Sri Lanka had the will that Pakistan lacks

ON May 18, 2009, Mahinda Rajapakse, the President of Sri Lanka was a happy man. The Sri Lankan Army declared its enemy, LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran dead. With that, the 30-year-old bitter battle between the once powerful LTTE and the state of Sri Lanka came to an end. In spite of international pressure, including from India, the president went ahead with his plans of eliminating the rebel forces. No call for humanity deterred Rajapakse as he had an aim that needed to be accomplished.

LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is considered a terrorist organisation by some countries, including the UK and the US. The world has rarely seen a force like that of the LTTE with a great charismatic and ruthless leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran. They were the pioneers of suicide bombing and even had women as cadres. Their guerrilla tactics and knowledge of modern equipments have often amazed many. Hence, keeping all other arguments aside, it would be right to say that the accomplishment of the Sri Lankan Army has been commendable.

Now let’s look at our other neighbouring country facing a similar crisis. Pakistan finds itself in the same catastrophe as Sri Lanka. But does Pakistan have the will to accomplish what it set out to do? While Sri Lanka dealt with LTTE, Pakistan is dealing with the Taliban, which is also a terrorist organisation. However, unlike Sri Lanka that did not get international support to deal with the rebels, Pakistan is been showered with aid from all international agencies. Arms, ammunitions, monetary aid, emotional aid, and whatever the Pakistani army wants are being granted by the US. According to Financial Times, ‘The US said that it was providing $110m (€81m, £72m) in emergency assistance to Pakistan.’

Pakistan is now facing humanitarian crises with thousands of people being displaced. According to Radio Netherlands, ‘Heavy fighting broke out recently between the Taliban and the Pakistan Army, forcing many civilians to flee the region in the north west of the country. Some people stayed behind to protect their property, which leaves aid organisations with the problem of looking after people who have fled and people who are stuck behind enemy lines. NGOs expect this situation to last for at least a year.’

Inspite of all the money that is being pumped in, the crisis looks far from being resolved. The LTTE in Sri Lanka had the locals as their support. Being a part of the country for 30 long years, they knew the country and its politics well. The Taliban on the other hand, isn’t a part of Pakistan. There might be few hard-core fundamentalists who support them, but by and large the people there detest them. So how is it that the Taliban is always having an edge over the Pakistani Army?

The fact is that unlike Rajapakse, Asif Ali Zardari has no resolve to end the crisis. On his tour to the US, he did acknowledge the fact that India wasn’t the real threat to his nation. However, it was a statement made under coercion by the American president, Barack Obama. Zardari, who is infamous for corruption during the reign of his late wife, Benazir Bhutto would rather plead for money citing different reasons than divert his attention to the ongoing military action. Now, where exactly is the aid money going?

Well, there have been contradicting reports of that in the media.

Recently, New York Times reported that — Members of Congress have been told in confidential briefings that Pakistan is rapidly adding to its nuclear arsenal even while racked by insurgency, raising questions in Capitol Hill about whether billions of dollars in proposed military aid might be diverted to Pakistan’s nuclear programme. Inside the Obama administration, some officials say, Pakistan’s drive to spend heavily on new nuclear arms has been a source of growing concern, because the country is producing more nuclear material at a time when Washington is increasingly focused on trying to assure the security of an arsenal of 80 to 100 weapons so that they will never fall into the hands of Islamic insurgents.

If this is true, then the day when Pakistan will be relieved of Taliban is a utopian dream. As the saying goes, ‘One can take the horse to the pond. But it is up to the horse to drink water.’ Similarly, the US can keep pushing Pakistan to flush the Taliban out of the country, but it is really up to Pakistan to make it a reality. However the fact is that the Pakistani leaders neither have the will nor the ability to help the country come out of this crisis.