Hazuri bagh, Garden in Lahore, Pakistan

The Pakistani army and the ISI know for sure that if anything happens to the US embassy, Trump will not hesitate to clamp down hard.Let me begin by taking you back 46 years to an event that holds a mirror to Pakistan’s current turmoil. It was the afternoon of November 21, 1979, when a furious mob linked to Jamaat-e-Islami set the US Embassy ablaze in Islamabad, leaving four people dead. Just last week, the hardline religious outfit Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) appeared set to unleash similar violence. But before the mob could reach Islamabad, the army unleashed a barrage of bullets, dispersing the crowd.The 1979 attack stemmed from a false sermon by Iranian cleric Ruhollah Khomeini, who claimed over Iranian radio that the United States and Israel had plotted to seize the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia. The incendiary lie spread like wildfire, and soon Pakistan was burning. Riots erupted not just in Islamabad but also in Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi, where several American installations were torched. The chaos subsided only after Washington issued a stern warning to General Zia-ul-Haq, by which time four people including two Americans had already lost their lives. This time, no such falsehood has fuelled the unrest. Yet, ordinary Pakistanis are seething. They believe that in their eagerness to appease US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and army chief Asim Munir have crossed every line of dignity. The duo, they allege, has adopted a soft stance towards Israel, effectively betraying the Palestinian cause. Many Pakistanis see Trump’s so-called peace framework for Gaza as one that serves only Israeli interests, leaving Palestinians empty-handed. If that is the case, they ask, why should Pakistan stand with Trump at all?This question ignited TLP’s fury. Chaos erupted in Lahore and thousands of TLP supporters began marching toward Islamabad, vowing to surround the US Embassy. The CIA swiftly intervened, warning Pakistan in unmistakable terms: If anything like 1979 happens again, there will be dire consequences. Under pressure, the Pakistani military used force. TLP now claims that its leader Saad Hussain Rizvi has sustained bullet injuries, 250 of its workers have been killed and 1,500 others have received injuries. Rizvi, notably, is the son of Khadim Hussain Rizvi, the cleric who founded Tehreek-e-Labbaik in 2015 -- ironically, with the backing of the Pakistani military itself. What’s even more telling is the near silence of Pakistan’s media. Such a massive episode finds only muted coverage, for the military’s iron grip on information leaves little room for truth to surface.Many in Pakistan now say that Munir and Sharif have become virtually blind in their bid to appease Trump. Observers warn that the popular anger against the prime minister and the army chief is simmering dangerously and could at any moment take a far more serious turn. Indeed, Pakistan has long lived with a parallel power of hardline elements so potent that even the state hesitates to confront them. The military’s recent action against TLP has only infuriated other extremist elements, who fear that a government and army seen as supine before the United States will spell greater trouble for them.There is a further source of public fury: Pakistan’s recent strikes against the Taliban. Last week, the military launched air strikes on the Taliban targets without clear justification, which many Pakistanis could not digest. A widespread belief has taken hold that these strikes were carried out at the behest of Trump. In fact, Trump is intent on gaining control of Bagram airfield. His absurd argument is that because the airfield was once built by the US, it therefore belongs to the US. Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi have now come together with the Taliban to oppose any such attempt. Pakistanis feel that Trump is using them for his own benefit, which they say could jeopardise their close ties with China. Of late, many Pakistanis have become almost frenzied in their admiration for China, for obvious reasons.So, are the doubts of the people about their rulers and their army justified? On the face of it, things appear like that. The fulsome flattery of Trump by Pakistan’s leadership could be linked to the benefits which vested interests like the military officers and politicians might want to derive. The government in Islamabad has rarely cared for the common person; ordinary citizens remain mired in barely making both ends meet. Religion has been deliberately steeped into public life to prevent critical thought: If people begin to think for themselves, how can power endure? If youths stop wrapping themselves in the shroud of bigotry, how will the mantle of jihad be sustained? This time, however, the danger is turning inward. The very serpents that the state nurtured are beginning to bite. You might say Pakistan has become entrapped in Uncle Sam’s game but what culpability does Uncle Sam bear? That is what he is best at doing. And Pakistan is no different too? One day you might even stab Uncle Sam in the back. Uncle Sam too must not have forgotten that Osama bin Laden was in the safe haven in your own courtyard. Uncle Sam knows that wherever there is even the faintest prospect of material gain for the Pakistani military, its intelligence agency ISI and a pliant government, they will bend to any extent and it is precisely this pliability that Uncle Sam exploits.The author is the chairman, Editorial Board of Lokmat Media and former member of Rajya Sabha.

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