Mush Proves Bin Laden Rights

• "I tell Pervez and his army: your betrayal of your nation and people has been exposed, and the people are no longer fooled by your showing off militarily by launching some missiles after every disaster and massacre you commit against the populace, as has occurred repeatedly in the border regions, or after the biggest massacre in Lal Masjid most recently. How is the nation benefited by these weapons and tests of yours? The same goes for the nuclear bomb itself. When the American foreign minister Powell came to you, you cowered, bowed and submitted to him like a lowly slave, and you permitted the American Crusader forces to use the air, soil and water of Pakistan, the country of Islam, to kill the people of Islam in Afghanistan, then in Waziristan. So woe to you and away with you."(My comment: This is an interesting attempt by bin Laden to project that Musharraf is in the habit of frequently carrying out missile tests in order to divert the attention of the Pakistani people away from his collusion with the US in its war against Islam and the Ummah.) ---- Extract from my paper dated September 22,2007 titled " Bin Laden's Fatwa Against Musharraf & Pakistani Army".

(January 26, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) In a message disseminated on September 20, 2007, Osama Bin Laden had pointed out that President Pervez Musharraf was in the habit of ordering the firing of missiles from the Pakistani military stocks, whenever he faced trouble at home and warned him that the people of Pakistan would no longer be fooled by such showing-off.
Musharraf proved bin Laden right by ordering the firing of a Shaheen--1 (Hatf-IV) missile on January 25,2008, at a time when Pakistan and its army are reeling under the blow of one suicide attack by jihadi terrorists after another-----many of them on the Pakistani Armed Forces and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI)---- millions of people short of wheat and flour are increasingly looting trucks carrying food rations for the NATO troops in Afghanistan, he is involved in an escalating controversy over his failure to protect Mrs.Benazir Bhutto from being assassinated, an increasing number of retired military officers are calling for his resignation and there are growing demands in the West to stop supporting him whether he is right or wrong. The missile-firing also coincided with his tour of Europe since January 20,2008, where he has been facing highly embarrasing questions regarding his policies and failures.

The adulation for Musharraf in the Western policy-making circles---particularly in the US --- has made him feel that it is easy to fool the West and manipulate its public opinion. The acceptance of his lies by the West without asking questions and its continued praise of him despite his failures and lies have facilitated his manipulation of public opinion in order to divert attention from the dangerous state of affairs in Pakistan and feed the "after Musharraf, the deluge" fears in the Western policy-making circles.

Two examples of the blatant manner in which he bluffs his way through in his interactions with the West were noticed during his current travels in Europe. At one of his interactions in Europe, he was asked about the militant movement launched by the Baloch nationalists. He denied the existence of any such movement and described Balochistan as the most peaceful province in Pakistan. Nobody asked him how he described Balochistan as the most peaceful province when every day there are attacks on military and para-military forces and sabotage of gas pipelines and electricity transmission lines and when the Neo Taliban was operating from sanctuaries in Balochistan.

On January 22,2008, a statement signed by more than 100 retired Generals, Admirals, Air Marshals, other senior officers and enlisted ranks urged Musharraf to resign in "the supreme national interest". According to the Associated Press,speaking at Davos, Switzerland, where he was attending a meeting of the World Economic Forum, Musharraf described his critics as "insignificant personalities" whom he had dismissed from service.

What a shocking lie, which he seems to have uttered without batting a eye-lid!Most of those, who had signed the statement, were much senior to Musharraf in service and had retired before Musharraf became the Chief of the Army Staff in 1998 and then appointed himself as the President in 2001. And yet, he described them as disgruntled juniors, whom he had dismissed from service. The most surprising thing is not that he uttered lies----- he has always been in the habit of doing this--- but nobody pointed out these lies to him. It is because of this reluctance to talk to him bluntly and the tendency to give him undeserved praise that he has been nursing a conviction that he has made himself indispensable to the West and that he could do or say anything and get away with it.

As things keep getting more and more difficult for him at home, what has been his response? Flood the TV screens with dramatic visuals of one more missile-launching.

Bin Laden understands Musharraf better than the US and the rest of the West do.

(B.Raman, Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, New Delhi, and, presently, Director, Institute For Topical Studies, Chennai. E-mail: seventyone2@gmail.com )