NEEDS OF THE PAKISTANI NATION: WISHLIST SENT TO SANTA MUSHARRAF and UNCLE SAM: Items missing from the “manifestos” of all political parties

Ahmad Qureshi, an influential Pakistani jounalist of international repute discusses US-Pakistan relations.

 

…Time for some blunt speak from Islamabad. Truth is, ever since our American friends seized Afghanistan in 2001, that country has gradually turned into a staging ground for destabilization in neighboring Pakistan. If Washington is focused on terrorists crossing our mountainous border into Afghanistan, Islamabad is more concerned at how Afghanistan has become a haven for an assortment of underground forces that consider Pakistan the enemy. These forces remain hostage to a Cold War mindset, and draw support from players beyond Afghanistan’s borders.To paraphrase Ambassador Paterson’s words, terrorist attacks on us from the Afghan soil have already become catastrophic for Pak-U.S. relations, fueling doubts about U.S. intentions.”

If Washington had any respect for the concerns and interests of its Pakistani ally, the government in Kabul today would have reflected a joint Pakistani-American strategic interest and a better representation for the interests of a majority of the Afghan people.

The Charter or Democracy and “Charter of Demands” are pathetic rags and instruments to grab power. Nothing about Pakistan. Nothing about the people.

For the Pakistani role in the proxy wars of the past century Pakistanis deserve the following. Here is a bill to be handed over to “the powers to be”.

BB and the PPP had two stints in power. You used those to build Surray Palaces. Ms. Bhutto you sold of the Khalistanis to India and created security problems for Pakistan.

Mr. Sharif, you were Prime Minister twice. You exploded the Atom Bomb after being goaded by Mr. Advani and walked into a sanctions regime trap. Mr. Sharif, you surrendered and kneeled down in front of Clinton and gifted $ 1 Billion on Yellow cabs to your partners in Korea. You could have built a car factory. Mr. Musharraf, you have already had almost a decade and now want another 5 years.

US “AID” IS PEANUTS: Aid must be compared to that given to Israel and Egypt and that offered to Turkey for the Gulf war for transit facilities. US aid to Pakistan was not gratuity. Most it was payment for military bases, transit facilities, and army subcontracting. From 2001 to 2007, the United States extended $10.09 billion in assistance to Pakistan, the highest single year figure being $1.77 billion, which was remitted in 2007.  The projected figure for 2008 is $840 million only. According to figures tabulated by the Congressional Research Service, the breakdown is as under:

• Total economic support funds $1.89 billion
• Other development aid $453 million
• Foreign military financing $1.27 billion
• Other security-related aid $377 million
• Coalition support funds $5.93 billion
• Total non-food aid plus coalition support funds ($9.9 billion)
• Food aid $177 million

Here is a list of requirements missing from the manifestos of all political parties:

WISH LIST SENT TO SANTA MUSHARRAF and UNCLE SAM

• We want Bullet Trains running from the Karakorum’s and beyond to Gwader and beyond. $ 2 Billion
• We want a modern train system and underground railways for our cities. $ 2 Billion
• We want Water and sewage lines in our major cities and our towns and villages. $ 5 Billion
• We want 1000 proper schools for our children and we want. $1 Billion 
• 2500 brand new world class hospitals. $ 1 Billion.
  • Compare to the USA: (Total Number of All U.S. Registered Hospitals 5,759. Total Staffed Beds in All U.S. Registered Hospitals  955,768)
• We want 500 modern libraries spread all over the country. Build a library larger than the one in Alexandria. $250 million compare to 117,378 libraries in the USA
• We want a Motorway system to link all cities of Pakistan, North and South, East and West. Some on the West bank of the Indus and to the uninhabited remote parts of Baluchistan so that we can bring our largest province to the 21st century and make it habitable with fruit orchards and rice fields.$10 billion
• We need 10 new major airports linked by High Speed Trains. $10 Billion
• We want 50 million “$100 computers” for Pakistanis in Urdu and all local languages. $100 million
• We want “kachi abadis” to disappear from our cities. We want to see skyscrapers and government housing for all the poor. The inhabitants can be used for labor to build the buildings. Use the inhabitants to build skycrapers and parks and sell them a mortgage to pay for the subsidized housing. $ 5 Billion
• We want 100 power plants to eliminate the shortage of electricity in the country.$ 500 million
• We want 5 major dams and 100 minor dams to prevent the acute water shortage in the country. Some of the new canals need to go to Baluchistan to bring water to a thirsty land which is most of Pakistani land. Building Baluchistan brings strategic depth to Pakistan. $ 500 million
• We want 100 ships for the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation so that Pakistan can become a major sea faring nation able to handle the trade. Some of the ships should be cruise ships to bring millions of tourists to Mehergarh,Hapappa, Moenjodaro and Taxila and to the new “Club Meds” and Xcaret type of resorts that should be set up in the Karakurrums and the Run of Kutch areas and the deserts. $ 5 Billion
• We have to quadruple the yield for our Rice, Cotton, Milk and Wheat production benchmarked against the USA, Australia and Canada. New seeds, more fertilizer, better pesticides with combine harvesters, and refrigerated cargo from field to refrigerated vans to refrigerated  ships. $1 Billion
• Teach Urdu, English, Farsi, Arabic and Chinese in all schools. Also optional languages Punjabi, Kashmiri, Pahari, Hindkoh, Saraki, Pushto, Baluchi, Brahvi, Sindhi, Darri, Potohari. $ 50 million
• Get ship load of Sri Lankan teachers to eliminate illiteracy in Pakistan. $ 10 million
• Get boatloads of Malaysian manufacturers to setup electronic manufacturing in Pakistan.
• Get train loads of Koreans to build 10 new planned cities in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
• Get a plane load of the Swiss to build world class ski resorts and amusement parks and develop our archaeological sites as wonders of the world. (Ref. Xcaret in Cancun) $ 2 Billion
• Get busloads of Chinese to build industrial parks in Pakistan. $ 10 Billion
• We want to reclaim millions of acres of desert in Baluchistan for our future generations. $ 3 Billion

And Oh! Yes Northern Areas are part and parcel of Pakistan not to be bartered away to anyone. Don’t even think of giving up Kashmir!

Does this list look expensive? Not really. A US military web site in 2001 estimated that the impact of 9/11 on the Pakistani economy was $10 Billion per year. The cost of all this is in the league of $38 Billion that was offered to Turkey for transit rights into Iraq, which the Turkish parliament turned down. Even if it double or triple that amount, we deserve it. America spent 1 Trillion in Iraq. This is a small price to win the “war on terror”.