Editorial
US drone forays in Pakistan
Such action can only worsen an already bad situation
US missile strikes have once more left people dead in Pakistan. The number of people dead from such forays by drones since mid-August now stands at twelve. Of a good deal more significance than the number of deaths is the matter of how such American attacks inside Pakistan, in search of Taliban and al-Qaeda elements, may be leading to a worsening of the situation. Questions have already been raised, and quite properly too, of such attacks being an infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty. More to the point, such behaviour on the part of the United States surely does not bode well for the future. That is because it might become a pattern where other nations might face conditions similar to those that Pakistan is confronted with. After what has happened in Afghanistan and Iraq and what has been going on in Pakistan's tribal areas, there are grounds for concern.
There has, of course, been no acknowledgement from the Americans of the strikes, though Pakistanis have always been vocal against them. New President Zardari has made it known that his government will not allow Pakistan's territorial sovereignty to be violated. That said, there is the danger that such strikes not only undermine Pakistan's position but also bring its ruling classes to disrepute before their own people. But perhaps the worst ramification of these drone strikes is that they only harden the resolve of the people of the tribal areas of Waziristan against the Americans and the West and push them towards increasing sympathy, if not support, for the Taliban and al-Qaeda. That is a dangerous thing to happen, for it gives these groups a little more space to work in. To be sure, there are the suspicions that people within Pakistan's military establishment may be reluctant to move against the Taliban and al-Qaeda, that therefore Pakistan's own actions against them may be too little and too weak to have any impact. But that is precious little excuse for the kind of action the US military has been taking against the militants in the tribal areas, which is why the need for caution is now an imperative.
The danger for Pakistan, and for the region, is a proliferation of religious radicalism. That danger must not be accentuated by American drone forays into Pakistani territory.
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