Stop lying, Pakistan
Perhaps one of the most distasteful experiences on Indian TV channels is listening to the vituperative tirades of obnoxious Pakistani "analysts" who, with their fake American accents, not only spout false and self-serving narratives about their country but also brazenly quote manufactured statistics to peddle half-truths.
Analysts
Most of these "analysts" are discoveries of Indian TV; in their own country, scarcely anybody is aware of their existence. This is, of course, not to say that those who are regarded as "analysts" in Pakistan are any less insufferable than these obscurities who are inflicted upon hapless Indian TV viewers. While their polemics are undoubtedly grating, their "facts" and arguments are nothing more than bunkum.
Take for instance the oft-quoted figure of Pakistan having sacrificed 70,000 lives in the war on terror. The Pakistanis repeat this number ad nauseam in every available forum to convince the audience of Pakistan’s bona fides in the fight against terrorism. After all, how can a country which has paid such a heavy price ever be complicit with jihadist terror groups, or so the argument goes. The counter-argument that Pakistani casualties in the war on terror are nothing more than a blowback of their own terrorist-friendly policies is ignored, as is the bit about how in the larger strategic calculus of the Pakistani state, 70,000 casualties is nothing more than collateral damage.
But the real problem with the 70,000 count is that it is a number conjured up by the Pakistanis to suit their narrative of “we are victims, not villains”. If anything, this number is a gross exaggeration and has been inflated to extract money, sympathy, and in recent years, acknowledgement for the "sacrifices" made by Pakistan. The idea is to disarm their detractors and ward off any pressure on Pakistan to sever its organic links with terrorist outfits. In August 2013, the ministry of interior in Pakistan announced that the actual number of Pakistanis killed in terrorism in the period 2002-13 was only 12,795! At that time, the number that was commonly bandied about in the Pakistani media was 40,000.
Amazingly enough, since 2013, every year, almost by default this number goes up by about 10,000, and today has crossed 70,000. Even if for argument’s sake the 40,000 number in 2013 is accepted, it means that in the last four years, over 30,000 people have died in terrorism-related incidents. In other words, while 40,000 died in the first 12 years, almost as many have died in the last four years. But since 2014, Pakistanis have been boasting that they have broken the back of terrorism, haven’t they? So, then how come over 700 people have been dying every month in the last four years?
Spurious
This means either the Pakistanis have been fighting a phoney war, or their numbers are totally spurious. The truth really is that not only are the numbers fudged, but the war too is mostly phoney. This is not to deny that the Pakistanis have conducted some military operations against the "bad terrorists". But it is quite over the top for the Pakistanis to claim that they fought the "world’s biggest anti-terror war" or that they are fighting to save the world from terrorism. This is a blatant falsehood because the fact is that the Pakistan army has only fought against groups that challenged the Pakistani state, not against terrorists who worked for the Pakistani state.
When top Pakistani officials like Sartaj Aziz ask, “Why should Pakistan target those who do not pose any threat to its security?”, they effectively admit that they only act against their enemies and not against the enemies of the world. Why then should the world acknowledge any so called sacrifice that the Pakistanis make in their own cause?
A related duplicity is over the issue of "banned groups" which are anything but banned because they operate openly and freely. The Pakistani justify this by saying they don’t act against these guys because they don’t harm Pakistan, which is a tacit acceptance of that they don’t take indiscriminate action against all Islamist terror groups. Some Pakistani "analysts" (read retired military officials) even admit publicly that these monsters are needed as leverage against India.
Argument
What is more, the Pakistanis have received billions of dollars from the Americans as Coalition Support Funds (CSF). The Pakistanis deny this is a hand-out and claim that this is mere reimbursement for their services (incidentally they used to inflate the bills significantly before the Americans became wise to their financial fiddle). Clearly, unless Pakistan is a mercenary state (which it is), why would they seek reimbursement for fighting, as they claim, for the world?
Another pet Pakistani argument is that there are no terrorist safe havens inside Pakistan. This flies in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary: the finance man of Haqqani network was killed in a suburb of Islamabad, the Taliban chief Mansoor was killed in Balochistan and his successor was elected in a Quetta suburb of Kuchlak, even the Taliban spokesman was found tweeting from Karachi. When confronted, the standard Pakistani response is:
“Give us evidence and we will act”. When evidence is given, the terrorists are quietly spirited away. Other times, the Pakistanis say the evidence is not good enough. When pressure mounts, an eyewash action is taken. Sometimes a terrorist is arrested and even a trial staged. But guess what? The courts release the guy. At that stage, the Pakistanis plead with injured innocence that there is rule of law in Pakistan and the government’s hands are bound by the courts. But when it comes to "bad terrorists", without batting an eyelid due process is junked in favour of summary executions.
The list of lies that Pakistanis peddle is endless, and their capacity for dissembling, deception, and double-speak is unparalleled. But the reason they get away with it is because nobody fact-checks the snake oil they sell.
(Courtesy of Mail Today.)