TURKEY'S OTTOMAN ERA OCTOPUS LIKE LINKAGES

This piece appeared in South Asian Analyses Group website on 31 December ,2003 

 

TURKEY'S OTTOMAN ERA OCTOPUS LIKE LINKAGES 

by K. Gajendra Singh 31 December , 2003 (Saag.org) also a similar one in Asia Times 

Some times citizens originating from the subcontinent influence British government policies and even send ripples through former English colonies like USA and Canada. Similarly ethnic and religious cousins of citizens of Turkey spread all over in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and the Arab world, which was ruled for nearly half a millennium from Istanbul, capital of the Ottoman empire, do and would play an important role, including in  the war against terrorism. The interactive responses find echoes even in central Asian Turkic republics and west Europe, specially in countries like Germany with large Turkish populations. 

With increasing US and western dependence on petroleum imports and growing turmoil in the Gulf, the Caucasus and Caspian basin with oil reserves estimated to be between 60 to 200 billion barrels become very important.  The US$3.6 billion oilfield and Baku-Tblisi-Ceyhan project begun in May, 2003 after years of negotiations, involves laying of a 1,767 kilometer pipeline, the world's longest,  from Baku through Georgia to a new terminal at Ceyhan on the Mediterranean coast of Turkey.  With a projected capacity of  50 million tons per annum it is hoped that the Azerbaijani oil will reach the Turkish port of Ceyhan for Western markets by the second quarter of 2005. Thus apart from the basin's strategic location, energy forms an important element in the Great Game being played by Russia and USA, in which the latter is supported by Turkey, Azerbaijan and Georgia ( most of it). Iran and Armenia side with Russia. 

In the Caucasian region not only the geological plates grind against each other making it earthquake prone, but strategically too it has been the clash point of tectonic plates of kingdoms and empires throughout history. The imperial powers and states interfered with each other and would continue to  do so.  Earlier the actors were Turks and Mongols from central Asia and Ottomans and Safavid empires. Later the Russians replaced the Mongols and the Turks and after the first world war, the British from the South East. Now USA has taken over the mantle from the British. 

In an interview with a Russian journalist Andrei Smirnov, Amir Ramzan, commander of one of the Chechen groups operating against the Russian military in the Northern Caucasus said that "not only do we carry out raids to various areas in the Caucasus, but we also form local jama'ats [groups], militant sabotage groups, locally. We are joined by a lot of Kabardinians, Dagestanis, Karachaevans, Ingushetians and even Ossetians. In 2004 "the war will seize the entire Caucasus from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea. Apart from Ossetia and Ingushetia, this year another guerrilla war has already started in two areas of Dagestan bordering Chechnya. I swear by Allah, this is only the beginning." Ramzan suspected that "Western governments and their security services also secretly finance us through different Islamic funds and organizations. I am convinced that there are Western powers in whose interests it is to keep Russia permanently involved in such a slow-burning conflict as the war in the Caucasus." 

Chechnya remains a thorn in south Russia. In the first half of December Chechen human bombers struck in the centre of Moscow to influence the outcome of the parliamentary elections. An earlier devastating attack on a train near Chechnya had killed over 40 persons and injured hundreds. Russia has many millions of Muslim citizens. Tragically, these bleeding attacks would not be the last.  

Historic linkages 

Chechens and other tribes around the Black Sea and the Caspian and the mountainous Caucasian region which separates Russia and the Middle East and Anatolia , have migrated and are now spread all over in the region and beyond and have long established deep roots. Like sleeper cells since centuries they have ramifications beyond the borders with serious implications for the region.  

The region would therefore remain very important and dangerous with complex linkages and relationships between the people of Turkey and people of Caucasian region which were established when the Ottoman Empire was shrinking. The contacts between citizens of Turkish republic and the republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus are deep and abiding. 

But after the First World War, the Bolshevik revolution in Russia and the creation of the Turkish republic in Anatolia by Kemal Ataturk, the contacts with Muslim people of not only Central Asia but the Caucasian region ceased almost all together. Even the relations with the Arabs were limited, who according to the Turks had revolted against the Sultan Caliph. Ataturk jettisoned the Arab and Ottoman religious heritage and the Islamic and central Asian baggage. He turned around Turks to look West and become westernized, modern  and secular citizens to reach the level of contemporary European civilisation.  

The sudden collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Turkey's historical enemy pleased the Turks no end. It was as if their old heritage and property had been restored. Turkish diplomats would complain why Russia was talking of near abroad and not leaving the people of Caucasus and central Asia alone ( for Turkey) while joining the contact group on Jammu and Kashmir to please Pakistan. It opened the floodgates of exchanges and relations between Turks of Anatolia and the Turkic people of central Asia and the Caucasus. There were delegations galore with the two lost people hugging each other, with many central Asian leaders bending down to touch the soil of Turkey with their forehead on first arrival. The initiative to bring the Turkic countries together was taken up President Turgut Ozal, but unfortunately he died in1993.   

Migrations and intermingling of Turkic and Caucasian people. 

There were many massive emigrations to the Ottoman Empire which after reaching its zenith in end 16^th century started shrinking as Russians and Europeans started rolling it back towards Anatolia (Turkey). From mid 19th century tens of thousands of refugees flooded into the empire in flight from oppression and massacres. The Ottoman countryside had been largely depopulated since the seventeenth century as a result of misrule and the ravages of war, famine, and plague. So the Refugee Code (Muhadrin Kanunntamesi) of 1857, granted plots of state land to immigrant families and groups  They were exempted from taxes and conscription obligations for 6 years if they settled in Rumeli (European part ) and for 12 years in Anatolia. They were to cultivate the land and not to sell or leave it for 20 years and to became subjects of the sultan, accepting his laws and justice. They had freedom of religion, whatever their faith and allowed to build churches if not already available. News of the decree spread widely through Europe and met with a ready response from various groups unable to find land or political peace at home. Almost to end the Ottoman rulers were tolerant of other religions. It is the west which exploited ethnic and religion based nationalism to break the Ottoman empire and divide Hindustan, Palestine, Cyprus and other countries. But the same right is denied to the north Irish, Basques, Corsicans, Sardinians and others. 

A Refugee Commission (Muhacirin Komisyort) established in 1860 in the Trade Ministry became an independent agency in July 1861. It was a belated response as the influx had begun long before. Most of the refugees came from the Turkish, Tatar, and Circassian lands being conquered by the Russians in the north and west of the Black Sea and the Caspian. Even though there was no official Russian policy of driving these Muslims from their homes, the new Christian governments imposed in the Crimea (1783), in the areas of Baku and Kuban (1796), in Nahcivan and the eastern Caucasus (1828), and finally in Anapa and Poti, northeast of the Black Sea, following the Treaty of Edirne (1829), made thousands of Muslims uncomfortable enough to migrate, without special permission or attraction, into Ottoman territory. Even hundreds of Russian "Old Believers" had fled from the reforms of Peter and Catherine, settling in the Dobruca and along the Danube near the Black Sea. Between 1848 and 1850 they were joined by thousands of non-Muslim immigrants, farmers as well as political and intellectual leaders fleeing from the repressions that accompanied and followed the revolutions of 1848, especially from Hungary, Bohemia, and Poland. While many of these were absorbed by Ottoman urban life many were settled as farmers or managers of the farms being built by the large landowners, contributing to both estate building and the improvement of cultivation. 

The flow became a torrent after the Crimean War following new persecutions elsewhere in Europe. The war itself led the Russians to change their relatively tolerant policy toward the Tatars and Circassians into one of active persecution and resettlement from their original homes to desolate areas in Siberia and even farther east. ( This was repeated during 2nd World War too ) The result was mass migration into Ottoman territory, often with the encouragement of the Russians, who were glad to get rid of the old population to Russianize and Christianize the southern areas  of their new empire. From individual accounts it appears that the numbers were immense. Some 176,700 Tatars from the Nogay and Kuban settled in central and southern Anatolia between 1854 and 1860.  Approximately a million came in the next decade, of whom a third were settled in Rumeli, the rest in Anatolia and Syria. From the Crimea alone from 1854 to 1876, 1.4 million Tatars migrated into the Ottoman Empire.

Even Slavic migration begun before the Crimean War intensified. Cossacks who fled from the Russian army settled as farmers in Macedonia, Thrace, and western Anatolia. Bulgarians settled in the Crimea to replace the Tatars returned to their homes in the Ottoman Empire from an alien environment. The mass migration of Muslims continued, though at a somewhat less intense pace, during the early years of Abdulhamit II, mostly in consequence of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1888, the autonomy given to Bulgaria and Rumania, Austrian control of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the cession of northern Dobruca to Rumania and northern Macedonia to Serbia. Official statistics estimated that over 1 million refugees entered the empire between 1876 and 1895  The number of male Muslims doubled during the years from 1831 to 1882  while the proportion of Muslims to non-Muslims increasing substantially. 

The immigrants were settled widely throughout the empire, many in villages that had been abandoned and some in eastern Anatolia, particularly in Cilicia (Adana region) and the Arab lands like Syria, sometimes leading to conflict and problems. The lands could not have been intensively cultivated and the rural middle class built up had it not been for the tremendous influx of refugees who provided the necessary labor and males for future  wars. 

Harems and Slaves  

But the ingress and intermingling of Caucasian people with the Turks is much  deeper in its elite groups. Young girls of extraordinary beauty, plucked from the slave market, were sent to the Sultan's court, often as gifts from his governors. Among the singular, lasting privileges of the valide ( mother ) Sultana was the right to present her son with a slave girl on the Eve of Kurban Bayram (sacrificial day) – The girls were all non-Moslems, uprooted at a tender age. The sultans were partial to the fair, doe-eyed beauties from the Caucasus region. Circassians, Georgians, and Abkhasians were proud mountain girls, believed to be the descendents of the Amazon women who had lived in Scythia near the Black Sea in ancient times and  had swept down through Greece as far as Athens, waging a war that nearly ended the city's glamorous history. (No wonder Greeks looked upon them negatively.) 

Now they were being kidnapped or sold by impoverished parents. A customs declaration from around 1790 establishes their worth at about 20% to 40% of a horse. The promise of a life of luxury and ease overcame parental scruples against delivering their children into concubinage. Many Circassian and Georgian families encouraged their daughters to enter that life willingly. They were  immediately converted to Islam and began an arduous training in palace etiquette and Islamic culture. ( From Harem by Alev Lytle Croutier). Lucie Duff Gordon also reported so in her 1864 travel diary. While the earlier mothers of Sultans were Greek or Serbian princesses married to the rulers, after the capital shifted to Constantinople, every one was member of the harem under Valide Sultana's control, with those giving birth to children , specially boys, jumping up in the harem hierarchy.  

Many of the Valide Sultanas were Circassians and Georgians, one even French, Aimee de Rivery. They exercised great influence over their sons, now the Sultan. The harem politics also became a reason for the decline of the Empire. The word odalisque literally "woman in the room comes from oda (room). But the harem life was embellished by feverish European imagination, whose rulers were no less sensual, but lacked wealth and culture at that time. In 1960s Nordic countries with modern heating facilities discovered sex  ( known in kamasutra since millennia ) and believed they had invented it. Look at the present day peccadilloes of some of the British Royalty, romping around and going to meet their lovers with nothing but Crown jewels and the mink coat on.  

In friendly arguments with Turkish friends, mostly diplomats, I would tease them, What do you mean you are a Turk.You don't even look like a Turk. They have chinky-eyed and little hair on their faces Of course you speak good Turkish as you have been practicing it for 500 years. This devastating repartee usually ended the argument.  Most would smile and happily admit that his grand uncle or grandmother came from Circassia or Bosnia. During the days of the empire, the elite called itself the Ottomans.  There word Turk was reserved for the village yokel and a term of contempt.  It was Kemal Ataturk, who bestowed dignity on the word Turk. 

Turkey and Central Asia  

President Ozal's successor Sulieman Demirel did not have his vision or drive and the efforts to bring Turkic people together came to a standstill, although after the initial resistance to Turkish aggressiveness, the Turkic leaders from central Asia felt more comfortable in an institutional relationship with Turkey.  In any case, even if Turkey had  wished for a larger role in central Asia, it did not have the wherewithal to do so. Many central Asian leaders to whom power fell like manna from heaven, were confused and rudderless .They were cautious and wanted good relations with all. USA encouraged Turkey, afraid that Russia would try to come back, which it tried in some ways, but the horse had already bolted the stable.   

Fears that Iran would spread its version of fanatic Islam and support anti- US regimes also proved farfetched.  After an eight-year old exhausting war with Iraq, in which Iran lost a million young people, there was little energy or money left to spread its message of Shiite revolution. Except Azeris and some other pockets, most people in central Asia are Sunnis, closer to the Sufi way of life.  In any case they have a very high level of education and a life style of drinking and good living. With old nomadic habits they could not easily be led to Islamic fundamentalism. Ill conceived US, Saudi and Pakistani policies brought Wahabi Islam to central Asia. It was aided by the new rulers, who suppressed all legal opposition with Islam becoming the only vehicle for opposition politics. 

Except for the Caspian basin for its energy resources and in Kyrgyzstan, the American leadership soon lost interest.  USA courted Kyrgyz president Akayev, touting him a democrat and helped his country join WTO in 1998. It was basically to have a friendly regime with freedom to base personnel and sensing equipment to monitor China, next door. He has proved no different then leaders of other Central Asian republics.  At the end of President Clinton's second term, his secretary of state Madeline Albright went around on a farewell tour reprimanding the leadership for not having laid the foundations of democracy. USA did and does very little to promote that. 

Early 1990s was a very opportune moment for Turkey, which under the dynamic leadership of Ozal, had successfully undergone a decade of economic reforms and had opened its economy to the west, especially Europe. In 1996 it signed a Customs agreement with Europe Union and the date for entry would be decided at the end of 2004.  Turkey has many trained managers and experts who because of ethnic, linguistic and religious similarity became advisers and even ministers in the new Turkic governments in central Asia. Both at state level and in private sector Turkey made large investments in central Asia and Azerbaijan. The Turkish government provided loans amounting to US$ 750 million to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Turkish private investment runs into billions of dollars. Turks have established industries and run hotels and many other thriving businesses. 

Turkey also arranged to train 10,000 students and teachers from the new republics. Turkish as spoken in the Republic was purified by excluding many Arabic and Persian  words in 1930s. Many European words especially from French ( almost all in the game of bridge ) were added. Azeri language is quite close to it, as well as the Turcoman language .The languages spoken by Uzbeks, Kyrgyz and Kazakhstan are some what different. Originally the Soviet Russians had prescribed Latin script for central Asian languages, but when Ataturk  changed to the Latin script from the Arabic, the Russians changed to Cyrillic. Many Turks have opened schools in central Asia too.. Turkey also started beaming Avrasia TV programs to central Asia but with uneven results. 

But Turkey's efforts to create an area of influence were opposed by the newly independent leadership.  A loose Organisation of Turkic states exists without having achieved much. The old Baghdad pact turned RCD was joined by the new central Asian republics and became the Economic Cooperation Organisation (ECO).  To soothe the Russians a Black Sea organisation was also created but it remains equally ineffective. Tansu  Chiller who had still not shot to fame by becoming the first woman prime minister of Turkey told me in 1992 that central Asian governments did not repay Turkish loans while they paid back  western loans. Turkesh , now an important leader said that they needed help and India should also join in. I was told that the new leadership in Central Asia would like to establish authoritarian political regimes and try to follow the capitalist system of eastern Asia.  They have succeeded rather well in the first objective.  

Problems in Caucasus: 

But soon after the collapse of USSR, nationalist Russian politicians, ex Communist cadres, ambitious Russian generals, local mafia lords and international oil executives all entered the fray to play their part for personal or national gains in the Caucasian chessboard. Many times the right hand did not know where even the left hand was. Forget about what it was doing, like differences between Kremlin and the Russian oil companies, the latter remain still untamed . 

Even Turkey was put in an embarrassing situation when the Azeri President Haidar Aliev accused a Turkish group in 1995 of trying to overthrow him with the help of his opponents in Baku. When the Turkish president went to Baku, the Turkish ambassador was cooling his heels in Ankara.  But generally President Demirel, believer in status quo, was helpful to Aliev, himself sent packing twice by the armed forces when Prime Minister, Demirel  suggested to Aliev to go on the television and take other steps to control rebellions in Baku. A TV technique King Carlos of Spain used successfully to quell rebellion by his generals once. 

East and South Turkey and Kurdish Rebellion  

From 1984 to 1999 Abdullah Ocalan led  PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) rebellion for a Kurdish state in the southeast of Turkey had cost over 35,000 lives, mostly Kurds, including the lives of more than 5,000 Turkish soldiers. To control and neutralize the rebellion, thousands of Kurdish villages were bombed, destroyed, abandoned or relocated; millions of Kurds were moved to shanty towns in the south and east or migrated westwards. The economy of the region was shattered. Half of the Kurdish population now lives in western Turkey, making Istanbul the second largest Kurdish city after Diyarbakir. With a third of the Turkish army tied up in southeast, the cost of countering the insurgency  amounted to between US$6 billion to $8 billion a year. After the capture of  Ocalan in 1999 and passage of laws last year to ease lives of Kurds things have now quieted. 

The war in the 1980s between Iraq and Khomeini's resurgent Shi'ite Iran helped the PKK to establish itself in the lawless north Kurdish Iraq territory. The PKK also helped itself with arms freely available in the region during the eight-year war. After the 1990-91 Gulf crisis and war, with lack of legitimate authority and absence of possible Turko-Iraqi joint offensives against Kurds in north Iraq, the Kurdish rebellion blossomed most violently. Turkey crossed  over quite deep into north Iraq from time to time for punitive attacks on PKK hideouts and formations, despite the usual international furor. It  even bombed some border areas in Iran too, where the PKK might have taken shelter. 

Lawless Region 

The attempt by the Turkish armed forces and the establishment to clear east and south Turkey  of Kurdish rebels ( and populations ), has made it easy for groups to move around from one country to another. From  Turkey to Iran and Afghanistan and from Azerbaijan to Chechnya.  While I was able to drive along the sea coast from Baku to the border with Daghestan in 1995, I was advised not to go towards Gynza, towards the border with Georgia. It was dangerous area  under Surat Hassonov, a mafia chief and smuggler and once prime minister of Azerbaijan under Aliev. There are many such areas in the region. Mafia teams involved in import and export business do not pay customs duties. Even ministers are involved. The bludgeoning truck based trade between Turkey and Central Asian republics via Azerbaijan and Iran without proper police control, many  more interested in payoffs, means control of mafia and freedom of movement for those who are determined or prepared to pay their way.   

Politician-Police Mafia link up in Turkey:  

There was a notorious case when a Mercedes car crashed at Susurluk in western Anatolia on 3 November 1996. In the accident  Hseyin Kocadag, Director of Istanbul police academy, Abdullah atli, a Grey Wolf ultra-nationalist militant and gangster who was implicated in seven murders in 1978 and convicted on drugs charges in Switzerland, and atli's mistress Gonca's, were all killed. The driver of the car Sedat Bucak, a ruling True Path party deputy and Kurdish chieftain heading a large gang of village guards (that is pro-government Kurdish militiamen paid for and trained by the armed forces) was the only occupant to survive. The crash suggested credible links between the security forces, the Grey Wolves, organised crime and pro-government Kurdish chiefs. By the beginning of November 1998, 25 prosecutions were launched covering murder, gangsterism and narcotics smuggling, in which 75 suspects were charged and the parliamentary immunities of both Bucak and of Mehmet Agar, the minister of interior in the Refahyol government, was lifted. But two years later only two relatively low-ranking police officers were convicted. Most of the alleged ringleaders in these crimes remained at large, some abroad with even diplomatic passports. Inquiries revealed nothing but it transpired that the police regularly use mafia hit men to kill PKK people, who then do the side business of smuggling and other  jobs. 

Istanbul Bombs: 

Human bombs who destroyed the two synagogues in Istanbul were finally traced to Bingol, a small dusty city near the Iranian border. It means 1000 lakes (lake Van is called Van Golu) . I had spent 4 quiet days in 1969 looking around the region including visits to lake Van and Urartian and Armenian ruins, as the guest of its Vali (Governor ) Kemal Ozturk,  a very charming and gracious host with evenings beginning  with the high officials including the military chief  at 6 PM and ending 2 hours past midnight. I found the same kind of lavish hospitality, now declining in a consumerist Turkey, at  Babur university and private homes in Uzbekistan's Ferghana valley city of Andijan (birth place of Babur, founder of the Moghul empire in India ) which I visited in 1998. By 1990s Bingol had become Kurdish rebel infested and dangerous. When I revisited nearbycities like Diyarbakir, main Kurdish strong hold, by 4 PM, before sun down everyone including the police would retire for the day, thus leaving most of the country side in south and east Turkey for rebels and others to roam about and transfer personnel and arms. Nearby is the city of Batman which had become the centre of Turkish Hizbullah. Unfortunately, it was the Turkey establishment which helped it by encouraging some Hizbullah units in mid 1990s to eliminate the Marxist PKK guerillas or their sympathizers in South East Turkey. The Turkish Hizbullah is quite different from the Lebanese kind and was reportedly helped by the Iranians. Only when Hizbullah started creating cells in Istanbul and west Turkey,  the experiment was abandoned, but the cat was out of the bag. 

Jordan Connection

In spite of a very strong control by the security establishment in Jordan, mostly manned by loyal tribal men, the country with nearly 60 percent population of Palestinian origin remains a place of acute underground activity. Daily killings and counter killings across the border in occupied West Bank and Gaza make things worse. It is a stronghold of Islamic brotherhood, who did very well in 1990 elections, with King Hussein even including some of them in the Cabinet to face western criticism for not joining the Coalition against Saddam Hussein. UK and USA blatantly encouraged Islamic and obscurantist groups to counter nationalist and socialist regimes in the middle East and elsewhere from beginning of 1950s to end of 1970s, but Iran's Shiite revolution unnerved every one.  But for the western support to Islamic elements, it would have led to more equitable and democratic regimes in the region. So the current talk and writings by western leaders and media of ushering democracy in the region is absolute humbug. And nobody is fooled except sometimes Thomas Friedman of New York Times.

Jordan has produced many well known Jihadis like Ibn-al-Khatib. There are now two new factors. The reported linkages between Jordanians of Caucasus origin and Chechens. Most of them are Circassians, known as Cherkess.  It could be a very dangerous development because the Cherkess are the Hashemite Kingdom's palace guards and hold important key positions in the police establishment and elsewhere. Although around 15,000 only, a seat in parliament is reserved for them.  After the First World War, when Emir Abdullah, son of King Hussein of Hejaz and great great-grandfather of King Abdullah stopped at Amman to reclaim Syria which had been promised by the British to the Arabs for revolting against the Ottomans, the Cherkess community, which had been established here in 19th century by the Ottomans  was the first to express their loyalty to him. Although the Cherkess community has remained loyal but there are now murmurs of disaffection. The number of Circassians in Syria is much higher but then Syria exercises a very strict control over such groups. Thoughtless efforts by the US neo-Cons to destabilize Syria would have devastating consequences. 

Late King Hussain, before dying of cancer in 1999, to further strengthen the British and the American motivation to protect the Kingdom and his dynasty, at the last minute removed his younger brother Crown Prince Hassan, married to late Indian Chief Justice Hidaytullah's niece and instead made his son Abdullah from the British wife the King and Prince Hamza from the American wife, the Crown Prince. The new US embassy in Amman, which I visited just before leaving in 1992 is like a fortress  with underground chambers. During the 1990- 91 Gulf crises and war, late King Hussein had adroitly remained neutral, much to the chagrin of Anglo - Saxons, but the masses remained peaceful and under control.  King Abdullah is not that nimble or experienced. Many Jordanians feel that he is siding with the Americans and extending them help, so there remains a danger to the throne. The warnings were conveyed by attacks on the Embassy of Jordan in Baghdad and other such events. 

(K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey from August 1992 to April 1996 with concurrent accreditation to Azerbaijan.  He was earlier posted as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal .He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. The views expressed are his own  Email Gajendrak@hotmail.com)

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Hindustan’s Geo-politic Strategic Mould

Hindustan's Geo-politic Strategic Mould

Only When United ,India has Prospered

 

The latest in Punjabi trial balloons are sports meets between Punjabi athletes of India and Pakistan. From time to time we have Punjabi Pakistanis coming and enjoying hospitality of their counterparts and friends in India and then north Indians mostly from Punjab doing the same in Pakistan .But , as throughout history ,those who resided in now Punjab Pakistan have quite often stabbed Hindustan in the back and continue to do so even now as pawns in the imperialist game.

 

After the partition of Hindustan in 1947 ,Pak sent in raiders into Kashmir, after the 1965 probing of Brahmin/Hindu nerve first in Kutch , invaded Kashmir and in 1999 the Kargil invasion by stealth. And of course since mid 1980s under that Mullah in uniform Gen Zia-ul Haq, Pakistan has been bleeding a hapless India with what is called a thousand cuts .

 

Now as in history , rulers have failed to provide basic security to the people of the subcontinent , from West /Saudi financed and CIA/ISI trained and associated terror group attacks in India and US drone and special services attacks on Pakistanis. In Hindustan's history a few tens of thousand horsemen looted India at will and after the coming of the sail , a few ship loads of sailors masquerading as traders , took over the country and looted its resources .

 

Before the arrival of the British East India Company in the late 18th century, the sub-continent's share in world manufacturing was 24.5 percent in 1750 ( 32.8 percent for China ). But by the time the British had finished with India, the sub-continent's share had fallen to 1.7 percent (in 1900) and that of Britain increased from 1.9 percent (in 1750) to 22.9 percent (in 1880) - Rise and fall of Big Powers by Professor Paul Kennedy.

 

The later invaders from north west beyond the Hindukush , established kingdoms in Hindustan and stayed put in India and created monuments like the Taj Mahal which attract millions of foreign tourists and dollars. They brought in many aspects of civilization . specially from Persia.

 

That tragedy of the loot by the rulers still continues with a corrupt Indian political elite , entrenched in power like Mafia , robbing people of their lands , forests , national assets like Telecom spectrum . With a bigger scam a day emerging in Incredible India , the ruling coalition in league with the opposition have undermined almost all institutions in India and continue to shamelessly rob Indians. Yoga Guru Ram Dev was constrained to declare that the Indian political and corporate elites have looted India more than the British did. For more read

 

Incredible Scam-a-day India; 28 December, 2010

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2010/12/will-india-ever-be-nation-with-rule-of.html

 

After reading this piece a Pakistani friend , expert on strategic and military affairs remarked that the almost total corruption across the border further undermines the two-nation theory .

 

But first let us get the fundamentals correct.

 

Hindustan's Weakness ;

 

Great speculators in metaphysics and matters of soul, through out history Indians guided by Brahmin/Hindu advisers and teachers have rarely shown strategic thinking or acumen and ruthlessness to implement strategic decisions barring some exceptions . Also something goes wrong in the sycophantic climate of Delhi and Hindustan, whether the leaders are Hindus or Muslims. In the history of Hindustan, there have been very few rulers with strategic thought , comprehension and skills . Say, like Mauryas who had their capital at Pataliputra but kept the crown  prince  stationed at Ujjain to guard against ingress from the Hindukush and meet the invader on the route chosen ie  Sindh- Saurastra or Punjab and the Himalayan foot hills. Brahmins then routed and squeezed out Buddhism and brought back apartheid like caste system, an ingenious scheme to keep the Hindu polity and society divided in order to rule over it thus using the divide and rule policy used by imperialists since Achamenaen Persians use against Greek colonies in western Asia Minor (Turkey.)

 

So were the early Moghuls recently arrived from Afghanistan and Turkistan. Akbar having built his beautiful capital at Fatehpur Sikri spent a decade near Lahore watching and guarding against Mongols and others milling across the Hindukush . He did not trust the people of Punjab .The British of course knew and know all about strategic theories and skills but their objective was to loot and rob Hindustan .While no incursions were allowed into Hindustan the country and people paid a heavy debilitating price .

 

Nevertheless only when the subcontinent was united , not prone to raids and invasions from without and at peace within that it was prosperous. Under  Kanishka ruling from Peshawar or under the Moghuls .

 

In modern times we had Indira Gandhi, who instead of mopping around the world against refugee influx from East Pakistan and its adverse strategic consequences , took advantage of the situation and broke up Pakistan into two .But she was firm ruler over India , now much maligned by pigmies in the opposition , who have transformed India into a banana republic .Before the the British occupation ,there were some other strategic thinkers like Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Tippu Sultan but their canvas was rather limited.

 

A  wag once observed  that except for the legendry King Porus who put up a valiant fight against Alexander the Macedon  ,the area between Peshawar and Panipat has always remained 'porous' for invaders from north west. Survival against all odds is the quality of the people in the region .  A trait they share with people in the path of invading armies say in Romania and Palestine . They make for  dynamic, hard working good managing directors but not perspicacious enough to be the chairmen of the board. They did not establish a large enough kingdom . Rajiv Gandhi had pointed during the Pakistan supported insurgency in Punjab that the only state in the region was founded by Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh, at Lahore .

 

The people dominating Pakistan, though out history have felt jealous of  the richer rulers of Hindustan with their capital on river Jamuna, whether in Delhi or Agra .The  religion was immaterial .They had encouraged tribes from central Asia , when Chauhans were ruling Delhi ;later invited the Moghuls when Afghans were ruling Delhi .Then they invited Pathans and Persians when Moghuls were  in decline . For its strategic defence , Hindustan  should control Kabul if not Kandahar as well as was done by early Moghuls .Once Kabul and Kandahar were lost , Hindustan became a plaything of invaders.  And the Punjabi people joined in the loot and robbed the invader if he failed .

 

The British , past masters in strategic thought and skills exploited the same Hindustan's strategic geo-political mould , taking advantage of an Indian leadership deficient in strategic thinking and skills ( few Indians were allowed in the Political department dealing with such matters) and before being forced to quit in 1947 partitioned India to keep India and Pakistan squabbling like cats as in the fable.

 

Anglo-American Monkeys Keep Sub-continent Cats Squabbling 26 July,2009
Make India a Sponge to Protect West from US Stirred Muslims !

http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0461.htm                 

 

The rulers in Pakistan starting with Ayub Khan became willing tools of the divide and rule policy .In the Middle East , the British and now USA have employed the same divide and rule policy successfully .

 

In a well researched book 'The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India's Partition' , retired Indian diplomat Narendra Singh Sarila, who was briefly ADC to the last Viceroy , Lord Lois Mountbatten, documents how the British leadership across the political spectrum, Conservatives and Labour , intrigued, told lies to divide the Indian subcontinent and created the state of Pakistan. Because Mahatma Gandhi with this opposition to violence and war, and emphasis on peaceful means to resolve all disputes and Jawaharlal Nehru with his non-real politic idealism and vision of creating friendship and understanding among colonized and exploited people of Asia, Africa, Middle east and elsewhere , would not join any western military pact to protect from the Soviet Union, the oil resources in the Middle East still controlled and dominated by Western powers .

After WWII, the British realized that they had to get out of India, but the subcontinent was a vital strategic asset, so till the end London tried to keep India as a dominion like Australia or Canada, to keep it as– "a base for Britain to continue their domination of the Indian Ocean and the oil-rich Persian Gulf with its wells of power," says Sarila. But as the "Congress party of India would not play the great game with Britain against the Soviet Union," so the British decided to partition India.

The ultimate object was to retain at least some part in the North-West of India, "for defensive and offensive action against the USSR in any future dispensation in the sub-continent". And Britain knew that this could be best achieved by having a willing and subservient Pakistan as its client. So the only way -- was to use Jinnah to detach areas of India, which border Iran, Afghanistan and Sinkiang and create a new state there. The author also traces the roots of the present Kashmir imbroglio and how the matter was dealt with in the UN to help out ally Pakistan.

The book sends out a cautionary signal to present-day Indians; to avoid misplaced idealism, superciliousness and escapism, to which some of their ancestors fell prey. New Delhi is now being seduced by Washington ( ask US allies Turkey and others have been let down in post cold war period) into an nuclear agreement to enmesh India into US spider's web , which would adversely affect the security of billion plus Indians. Ask the proponents of the agreement, specially Indian diplomats who served in Washington and who are propped up like puppets on India's uninformed and ill-informed celebrity and trivia obsessed TV channels to mouth Washington's policies and objectives .

 

Did  George Bush achieve anything in his disastrous ( as declared by US strategic expert Brzezinski) tenure except getting India in its non-proliferation scheme to brow beat Iran .But Washington has failed , with India thoughtlessly creating animus in Tehran. Washington has only ended up by destroying Iraq the only possible rival to counter Iraq. Baghdad is now ruled by Shia Iraqis and almost takes advice if not orders from Tehran .As late as this month a former Indian ambassador to USA wrote in Indian ( or rather American) Express to obey Washington's dictates  regarding Iran , whose stand on enrichment of Uranium for power generation is allowed by NPT which it has signed .Most non-aligned countries support Iran on the issue .What is the standing of India there now , whose support India would need to become a permanent member of UNSC .

 

For sold out Indians read my piece of 17 December ,2010 along with a similar piece from Hindu,

 

Decline , Degeneration & Sellout of Indian Media and so called "Intelligentsia"

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2010/12/decline-degeneration-sellout-of-indian.html

On British and US scheme on Kashmir there is another fine book by another retired Indian diplomat C. Dasgupta. War and Diplomacy in Kashmir 1947-48

Dasgupta's reflections in his introduction bear quotation in extenso: "The conflict which broke out between India and Pakistan in 1947 was unique in the annals of modern warfare: it was a war in which both the opposing armies were led by nationals of a third country (Still to depart colonial power). British generals commanded the armies of the newly independent states of India and Pakistan... While it was unique in this one respect, the first Indo-Pakistan war was also a typical Third World conflict from a broader perspective. External factors tend to play a major part in wars between medium or small states. Their dependence on major powers for military supplies, economic assistance and diplomatic support makes these states vulnerable to external pressures. Thus the positions taken by the great powers can influence the duration, intensity and even the outcome of such conflicts. The Kashmir war of 1947-48 is one such example. For both India and Pakistan, Britain was the leading overseas partner in trade, industry and finance. Both countries turned to Britain for military equipment, spares and oil supplies. The war was unique only in the extent to which the two states were vulnerable to British influence on account of the presence of British officers at the senior most levels of their armed forces. These officers were in a position to directly influence the course of the war through the advice they tendered to their respective governments and the manner in which they implemented - or ignored - government directives."

The point to be noted is that there is a tacit agreement that the US ( and UK) would keep the Kashmir pot boiling .Two years ago an uncouth British Foreign Secretary David Miliband made a statement in India that to avoid terrorist attacks like 26/11 India must resolve the Kashmir issue . He should have been escorted out by his ears .Such regular statements by USA and UK provide oxygen to terrorists' cause and encourage them .What if India stated that terror attacks in north Ireland would cease if London gave in to the demands of Irish Republican Army.

Disgruntled Kashmir elements are trained , equipped and financed by Pakistan for its own ends , when it is quite clear that Islamabad has no intention of agreeing to an independent Kashmir .Why go far ? Just look at the terrible conditions in Pak occupied Kashmir ruled from the interior ministry of Pakistan.

Kashmiris are being exploited like the Kurds of Turkey, Iran , Iraq and Syria in history by neighboring states and outside powers like Britain , Russia and now USA . A very senior member of the Kurdish National Front told me that USA is not taking any action against the Marxist rebels PKK sothat it can use it as pawns against Turkey. Five years ago ,Turkey had almost broken relations with Israel because Tel Aviv was training Kurds in north Iraq for possible action against Turkey and other neighbours Iran and Syria.

Many ignorant Indians, specially from the north ( Punjab , preferably from Lahore) ) believe that the partition could have been avoided in 1947. Such colossal ignorance about history !.

The White Christian Europe divided and destroyed the composite five century old Ottoman empire using religion, ethnicity and the language divide, even fooling the Arabs whose Caliph, the Ottoman Sultan was resident in Istanbul. See how they have been further divided, bullied , humiliated, destroyed and exploited since WWI.

In 1990s, non-Orthodox Christian US and NATO powers destroyed the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi religious South Slav Republic of Yugoslavia  consisting of Serbs, Croats, Kosovars, Macedons and others, who followed many religions. The Imperialists would do anything to gain control.

US led illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and brutal occupation has destroyed a united secular Iraq of Shia and Sunni Arabs and Kurds, Turkmen and others .

Seeing the level and the kind of discussions in India , the author feels dismayed that Indian media and think tanks remain brainwashed, even generationally i.e. those whose fathers studied in British schools and universities or British style institutions in India, finding their heroes in Clive, Hastings, Curzon, Churchill, Blair and now Bush and Obama . This hold true at places like India International centre , unfortunately at defense institutes, where long retired Air Commodores and Rear Admirals , relics of colonial mind set hold sway .Even at the Indian Council of  World Affairs , where in 2009 policies of Obama was praised after his now forgotten speech that US cannot war against Islam ( what is it doing in the Middle east ).My observation that he is a product of Chicago Jewish Democratic machine , who was granted 500 million dollars by the very banksters , who have brought about the decline of America and who is following their dictates brought a howl of protests from the usual suspects attending such indoctrination there and elsewhere .But then in the words of Indian PM said ,'We Indians love you' to George Bush

 

Will Hindustan be ever free from the pernicious indoctrination by the white race, which still continues and has perhaps entered the DNA of the English speaking Ignoranti .

 

Hindustan's Geo-politic strategic mould has been exploited by outsiders . It started with the British , who passed on the torch to the new lords USA .Even China continues to exploit  the same geo-political mould .

 

The inhabitants of the region ie Pakistan for their short term gains have allowed the foreigner to dominate their policies , but it has left Pakistan literally in the hands of Jihadis , with its Kalashnikov culture and narcotic trade and addiction .It survives on  infusions of money from outside .No wonder it has become a state living at the mercy of USA ,UK, China , Saudi Arabia and others. If the Jihadis took over Pakistan , where would the so called liberal beer drinking intelligentsia of Pakistan go . Iranians after the Khomeini revolution migrated to USA and France .Will the Pakistanis be welcome in USA with the bias against Muslims after 11/9 .Yes ,Saudi Arabia is there  ,which provided refuge to the likes of  late Idi Amin and Nawaz Sharif .But the whole area could be in turmoil soon.

 

Herpes Indpakster

 

There fore so many Indians, politicians, journalists and even diplomats, who should be more  hard headed ,tend to suffer from this viral like disease which can be called Herpes Indpakster ( not herpes zoster) which when it flares up brings delusions of going down in history by changing the course of India Pakistan relations. A smile from late Gen Zia ul huq  or Nawaz  Sharif or late Benazir Bhutto, weakened their immune mechanism and the latent virus gets reactivated . In zoster variety there may be spontaneous recovery in a couple of months, here it takes the form of Pakistan firing, intrusion in Kargil or an attack by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir ,on Indian parliament and 3 day rape of Mumbai in November, 2008 . In olden days a US deep briefing or a leak did the same . However neuralgia may persist for months and even years and can be reactivated by another smile.

 

But all the patients do very well. Diplomats get out of turn promotions and get good postings, others get rewarded and decorated. and become public figures , members of parliament and lions on the Delhi's cocktail circuit .So we have Indo Pak border lamp lighting Kuldip Nayars, senior diplomats who retire with Pak counterparts to calm retreats (in nearby Rajasthan )  to cut the Gordian Knot of Indo- Pak dispute. It makes good copy and sells. There was the story of the negotiators' mother tongue being Punjabi, lingua franca of Pakistan's dominant clique which eased the process after 1987 tensions .If languages matched ; Viola , Eureka.

 

 It was claimed that the Punjabi speaking Indian Prime Minister , Inder Kumar Gujaral born in Jhelum ( now in Pakistani Punjab) and Punjabi speaking Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif could resolve the disputes between the two countries because of similar mother tongues . ( Why are then so many disputes between Arabic speaking Muslim states ). Was not there once a Jullunder (in India) born, Delhi educated President General Zia ul Huq, who while courteously escorting the Indian journalists to their cars after giving them a sumptuous chicken curry meal or innocently coming down for Cricket matches in Jaipur, was  planning operation "Topaz" and laying the foundations of future insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

The same kind of tactics were used to hoodwink Indian PM Manmohan Singh, when at Sharm-el Sheikh ,Baluchistan was included in the joint statement as result of misdrafting as covered up by Shankar Menon , now National Security Adviser. Same lack of resilience allowed Indians to allow China change its claim from suzerainty into sovereignty in 1950s without sorting out the borders.

The pernicious caste hierarchy exists in Pakistan too .the pecking order is Asraffs ( migrants from Arab countries ,Iran, Afghanistan and central Asia ) followed by high caste converts like late Fazli Hussein, premier of united Punjab ( a Rathore Rajput convert ) ,Jats and then come others like Khatris .So a smile to Indian Khatri by Zia or even  Sharif thrills the former. The claim of Pakistanis that they are mostly descendents of migrants , even if it mattered, is spurious .Most are like the rest of north Indians –the Mediterranean type .

 

So are the Turks .In my pioneering article ,while still posted in Ankara , on the influence of Turkic languages on Hindustani , I had written that the percentage of Turks who originated from central Asia was less than 15%  created some anger in right wing media and circles but no one came with proof to challenge this fact .

Wrote Saleem Sahzad in Asia Times in 2009 . "Before the partition of British India in 1947, Punjab was seen as a loyal colony of the British and their recruits fought against the Afghans. After partition, Punjabis were seen as usurpers who divided the Pashtun tribes in the name of a new country called Pakistan . To many Afghans, Punjabis are opportunists and while they claim to be Muslims, their culture is a blend of Hinduism and Sikhism." The counterpart Punjabi speaking Hindus in India express touching faith in Pakistan's democracy and indulge in border candle lighting .They also enjoy each others' chicken tikka kebak and beer laced hospitality during not so secret various channels of diplomacy during which they visit their ancestral homes .

The author remembers an Afghan diplomat , related to the ruling dynasty and the Jihadist telling him that Punjabi Pakistanis were trying to teach Afghans how to fight when they had never fought themselves and were ruled mostly by outsiders . Historian Khuswant Singh wrote that Punjabi and Sikh forces were defeated by troops from Bengal, Bihar and Orissa under British officers .

Extracts form

Al Qaeda, Taliban and the Military in Pakistan 

http://mwcnews.net/content/view/30220/26/http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0438.htm

"What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?"." Nonsense--" added Brzezinski when asked in 1997 "If Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today." Brzezinski was President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser.

"The United States has supported radical Islamic activism over the past six decades, sometimes overtly, sometimes covertly," and is thus "partly to blame for the emergence of Islamic terrorism as a world-wide phenomenon." Robert Defuses

"The grip of conservative Islamism on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border is the legacy not just of George Bush, of course, but decades of US meddling in the region, and its sponsorship of the anti-Soviet mujahedeen in the 1980s in particular. -- a byproduct of the systematically counter-productive nature of western policy across the wider region since 2001. After seven years of lawless invasion and occupation, the war on terror is everywhere in ruins.

" The limits of American military power have been laid bare in the killing fields of Iraq; Iran has been transformed into the pre-eminent regional power; --- a resurgent Taliban is leading an increasingly effective guerrilla war in Afghanistan; and far from crushing terror networks, the US and its allies have spread them to Pakistan--- Pakistan is being ripped apart by the fallout from the Afghan occupation. If the US escalates, the impact will be devastating-- The country now shows every sign of slipping out of the control of its dysfunctional civilian government - and even the military that has held it together for 60 years, " Seumas Milne in The Guardian 5 March,2009.

Wrote Ahmed Rashid in his book 'Descent into Chaos ;" Afghanistan is once again staring down the abyss of state collapse, despite billions of dollars in aid, forty-five thousand Western troops, and the deaths of thousands of people. The Taliban have made a dramatic comeback.... The international community had an extended window of opportunity for several years to help the Afghan people—they failed to take advantage of it.-- Pakistan...has undergone a slower but equally bloody meltdown.... In 2007 there were 56 suicide bombings in Pakistan that killed 640 people, compared to just 6 bombings in the previous year..."

Conflict Between Rulers and Clerics

Which way the Sunni terror monster turn! 

Historical background and parallels; Of the oldest of the three revealed religions, Judaism's only state since ancient times , Israel , founded on leftist tenets has since morphed into a rule by Zionist-Military oligarchy. Christians after centuries of warfare in Europe managed to create secular polities which are still underpinned if not haunted by sectional religious ideologies. In the last of 'the Book' based polity Islam, the lines between the Mir and the Pir ,the temporal ruler and spiritual ruler still remain blurred ,contested and changing.
 
After the 1979 revolution in Iran , Shias created the ideal but mythical office of Imam in the person of Ruhoallah Khomeini . The status of the Imam was evolved into the doctrines of intercession and infallibility, i.e., of the faqih/mutjahid .But the Iranians have since found that a system based on the concepts of 7th century AD was inadequate to confront and solve the problems of 21st century. Nevertheless, like the first Imam Ali, Iran is ruled by the supreme religious leader, Ali Khameini , who incidentally is Azeri Turk .The cement keeping Iran united now is its common heritage and Islam.

In Syria the ruling Shia Alewite elite ,12% of the population has been staunchly secular under the Assads since four decades. In Lebanon the Hezbollah, which coordinates with some secular strands, combines in Hassan Nasrallah, the powers of both a military and spiritual leader. To understand the evolving situation around Pakistan and Afghanistan we might look at some what similar situations in Islamic history.
 
Prophet Mohammad was both the religious leader and military commander. But the Arab Caliphs lost out on power by 10th century to the Turkish slaves from central Asia who formed the core of their fighting forces .The Turks raised the minor title of Sultan to a high rank who literally became a protector of the Caliph , left with only spiritual powers. Even this role was seized after the fall of Cairo in 16^th century to the Ottoman Sultans based in Istanbul.

After the defeat of Byzantines near lake Van in 11th century ,the Seljuk hordes established a Rumi Caliphate at Konya in the centre of modern day Turkey  But they had to brutally suppress religious leaders' rebellions many times .To keep out the energetic soldiers and freelance militias instigated by fanatic religious leaders ,Konya sent them out as Ghazis to harass neighboring Christian Byzantine territories. Out of these freebooters emerged a small band led by Ertugrul, whose small principality was expanded by his son Osman (Othman) and descendents into Europe right up to the gates of Vienna and along South Mediterranean up to Morocco and east up to Iran border and Oman on the Indian ocean .

Rise and Fall of Janissaries in Ottoman Empire

As Iran became a barrier to the recruitment of slaves from non-Muslim Turks from central Asia , a practice which the Arabs had followed ,the Ottoman emperors , who succeeded the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia as Turkey was then known , finally conquered the Byzantine empire and converted Constantinople, into its capital, Istanbul .They added minarets and Mihrab to the 6^th century Basilica and made it into a mosque. (Kemal Ataturk made it into a museum.)The Ottomans then started recruiting Christian young boys mostly from Balkans but even from Anatolia for its armed forces and top civil service cadre known as 'Devshirme' system.
 
Beginning with the forced recruitment from Christian prisoners taken as booty after the battle ,the system progressively developed into a privileged and influential warrior force that converted young Christian boys to Islam and instructed them in the Turkish martial arts. Unlike feudal levies Janissaries owed loyalty to the Sultan only. Regimented training and strong moral codes transformed the Janissaries into more than an impressive military force , a political entity of such unchecked power ( shades of ISI)  that they unwittingly contributed to the very downfall of the empire itself.  The Janissaries were an important factor in the military expansion of the Ottoman Empire ranging from the 1453 capture of Constantinople to the battles against the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

 

The next couple of centuries saw the growth of the power of the Ottomans, but a succession of uprisings by Janissaries resulted in more power flowing into their hands. The first Janissary revolt occurred in 1449 and served as a model for many later revolts, each of which brought them more power and pelf. The Janissaries reached such an enviable state of influence by the late 1600s that the Ottoman bureaucracy was effectively held hostage to their whims and demands. A mutiny led to change in the policy of the politicians. Eventually, the Janissaries started to engage in successful coups to topple even a Sultan who was not receptive to their specific desires. They put their own self-interests first and placed obstacles in the path of modernizing the army.
 
In 1807, the Janissaries revolted against Sultan Selim III, and replaced him with Mahmud II . Mahmud II finally decided that the Janissaries had to be decimated in order to preserve the empire. In the summer of 1826, when the Janissaries staged another uprising, the rest of the army and the people were ranged against them. The Janissary force finally faced either death or retreat and exile. The survivors were banished and their wealth taken over by the state.
 
Like the Konya Sultanate the Pakistanis under its religious President Zia-ul- haq with financial support from US led West and Saudi Arabia and other Muslim states trained and sent Jihadist and militants' aka modern day Ghazis into Afghanistan in 1980s, who forced the Soviets exit from Afghanistan. Eventually the Communist edifice under mined by Slav nationalism and Orthodox Christianity collapsed by the beginning of 1990s.
 
Would Pakistan succeed in destroying the Taliban!
 
A conglomerate of various militias, free booters, religious fanatics, nationalists and tribal chieftains classified as Al Qaeda ,Taliban ,Pakistani Taliban etc are somewhat like the Janissaries of the Ottoman empire , their most effective strike force which terrorized European Christians and helped extend the Ottoman empire into Europe .But soon instead of terrorizing the enemies of the Ottomans ,they terrorised the Sultans .Finally the Janissaries had to be destroyed .Would Pakistan be able to do the same i.e. destroy the Taliban.

 

The tensions between the ruler, the clerics and religious warriors i.e. Mirs and Pirs have still not been separated in Islamic world  .It is in reverse gear even in modern Turkey , the only secular Muslim nation ,with the ascendancy of the ruling religious AK Party with billions of Saudi investment in Turkey and direct gifts to the party .Support of Saudi finances to Madrassas and mosques remains the major obstacle in the modernization of education and of Islamic societies.

 

The poisonous Pentagon

 

Unless the corrupt Saud dynasty in axis with Wahahbi ideology which finances extremist Islamic groups all over the world and promotes Salafist ideology and keeps the Sunni Ummah backward disappears ,there is little hope of the Muslims to escape their current miserable situation .Extremist groups and ideology will not stop exploitation of Arab and Muslim energy resources in the Middle east and elsewhere by the West .But then there is a pact by which US protects the Saudi Dynasty for in exchange for free oil exploitation .How come no regime changes in Saudi Arabia which have taken place or organized all over the Arab and Muslim world . Thus the poisonous Pentagon of US (UK/Israel)-Saudi-Wahabbi-PakArmy-ISI  remains a dilemma and curse on the people mostly Muslims extending from Bekka valley to Pakhtunkhawa.

Prof Paul Keneddy in his recent essay admits that "the Afghanistan-Pakistan entanglement is an issue so vexed and complicated that it would have tested the wisdom of the greatest leaders and strategists of the past. It is not totally fanciful to imagine Augustus, William Pitt the Elder, Bismarck or George Marshall pondering over a map which detailed the lands that stretch from the Bekaa Valley to the Khyber Pass. None of them would have liked what they saw." Look at the distances , the awful topography, the willingness of the other side to accept appalling casualty rates, make a limited war—a finely calibrated war—something of a nonsense. Kennedy after talking to those with Afghan field experience feels that US "at least can not "win" in the sense that knee-jerk congressmen and rabid Murdoch newspapers understand that word, a victory grotesquely skewed by their habit of invoking American football language: smash, overrun, crush, annihilate."

"Pulling out should not be construed as appeasement since US "would not be the first to leave those wretched mountains and their defiant tribes to their own devices; indeed, we would simply join that long list of former occupation armies which eventually thought the better of it and made for the exit.-- A three-time British Prime Minister and four-time Foreign Secretary Lord Salisbury once observed, nothing is more fatal to a wise strategy than clinging to the carcasses of dead policies." Yet , Kennedy feels ,"few administrations have the resolve to let go; and frankly, in the case of Afghanistan, a mushy compromise—half-concealed withdrawal—might be the least-worst way to go, at least for now. But not forever ."

The history , culture and civilization of the people of south west Asia is entangled , intermeshed  and interconnected . amny times unhappy , more so after the arrival of the firangis aka Europeans. Watch this space for what might transpire .Last attempt was made in in July 2010.

Confusion at the End of Afghanistan Tunnel!  

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2010/07/confusion-at-end-of-afghanistan-tunnel.html

 

K.Gajendra Singh. 17 January, 2011.Mayur Vihar, Delhi

 

K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Copy right with the author http://tarafits.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Hindustan’s Geo-politic Strategic Mould

Hindustan's Geo-politic Strategic Mould

Only When United ,India has Prospered

 

The latest in Punjabi trial balloons are sports meets between Punjabi athletes of India and Pakistan. From time to time we have Punjabi Pakistanis coming and enjoying hospitality of their counterparts and friends in India and then north Indians mostly from Punjab doing the same in Pakistan .But , as throughout history ,those who resided in now Punjab Pakistan have quite often stabbed Hindustan in the back and continue to do so even now as pawns in the imperialist game.

 

After the partition of Hindustan in 1947 ,Pak sent in raiders into Kashmir, after the 1965 probing of Brahmin/Hindu nerve first in Kutch , invaded Kashmir and in 1999 the Kargil invasion by stealth. And of course since mid 1980s under that Mullah in uniform Gen Zia-ul Haq, Pakistan has been bleeding a hapless India with what is called a thousand cuts .

 

Now as in history , rulers have failed to provide basic security to the people of the subcontinent , from West /Saudi financed and CIA/ISI trained and associated terror group attacks in India and US drone and special services attacks on Pakistanis. In Hindustan's history a few tens of thousand horsemen looted India at will and after the coming of the sail , a few ship loads of sailors masquerading as traders , took over the country and looted its resources .

 

Before the arrival of the British East India Company in the late 18th century, the sub-continent's share in world manufacturing was 24.5 percent in 1750 ( 32.8 percent for China ). But by the time the British had finished with India, the sub-continent's share had fallen to 1.7 percent (in 1900) and that of Britain increased from 1.9 percent (in 1750) to 22.9 percent (in 1880) - Rise and fall of Big Powers by Professor Paul Kennedy.

 

The later invaders from north west beyond the Hindukush , established kingdoms in Hindustan and stayed put in India and created monuments like the Taj Mahal which attract millions of foreign tourists and dollars. They brought in many aspects of civilization . specially from Persia.

 

That tragedy of the loot by the rulers still continues with a corrupt Indian political elite , entrenched in power like Mafia , robbing people of their lands , forests , national assets like Telecom spectrum . With a bigger scam a day emerging in Incredible India , the ruling coalition in league with the opposition have undermined almost all institutions in India and continue to shamelessly rob Indians. Yoga Guru Ram Dev was constrained to declare that the Indian political and corporate elites have looted India more than the British did. For more read

 

Incredible Scam-a-day India; 28 December, 2010

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2010/12/will-india-ever-be-nation-with-rule-of.html

 

After reading this piece a Pakistani friend , expert on strategic and military affairs remarked that the almost total corruption across the border further undermines the two-nation theory .

 

But first let us get the fundamentals correct.

 

Hindustan's Weakness ;

 

Great speculators in metaphysics and matters of soul, through out history Indians guided by Brahmin/Hindu advisers and teachers have rarely shown strategic thinking or acumen and ruthlessness to implement strategic decisions barring some exceptions . Also something goes wrong in the sycophantic climate of Delhi and Hindustan, whether the leaders are Hindus or Muslims. In the history of Hindustan, there have been very few rulers with strategic thought , comprehension and skills . Say, like Mauryas who had their capital at Pataliputra but kept the crown  prince  stationed at Ujjain to guard against ingress from the Hindukush and meet the invader on the route chosen ie  Sindh- Saurastra or Punjab and the Himalayan foot hills. Brahmins then routed and squeezed out Buddhism and brought back apartheid like caste system, an ingenious scheme to keep the Hindu polity and society divided in order to rule over it thus using the divide and rule policy used by imperialists since Achamenaen Persians use against Greek colonies in western Asia Minor (Turkey.)

 

So were the early Moghuls recently arrived from Afghanistan and Turkistan. Akbar having built his beautiful capital at Fatehpur Sikri spent a decade near Lahore watching and guarding against Mongols and others milling across the Hindukush . He did not trust the people of Punjab .The British of course knew and know all about strategic theories and skills but their objective was to loot and rob Hindustan .While no incursions were allowed into Hindustan the country and people paid a heavy debilitating price .

 

Nevertheless only when the subcontinent was united , not prone to raids and invasions from without and at peace within that it was prosperous. Under  Kanishka ruling from Peshawar or under the Moghuls .

 

In modern times we had Indira Gandhi, who instead of mopping around the world against refugee influx from East Pakistan and its adverse strategic consequences , took advantage of the situation and broke up Pakistan into two .But she was firm ruler over India , now much maligned by pigmies in the opposition , who have transformed India into a banana republic .Before the the British occupation ,there were some other strategic thinkers like Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Tippu Sultan but their canvas was rather limited.

 

A  wag once observed  that except for the legendry King Porus who put up a valiant fight against Alexander the Macedon  ,the area between Peshawar and Panipat has always remained 'porous' for invaders from north west. Survival against all odds is the quality of the people in the region .  A trait they share with people in the path of invading armies say in Romania and Palestine . They make for  dynamic, hard working good managing directors but not perspicacious enough to be the chairmen of the board. They did not establish a large enough kingdom . Rajiv Gandhi had pointed during the Pakistan supported insurgency in Punjab that the only state in the region was founded by Sikh Maharaja Ranjit Singh, at Lahore .

 

The people dominating Pakistan, though out history have felt jealous of  the richer rulers of Hindustan with their capital on river Jamuna, whether in Delhi or Agra .The  religion was immaterial .They had encouraged tribes from central Asia , when Chauhans were ruling Delhi ;later invited the Moghuls when Afghans were ruling Delhi .Then they invited Pathans and Persians when Moghuls were  in decline . For its strategic defence , Hindustan  should control Kabul if not Kandahar as well as was done by early Moghuls .Once Kabul and Kandahar were lost , Hindustan became a plaything of invaders.  And the Punjabi people joined in the loot and robbed the invader if he failed .

 

The British , past masters in strategic thought and skills exploited the same Hindustan's strategic geo-political mould , taking advantage of an Indian leadership deficient in strategic thinking and skills ( few Indians were allowed in the Political department dealing with such matters) and before being forced to quit in 1947 partitioned India to keep India and Pakistan squabbling like cats as in the fable.

 

Anglo-American Monkeys Keep Sub-continent Cats Squabbling 26 July,2009
Make India a Sponge to Protect West from US Stirred Muslims !

http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0461.htm                 

 

The rulers in Pakistan starting with Ayub Khan became willing tools of the divide and rule policy .In the Middle East , the British and now USA have employed the same divide and rule policy successfully .

 

In a well researched book 'The Shadow of the Great Game: The Untold Story of India's Partition' , retired Indian diplomat Narendra Singh Sarila, who was briefly ADC to the last Viceroy , Lord Lois Mountbatten, documents how the British leadership across the political spectrum, Conservatives and Labour , intrigued, told lies to divide the Indian subcontinent and created the state of Pakistan. Because Mahatma Gandhi with this opposition to violence and war, and emphasis on peaceful means to resolve all disputes and Jawaharlal Nehru with his non-real politic idealism and vision of creating friendship and understanding among colonized and exploited people of Asia, Africa, Middle east and elsewhere , would not join any western military pact to protect from the Soviet Union, the oil resources in the Middle East still controlled and dominated by Western powers .

After WWII, the British realized that they had to get out of India, but the subcontinent was a vital strategic asset, so till the end London tried to keep India as a dominion like Australia or Canada, to keep it as– "a base for Britain to continue their domination of the Indian Ocean and the oil-rich Persian Gulf with its wells of power," says Sarila. But as the "Congress party of India would not play the great game with Britain against the Soviet Union," so the British decided to partition India.

The ultimate object was to retain at least some part in the North-West of India, "for defensive and offensive action against the USSR in any future dispensation in the sub-continent". And Britain knew that this could be best achieved by having a willing and subservient Pakistan as its client. So the only way -- was to use Jinnah to detach areas of India, which border Iran, Afghanistan and Sinkiang and create a new state there. The author also traces the roots of the present Kashmir imbroglio and how the matter was dealt with in the UN to help out ally Pakistan.

The book sends out a cautionary signal to present-day Indians; to avoid misplaced idealism, superciliousness and escapism, to which some of their ancestors fell prey. New Delhi is now being seduced by Washington ( ask US allies Turkey and others have been let down in post cold war period) into an nuclear agreement to enmesh India into US spider's web , which would adversely affect the security of billion plus Indians. Ask the proponents of the agreement, specially Indian diplomats who served in Washington and who are propped up like puppets on India's uninformed and ill-informed celebrity and trivia obsessed TV channels to mouth Washington's policies and objectives .

 

Did  George Bush achieve anything in his disastrous ( as declared by US strategic expert Brzezinski) tenure except getting India in its non-proliferation scheme to brow beat Iran .But Washington has failed , with India thoughtlessly creating animus in Tehran. Washington has only ended up by destroying Iraq the only possible rival to counter Iraq. Baghdad is now ruled by Shia Iraqis and almost takes advice if not orders from Tehran .As late as this month a former Indian ambassador to USA wrote in Indian ( or rather American) Express to obey Washington's dictates  regarding Iran , whose stand on enrichment of Uranium for power generation is allowed by NPT which it has signed .Most non-aligned countries support Iran on the issue .What is the standing of India there now , whose support India would need to become a permanent member of UNSC .

 

For sold out Indians read my piece of 17 December ,2010 along with a similar piece from Hindu,

 

Decline , Degeneration & Sellout of Indian Media and so called "Intelligentsia"

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2010/12/decline-degeneration-sellout-of-indian.html

On British and US scheme on Kashmir there is another fine book by another retired Indian diplomat C. Dasgupta. War and Diplomacy in Kashmir 1947-48

Dasgupta's reflections in his introduction bear quotation in extenso: "The conflict which broke out between India and Pakistan in 1947 was unique in the annals of modern warfare: it was a war in which both the opposing armies were led by nationals of a third country (Still to depart colonial power). British generals commanded the armies of the newly independent states of India and Pakistan... While it was unique in this one respect, the first Indo-Pakistan war was also a typical Third World conflict from a broader perspective. External factors tend to play a major part in wars between medium or small states. Their dependence on major powers for military supplies, economic assistance and diplomatic support makes these states vulnerable to external pressures. Thus the positions taken by the great powers can influence the duration, intensity and even the outcome of such conflicts. The Kashmir war of 1947-48 is one such example. For both India and Pakistan, Britain was the leading overseas partner in trade, industry and finance. Both countries turned to Britain for military equipment, spares and oil supplies. The war was unique only in the extent to which the two states were vulnerable to British influence on account of the presence of British officers at the senior most levels of their armed forces. These officers were in a position to directly influence the course of the war through the advice they tendered to their respective governments and the manner in which they implemented - or ignored - government directives."

The point to be noted is that there is a tacit agreement that the US ( and UK) would keep the Kashmir pot boiling .Two years ago an uncouth British Foreign Secretary David Miliband made a statement in India that to avoid terrorist attacks like 26/11 India must resolve the Kashmir issue . He should have been escorted out by his ears .Such regular statements by USA and UK provide oxygen to terrorists' cause and encourage them .What if India stated that terror attacks in north Ireland would cease if London gave in to the demands of Irish Republican Army.

Disgruntled Kashmir elements are trained , equipped and financed by Pakistan for its own ends , when it is quite clear that Islamabad has no intention of agreeing to an independent Kashmir .Why go far ? Just look at the terrible conditions in Pak occupied Kashmir ruled from the interior ministry of Pakistan.

Kashmiris are being exploited like the Kurds of Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria in history by neighboring states and outside powers like Britain, Russia and now USA. A very senior member of the Kurdish National Front told me that USA is not taking any action against the Marxist rebels PKK sothat it can use it as pawns against Turkey. Five years ago ,Turkey had almost broken relations with Israel because Tel Aviv was training Kurds in north Iraq for possible action against Turkey and other neighbours Iran and Syria.

Many ignorant Indians, specially from the north ( Punjab , preferably from Lahore) ) believe that the partition could have been avoided in 1947. Such colossal ignorance about history !.

The White Christian Europe divided and destroyed the composite five century old Ottoman empire using religion, ethnicity and the language divide, even fooling the Arabs whose Caliph, the Ottoman Sultan was resident in Istanbul. See how they have been further divided, bullied , humiliated, destroyed and exploited since WWI.

In 1990s, non-Orthodox Christian US and NATO powers destroyed the multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi religious South Slav Republic of Yugoslavia  consisting of Serbs, Croats, Kosovars, Macedons and others, who followed many religions. The Imperialists would do anything to gain control.

US led illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and brutal occupation has destroyed a united secular Iraq of Shia and Sunni Arabs and Kurds, Turkmen and others .

Seeing the level and the kind of discussions in India , the author feels dismayed that Indian media and think tanks remain brainwashed, even generationally i.e. those whose fathers studied in British schools and universities or British style institutions in India, finding their heroes in Clive, Hastings, Curzon, Churchill, Blair and now Bush and Obama . This hold true at places like India International centre , unfortunately at defense institutes, where long retired Air Commodores and Rear Admirals , relics of colonial mind set hold sway .Even at the Indian Council of  World Affairs , where in 2009 policies of Obama was praised after his now forgotten speech that US cannot war against Islam ( what is it doing in the Middle east ).My observation that he is a product of Chicago Jewish Democratic machine , who was granted 500 million dollars by the very banksters , who have brought about the decline of America and who is following their dictates brought a howl of protests from the usual suspects attending such indoctrination there and elsewhere .But then in the words of Indian PM said ,'We Indians love you' to George Bush

 

Will Hindustan be ever free from the pernicious indoctrination by the white race, which still continues and has perhaps entered the DNA of the English speaking Ignoranti .

 

Hindustan's Geo-politic strategic mould has been exploited by outsiders . It started with the British , who passed on the torch to the new lords USA .Even China continues to exploit  the same geo-political mould .

 

The inhabitants of the region ie Pakistan for their short term gains have allowed the foreigner to dominate their policies , but it has left Pakistan literally in the hands of Jihadis , with its Kalashnikov culture and narcotic trade and addiction .It survives on  infusions of money from outside .No wonder it has become a state living at the mercy of USA ,UK, China , Saudi Arabia and others. If the Jihadis took over Pakistan, where would the so called liberal beer drinking intelligentsia of Pakistan go . Iranians after the Khomeini revolution migrated to USA and France .Will the Pakistanis be welcome in USA with the bias against Muslims after 11/9 .Yes ,Saudi Arabia is there  ,which provided refuge to the likes of  late Idi Amin and Nawaz Sharif .But the whole area could be in turmoil soon.

 

Herpes Indpakster

 

There fore so many Indians, politicians, journalists and even diplomats, who should be more  hard headed ,tend to suffer from this viral like disease which can be called Herpes Indpakster ( not herpes zoster) which when it flares up brings delusions of going down in history by changing the course of India Pakistan relations. A smile from late Gen Zia ul huq  or Nawaz  Sharif or late Benazir Bhutto, weakened their immune mechanism and the latent virus gets reactivated . In zoster variety there may be spontaneous recovery in a couple of months, here it takes the form of Pakistan firing, intrusion in Kargil or an attack by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir ,on Indian parliament and 3 day rape of Mumbai in November, 2008 . In olden days a US deep briefing or a leak did the same . However neuralgia may persist for months and even years and can be reactivated by another smile.

 

But all the patients do very well. Diplomats get out of turn promotions and get good postings, others get rewarded and decorated. and become public figures , members of parliament and lions on the Delhi's cocktail circuit .So we have Indo Pak border lamp lighting Kuldip Nayars, senior diplomats who retire with Pak counterparts to calm retreats (in nearby Rajasthan )  to cut the Gordian Knot of Indo- Pak dispute. It makes good copy and sells. There was the story of the negotiators' mother tongue being Punjabi, lingua franca of Pakistan's dominant clique which eased the process after 1987 tensions .If languages matched ; Viola , Eureka.

 

 It was claimed that the Punjabi speaking Indian Prime Minister , Inder Kumar Gujaral born in Jhelum ( now in Pakistani Punjab) and Punjabi speaking Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif could resolve the disputes between the two countries because of similar mother tongues . ( Why are then so many disputes between Arabic speaking Muslim states ). Was not there once a Jullunder (in India) born, Delhi educated President General Zia ul Huq, who while courteously escorting the Indian journalists to their cars after giving them a sumptuous chicken curry meal or innocently coming down for Cricket matches in Jaipur, was  planning operation "Topaz" and laying the foundations of future insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.

 

The same kind of tactics were used to hoodwink Indian PM Manmohan Singh, when at Sharm-el Sheikh ,Baluchistan was included in the joint statement as result of misdrafting as covered up by Shankar Menon , now National Security Adviser. Same lack of resilience allowed Indians to allow China change its claim from suzerainty into sovereignty in 1950s without sorting out the borders.

The pernicious caste hierarchy exists in Pakistan too .the pecking order is Asraffs ( migrants from Arab countries ,Iran, Afghanistan and central Asia ) followed by high caste converts like late Fazli Hussein, premier of united Punjab ( a Rathore Rajput convert ) ,Jats and then come others like Khatris .So a smile to Indian Khatri by Zia or even  Sharif thrills the former. The claim of Pakistanis that they are mostly descendents of migrants , even if it mattered, is spurious .Most are like the rest of north Indians –the Mediterranean type .

 

So are the Turks .In my pioneering article ,while still posted in Ankara , on the influence of Turkic languages on Hindustani , I had written that the percentage of Turks who originated from central Asia was less than 15%  created some anger in right wing media and circles but no one came with proof to challenge this fact .

Wrote Saleem Sahzad in Asia Times in 2009 . "Before the partition of British India in 1947, Punjab was seen as a loyal colony of the British and their recruits fought against the Afghans. After partition, Punjabis were seen as usurpers who divided the Pashtun tribes in the name of a new country called Pakistan. To many Afghans, Punjabis are opportunists and while they claim to be Muslims, their culture is a blend of Hinduism and Sikhism." The counterpart Punjabi speaking Hindus in India express touching faith in Pakistan's democracy and indulge in border candle lighting .They also enjoy each others' chicken tikka kebak and beer laced hospitality during not so secret various channels of diplomacy during which they visit their ancestral homes .

The author remembers an Afghan diplomat , related to the ruling dynasty and the Jihadist telling him that Punjabi Pakistanis were trying to teach Afghans how to fight when they had never fought themselves and were ruled mostly by outsiders . Historian Khuswant Singh wrote that Punjabi and Sikh forces were defeated by troops from Bengal, Bihar and Orissa under British officers .

Extracts form

Al Qaeda, Taliban and the Military in Pakistan 

http://mwcnews.net/content/view/30220/26/http://www.boloji.com/analysis2/0438.htm

"What is most important to the history of the world? The Taliban or the collapse of the Soviet empire? Some stirred-up Moslems or the liberation of Central Europe and the end of the cold war?"." Nonsense--" added Brzezinski when asked in 1997 "If Islamic fundamentalism represents a world menace today." Brzezinski was President Jimmy Carter's National Security Adviser.

"The United States has supported radical Islamic activism over the past six decades, sometimes overtly, sometimes covertly," and is thus "partly to blame for the emergence of Islamic terrorism as a world-wide phenomenon." Robert Defuses

"The grip of conservative Islamism on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border is the legacy not just of George Bush, of course, but decades of US meddling in the region, and its sponsorship of the anti-Soviet mujahedeen in the 1980s in particular. -- a byproduct of the systematically counter-productive nature of western policy across the wider region since 2001. After seven years of lawless invasion and occupation, the war on terror is everywhere in ruins.

" The limits of American military power have been laid bare in the killing fields of Iraq; Iran has been transformed into the pre-eminent regional power; --- a resurgent Taliban is leading an increasingly effective guerrilla war in Afghanistan; and far from crushing terror networks, the US and its allies have spread them to Pakistan--- Pakistan is being ripped apart by the fallout from the Afghan occupation. If the US escalates, the impact will be devastating-- The country now shows every sign of slipping out of the control of its dysfunctional civilian government - and even the military that has held it together for 60 years, " Seumas Milne in The Guardian 5 March,2009.

Wrote Ahmed Rashid in his book 'Descent into Chaos ;" Afghanistan is once again staring down the abyss of state collapse, despite billions of dollars in aid, forty-five thousand Western troops, and the deaths of thousands of people. The Taliban have made a dramatic comeback.... The international community had an extended window of opportunity for several years to help the Afghan people—they failed to take advantage of it.-- Pakistan...has undergone a slower but equally bloody meltdown.... In 2007 there were 56 suicide bombings in Pakistan that killed 640 people, compared to just 6 bombings in the previous year..."

Conflict Between Rulers and Clerics

Which way the Sunni terror monster turn! 

Historical background and parallels; Of the oldest of the three revealed religions, Judaism's only state since ancient times , Israel , founded on leftist tenets has since morphed into a rule by Zionist-Military oligarchy. Christians after centuries of warfare in Europe managed to create secular polities which are still underpinned if not haunted by sectional religious ideologies. In the last of 'the Book' based polity Islam, the lines between the Mir and the Pir ,the temporal ruler and spiritual ruler still remain blurred ,contested and changing.
 
After the 1979 revolution in Iran , Shias created the ideal but mythical office of Imam in the person of Ruhoallah Khomeini . The status of the Imam was evolved into the doctrines of intercession and infallibility, i.e., of the faqih/mutjahid .But the Iranians have since found that a system based on the concepts of 7th century AD was inadequate to confront and solve the problems of 21st century. Nevertheless, like the first Imam Ali, Iran is ruled by the supreme religious leader, Ali Khameini , who incidentally is Azeri Turk .The cement keeping Iran united now is its common heritage and Islam.

In Syria the ruling Shia Alewite elite ,12% of the population has been staunchly secular under the Assads since four decades. In Lebanon the Hezbollah, which coordinates with some secular strands, combines in Hassan Nasrallah, the powers of both a military and spiritual leader. To understand the evolving situation around Pakistan and Afghanistan we might look at some what similar situations in Islamic history.
 
Prophet Mohammad was both the religious leader and military commander. But the Arab Caliphs lost out on power by 10th century to the Turkish slaves from central Asia who formed the core of their fighting forces .The Turks raised the minor title of Sultan to a high rank who literally became a protector of the Caliph , left with only spiritual powers. Even this role was seized after the fall of Cairo in 16^th century to the Ottoman Sultans based in Istanbul.

After the defeat of Byzantines near lake Van in 11th century ,the Seljuk hordes established a Rumi Caliphate at Konya in the centre of modern day Turkey  But they had to brutally suppress religious leaders' rebellions many times .To keep out the energetic soldiers and freelance militias instigated by fanatic religious leaders ,Konya sent them out as Ghazis to harass neighboring Christian Byzantine territories. Out of these freebooters emerged a small band led by Ertugrul, whose small principality was expanded by his son Osman (Othman) and descendents into Europe right up to the gates of Vienna and along South Mediterranean up to Morocco and east up to Iran border and Oman on the Indian ocean.

Rise and Fall of Janissaries in Ottoman Empire

As Iran became a barrier to the recruitment of slaves from non-Muslim Turks from central Asia , a practice which the Arabs had followed ,the Ottoman emperors , who succeeded the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia as Turkey was then known , finally conquered the Byzantine empire and converted Constantinople, into its capital, Istanbul .They added minarets and Mihrab to the 6^th century Basilica and made it into a mosque. (Kemal Ataturk made it into a museum.)The Ottomans then started recruiting Christian young boys mostly from Balkans but even from Anatolia for its armed forces and top civil service cadre known as 'Devshirme' system.
 
Beginning with the forced recruitment from Christian prisoners taken as booty after the battle ,the system progressively developed into a privileged and influential warrior force that converted young Christian boys to Islam and instructed them in the Turkish martial arts. Unlike feudal levies Janissaries owed loyalty to the Sultan only. Regimented training and strong moral codes transformed the Janissaries into more than an impressive military force , a political entity of such unchecked power ( shades of ISI)  that they unwittingly contributed to the very downfall of the empire itself.  The Janissaries were an important factor in the military expansion of the Ottoman Empire ranging from the 1453 capture of Constantinople to the battles against the Austrian-Hungarian Empire.

 

The next couple of centuries saw the growth of the power of the Ottomans, but a succession of uprisings by Janissaries resulted in more power flowing into their hands. The first Janissary revolt occurred in 1449 and served as a model for many later revolts, each of which brought them more power and pelf. The Janissaries reached such an enviable state of influence by the late 1600s that the Ottoman bureaucracy was effectively held hostage to their whims and demands. A mutiny led to change in the policy of the politicians. Eventually, the Janissaries started to engage in successful coups to topple even a Sultan who was not receptive to their specific desires. They put their own self-interests first and placed obstacles in the path of modernizing the army.
 
In 1807, the Janissaries revolted against Sultan Selim III, and replaced him with Mahmud II . Mahmud II finally decided that the Janissaries had to be decimated in order to preserve the empire. In the summer of 1826, when the Janissaries staged another uprising, the rest of the army and the people were ranged against them. The Janissary force finally faced either death or retreat and exile. The survivors were banished and their wealth taken over by the state.
 
Like the Konya Sultanate the Pakistanis under its religious President Zia-ul- haq with financial support from US led West and Saudi Arabia and other Muslim states trained and sent Jihadist and militants' aka modern day Ghazis into Afghanistan in 1980s, who forced the Soviets exit from Afghanistan. Eventually the Communist edifice under mined by Slav nationalism and Orthodox Christianity collapsed by the beginning of 1990s.
 
Would Pakistan succeed in destroying the Taliban!
 
A conglomerate of various militias, free booters, religious fanatics, nationalists and tribal chieftains classified as Al Qaeda ,Taliban ,Pakistani Taliban etc are somewhat like the Janissaries of the Ottoman empire , their most effective strike force which terrorized European Christians and helped extend the Ottoman empire into Europe .But soon instead of terrorizing the enemies of the Ottomans ,they terrorised the Sultans .Finally the Janissaries had to be destroyed .Would Pakistan be able to do the same i.e. destroy the Taliban.

 

The tensions between the ruler, the clerics and religious warriors i.e. Mirs and Pirs have still not been separated in Islamic world  .It is in reverse gear even in modern Turkey , the only secular Muslim nation ,with the ascendancy of the ruling religious AK Party with billions of Saudi investment in Turkey and direct gifts to the party .Support of Saudi finances to Madrassas and mosques remains the major obstacle in the modernization of education and of Islamic societies.

 

The poisonous Pentagon

 

Unless the corrupt Saud dynasty in axis with Wahahbi ideology which finances extremist Islamic groups all over the world and promotes Salafist ideology and keeps the Sunni Ummah backward disappears ,there is little hope of the Muslims to escape their current miserable situation .Extremist groups and ideology will not stop exploitation of Arab and Muslim energy resources in the Middle east and elsewhere by the West .But then there is a pact by which US protects the Saudi Dynasty for in exchange for free oil exploitation .How come no regime changes in Saudi Arabia which have taken place or organized all over the Arab and Muslim world . Thus the poisonous Pentagon of US (UK/Israel)-Saudi-Wahabbi-PakArmy-ISI  remains a dilemma and curse on the people mostly Muslims extending from Bekka valley to Pakhtunkhawa.

Prof Paul Keneddy in his recent essay admits that "the Afghanistan-Pakistan entanglement is an issue so vexed and complicated that it would have tested the wisdom of the greatest leaders and strategists of the past. It is not totally fanciful to imagine Augustus, William Pitt the Elder, Bismarck or George Marshall pondering over a map which detailed the lands that stretch from the Bekaa Valley to the Khyber Pass. None of them would have liked what they saw." Look at the distances , the awful topography, the willingness of the other side to accept appalling casualty rates, make a limited war—a finely calibrated war—something of a nonsense. Kennedy after talking to those with Afghan field experience feels that US "at least can not "win" in the sense that knee-jerk congressmen and rabid Murdoch newspapers understand that word, a victory grotesquely skewed by their habit of invoking American football language: smash, overrun, crush, annihilate."

"Pulling out should not be construed as appeasement since US "would not be the first to leave those wretched mountains and their defiant tribes to their own devices; indeed, we would simply join that long list of former occupation armies which eventually thought the better of it and made for the exit.-- A three-time British Prime Minister and four-time Foreign Secretary Lord Salisbury once observed, nothing is more fatal to a wise strategy than clinging to the carcasses of dead policies." Yet , Kennedy feels ,"few administrations have the resolve to let go; and frankly, in the case of Afghanistan, a mushy compromise—half-concealed withdrawal—might be the least-worst way to go, at least for now. But not forever ."

The history , culture and civilization of the people of south west Asia is entangled , intermeshed  and interconnected . amny times unhappy , more so after the arrival of the firangis aka Europeans. Watch this space for what might transpire .Last attempt was made in in July 2010.

Confusion at the End of Afghanistan Tunnel!  

http://tarafits.blogspot.com/2010/07/confusion-at-end-of-afghanistan-tunnel.html

 

K.Gajendra Singh. 17 January, 2011.Mayur Vihar, Delhi

 

K Gajendra Singh, Indian ambassador (retired), served as ambassador to Turkey and Azerbaijan from August 1992 to April 1996. Prior to that, he served terms as ambassador to Jordan, Romania and Senegal. He is currently chairman of the Foundation for Indo-Turkic Studies. Copy right with the author http://tarafits.blogspot.com/