not want to live under Sharia.  But that’s Pakistani democracy for you.

But this same government, evidently in an attempt to show just how open and democratic it is just released Pakistani nuclear scientist Abdul Kadeer Khan on the world.  He already shared Pakistani nuclear technology with North Korea and other nasty regimes and is thought to be ready to share that technology with Islamist terrorists and rogue states.

Moreover, Clinton and others seem content to allow what has become a river of misery to flow from Pakistan to India’a Punjab:  a mass exodus of Pakistani Hindus.  This remnant of a community was once one in five Pakistanis and has been reduced to one percent of the population.  With Taliban forces in effective control over greater portions of the country, the Hindu population is fleeing fast, either after atrocities have been committed or just ahead of them.  According to several informants among them, Taliban officials told them to get out of the country fast or face “dire consequences.” Those officials had a personal stake in that, too, as Pakistan’s Enemy Property Act then gives them the right to seize that “non-Muslim” land and distribute it to a Muslim; likely a relative, ally, or purchaser.  Clinton’s praise for this government under which this problem has only grown is consigning the Hindus of Pakistan to extinction through death, forced conversion, or flight.  The Pakistan government said this was not “capitulation but the price of peace.” Tell that to the millions streaming across this sad border.  They are also victims of a deal with “moderate Taliban,” such as President Obama said he wants to make elsewhere in South Asia.

As these “moderate Taliban” of Mr. Obama’s fantasy world complete their takeover of Pakistan, he should know that there are plenty more of them here in India, where they already have called for chopping off a swath of Northern India from Kashmir to Bengal and turning it into the Islamist state of Mughalistan where Sharia would prevail.  And each time capitulate to the Islamists or congratulate those who do, more and more people swell the ranks of our enemies here in South Asia.

Are we still smiling Secretary Clinton?