If Iran’s race for acquiring nuclear weapon capability puts the West in a quandary, then consider how much greater dilemma will be when the clerical regime in Tehran has its fingers on nuclear weapons.
Such a scenario is real when it comes to Iran’s neighbour, Pakistan, and neither the present occupant of the White House nor future aspirants have a clue how to deal with a nuclear weapon state named again in the top tier of the recent Foreign Policy journal’s “failed states index” for 2007.
Pakistan is the United States’ strategic ally in the war against Islamist terrorism. Its role is vital in hunting for al QaIda leaders Osama bin Laden, Ayman al Zawahiri and Taliban chief Mullah Omar.
How reliable Pakistan is as the West’s ally in the war against Islamist terrorism is an open question.
Pakistan is held together by a military that is greatly responsible for placing the country in the dire predicament where politics offer little reprieve from demographic pressures, social inequities and group grievances tearing the society apart.
General Pervez Musharraf is the fifth dictator in the country’s history since its independence in August 1947, and the legacy of military regimes for Pakistan has been negative in undermining evolution of responsible civilian rule.
Pakistan’s record in the making, arming and training of Taliban is well-known. The military’s support for the Taliban regime allowed Afghanistan to become safe haven for al Qaida, and for the bin Laden gang’s successful planning and execution of 9/11.
Pakistanis have played lead roles in al Qaida, and 65 Pakistanis as members of bin Laden’s gang are held in Guantanamo Bay including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11 attack on America.
Public support in Pakistan for al Qaida and its brand of Islamism is extensive. In the border regions along Afghanistan, Taliban sympathizers rule with the support of fundamentalist parties and local tribesmen of Waziristan very likely provide sanctuary to al Qaida leaders.
In Islamabad, the capital, Islamists gather in what is known as the Red Mosque and demand strict application of shariah (Islamic laws) sending vigilantes out to enforce their brand of faith the world witnessed under Taliban rule in Kabul.
In Punjab, the country’s largest province, the middle class headed by lawyers insists on the reinstatement of the country’s chief justice fired by the dictator. It has become a rallying cry of the civilian opposition against military rule.
In Balochistan on Iran’s border, ethno-nationalist resistance against the central government seethes with renewed vigour after the military approved killing of the venerable Baloch leader Akbar Bugti. In Karachi, the country’s largest city and port, ethnic sectarianism bristles just below the deceptive normalcy imposed by the military.
When Pakistan’s role in proliferating nuclear technology in the black market—Musharraf insists this has been shut down by eliminating the rogue scientist A.Q. Khan’s network—is added to fundamentalist parties and Islamist activists brazenly pushing the country towards jihadism (politics of holy war) with support known to exist within the ranks of the army, the probability of disaster waiting to happen is only a matter of time.
Musharraf ousted an elected government on grounds of its ineptness and corruption. He has run the country for over seven years and his welcome has run out.
The Bush administration, lacking alternatives, remains stuck in supporting the general who escaped several assassination attempts. And Pakistan’s grim lesson demands Iran’s nuclear bid is busted in time by any means.
He is a member of the Board of Directors for the Center for Islamic Pluralism based in Washington, D.C., a Senior Fellow with the Canadian Coalition for Democracies, and an academic-consultant with the Center for Security Policy in Washington, D.C. He has been a consultant with CIDA on development issues and has published widely in academic journals on foreign policy matters and area studies of the Middle East and South Asia.
Mansur is featured on the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam's War Against the West produced by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. He also unsuccessfully ran for the Canadian Alliance party in 2000.
Mansur has been accused by Canadian Islamic Congress of using "provocative, self-serving rhetoric", and for "promoting an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim agenda".
He is an Ismaili Muslim.
At a press conference on October 2, 2008, Mansur stated that "Islam is my private life, my conscience...[but] my faith does not take precedence over my duties...to Canada and its constitution, which I embrace freely;" "I am first and most importantly a Canadian;" "only in a free society will you find Islam as a faith and not a political religion." Mansur also criticized New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, whom Mansur said "has gone to bed with Islamists", because he is running candidates in Ontario and Quebec who are closely identified with the push for Sharia law.
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