Purely Realist- Pakistan's Foreign Policy in current times

In order to highlight the foreign policy of Pakistan, it is important to take into account the history of its politics. Pakistan has been an independent country since 1947, however, there has been instability in the government all along its coarse of progress. For half of the time since its inception, Pakistan has been under different forms of military rules with military dictators belonging to different schools of thought. Pakistan has had Islamic conservative dictators like Gen. Zia ul Haq, as well as, the more progressive western leaning Gen. Musharraf. The civilian governments in between these dictatorships could not manage consensus as to what direction Pakistan would head into.




It is important to note that Pakistan has a geo-strategic location with respect to the interests of the major powers of the world. Often Pakistan's foreign policy has been dictated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United States beacuse of their ability to economically influence the country. Pakistan's current foreign policy appears to have elements of realism because of the current situation of that geographic region. A surmounting pressure from the United States to crackdown on the extremist gaining hold in Pakistan's territory and the growing abilities of these terrorists to cripple the country simply for supporting the US demands in the region ( of supporting NATO supply to Afghanistan).



The realist ideals in pakistan's foreign policy, are apparent when, Pakistan's stance on the Drone Strikes in the tribal regions targeting militant hideouts, that have a high collateral damage, are analyzed. Pakistan has also been accused of having covertly supported the influential Taliban in Afghanistan. If these allegations are true, it would only suggest that Pakistan is struggling to maintain ties with whoever they can in the international arena to safeguard their interests as the United States is known to have abandoned the region after their interests during the Cold War were diminished. Since Realist ideals suggest that war is inevitable, and nation states work to secure their own survival and safegaurd their own interests, Pakistan's foreign policy appears to reflect just that.



Pakistan's relations with neighboring China and Iran are also reflective of realist tendencies. Despite US opposition to ties with Iran, Pakistan ensures a benefactual relationship with Iran and boasts a lifetime friensdship with China.

The Analysis of the Book of over a Billion BELIEVERS- They call it the Holy Koran

As a matter of interest of any information whether Da Vinci's Mona Lisa, or a book boasting divinity, an introspective analysis of its credibility is the will of all sound men. We are afterall curious beings and are constantly judging the worthiness of all elements that make life.

The Holy Koran is a book that has been revered for hundreds of years with certitude. It has also been subject to criticism and sacrilege and rightly so, for we are humans afterall. Any rumination into the Koran starts with wanting to understand the reasons behind the particular choice of sequence of the chapters as they are not chronological. On grounds of common sense, it could be assumed that they are so for the simple reason of making more sense and conforming to standards of cohence imperious to all texts of any and all books. Upon research one may also find that we have not been able to identify the exactness of time, and location of quite a few verses. This makes one wonder about the credibility of all of history but we have no choice but to accept and move on with how much we assume to know about the past.

The perception of the Koran is that of a Holy Book and that God likes to reward people who revere it. Generally in the Muslim world there is no tolerence for any to disregard the Holy Koran. This belief is so widespread that most Muslims like to have a copy of the Koran kept at an elevated part of the house wrapped in a fancy silklike cover made specifically for the same purpose. Binding 'recommendations' of the Sunnah exclaim the prohibition of women to be in direct contact witht the scripture during their days of menstruation or 'uncleanliness'. Legend straining down again from sunnah exists of how reading/reciting the whole koran is worth multitude blessings in the afterlife. Hence, exist the will amongst all muslims to have their little ones read the Koran during adolescence, in Pakistan, the tradition being that of "Maulvi Sahab" who are mostly illiterate men with little or no knowledge other than their ability to understand Arabic Syllables. Statistically these men would hauntingly compose of childmolesting offenders who are so naively delegated the tasks of instilling good morals in their children, often so, to confrom to the traditional popular culture and an expectation from the society for all parents to do so. These men upon my introspection have primarily been motivated to choose a career in maulvihood for the lack of a skill.

Anyhow, this is somewhat of an analysis of the Holy book and not a commentary on Maulvis. The Holy Quran too optimistically boasts about being unmatchable in its texts. Perhaps, this exclamation makes best sense to those who have a command on Arabic. In terms of how the text of the Quran may rhyme and its poetry type prose etc. But as far as the translations are concerned, I have quite not been able to decipher the differnce between what was told to me as Sunnah and what was told to me as the Holy Quran. One could recite the quran or a comment from the Sahi Bukhari only for the listener to not be able to tell the difference. I may heavily be criticized for not being able to recognize the prominent differnce that exists, but as having grown up a Pakistani Muslim I only reveal my experience, and I may not be the only one with an experience like so. I contend with this belief after tried and tested experimentation with my peers.

In my quest for knowledge and a desperation for finding logic in what people around me called faith, my first attempt was to try and read the Koran. I was much excited well aware at the back of my head of the bounties that await me simply for choosing to read the Koran. I started with the First Surah, which undoubtedly is the most composite and meaningful surah that to quite an extent presents to the reader of

Who god is, what he is capable of, and he is the one to seek guidance from and he decides the route of ones faith. It expects the reader to realize that the decisions of man are indeed the will of god in asking God to have men follow the rights of those that please Him.



In the Second Surah al Bakara or "The Cow"

"As to those who reject Faith, it is the same to them whether thou warn them or do not warn them; they will not believe."

There is already an assumption that those who do not believe willl not believe. I do not know why, but everytime i have happened to have read this translation or any other, it doesnt give me the understanding that the Author is just trying to state the obvious, but always that God is aware and has predecided the faith of some who would disobey and reject faith, and throughout the rest of the Quran the destiny of such disbelievers has been reminded as being eternity in hell.


Having understood that, it must be clear that there is an understanding that God created us and is well aware that some of us would disobey, and yet he has a harsh punishment for all of us who disobey, and has promised the hell fire for the disbelievers. So in its entirety it would be assumed that there are some of us that are just bound to go to hell as God has willed and so it defies the central idea in the quran that humans have their own destiny in their hands, because the merciful god has already decided and knows that some of us would be going to hell. Given that there is God and that God has promised the disbelievers "Hell", my understanding as I would continue to read the quran would be that God of Koran would create us beings and is well aware that some of us would disbelieve and yet he would establish a penalty of hell for those beings. So God's plan of creating all of us and sending books and scriptures includes the existence of disbelievers who will go to hell and no one can help them. So merciful God in Quran Himself reminds us of the faith of the disbelievers but in actuallity if it wasnt for Him we wouldnt be there. And so if god created us and some of us would be disbelievers than god would be unfair in his choice of system of governing us for the simple existence of some of us scapegoats and ginnypigs and tools of social order and obedience to divinity. So how is god just.

Afghanistan Historical perspective

The following text is a response to a question posed by my professor for World and Local Geography at Houston Community College.

War In Afghanistan-
Can troop surge in Afghanistan help achieve our goals?

**Please note that this question has been posed to students in a US Community College* and this is one of the several responses to online discussions. pardon the punctational grammatical and spelling errors.

Before we can hold any opinion on the fate of the Afghani people we have to take into consideration the Historical facts,

The region that constitutes as Afghanistan has historically been subjected to invasions including Alexander the great and the Mongols (Changes Khan), the Mughals and so on. But this is common to most lands on Earth. But it is of significance to note that in the recent history of this land the people of the region have been exposed to a multivariable of codes of life.


I tend to hold the belief that a history of events such as that of the coming of Chenges Khan, Alexander the great and the sifting of Islam into the region at a time when it was the symbol of progression and prosperity, and later Russian Socialist Revolution etc. is a unique phenomenon in its nature and is likely to result into a nation of unique national identity. The people of these regions tend to develop a culture where warring, pride and honor would deem to be given precedence and an acceptable norm of life. Over the years these people have developed a culture of prohibition and social hierarchy build on honor. These Cultural components of this region were unfortunately reinforced by orthodox version of Arab-Islam resulting into the nation that they are.


The societies in Afghanistan are based on somewhat tribal communities that tend to rely on an honor-code system called the “Baradari System” where settlement of dispute is by “Jirga”, which is the assembly of the tribal/communal elders of the locale.
Important notes from history are that the Afghans with this level of prohibition/conservatism in their culture were exposed to the Russian Socialist Revolution (in1900's), an ideology that is unacceptable in Islam. (Contrary to general belief, in Islam, there is a tolerance of believers (Abraham Faiths monotheists etc.) and an intolerance for Disbelievers (communists, atheists etc.) or at least should be in theory)


The Russian Federation (USSR) invaded Afghanistan during the Cold War era and this war was where the conflict of ideology or as some may want to refer to it as the 'Clash of Civilizations' had emerged as a concept in Afghanistan. This was the time the sanctity of being Afghan and Muslim was at stake. On the contrary, a victory of the USSR in Afghanistan would be interpreted as the defeat in the cold war by the United States. In Islam there is a concept of defense of the community, and all actions that are geared towards protecting the community of Islam. This is what Jihad is. Jihad is the holy war that becomes incumbent as a moral obligation ( more than religious obligation) for Muslims around the world to play their role to protect the brethren. This is what was going on around the time of the Soviet invasion. The Russian’s were the real blue eyed devils of the time and had attacked a Muslim country and hence Islam. This is why we had Mr. Usama Bin Laden move to Afghanistan 1989 to fight the jihad against the Soviets. The United States had been supporting the Jihadis in all possible ways. Operation Cyclone was the code name for the efforts of CIA to promote/help Anti Soviet forces in Afghanistan via the Pakistan Intelligence Services etc.

People of the likes of Usama bin laden, tend to hold a belief in the creation of a sovereign unity of all Muslim estates as one entity, under one spiritual leader. But at the time of the Soviet war their motive was to defeat the Soviets and the support from the United States was welcomed. So factually the United States has been supportive of the Jihadis. And the core reasons of Afghanistan being a haven for terrorists has been that it had been abandoned by the United States following the end of the soviet invasion. Afghanistan has been left to destruction and poor infrastructure, with millions of refugees in Pakistan and Iran.

Today Afghanistan hosts a mix of people who claim residency to a land of destruction where the production of guns, poppy, and that of Might is rampant. A helpful link reflecting gun market in Afghanistan http://www.armscollectors.com/darra/darra.htmA helpful link to reflect the past Poppy production in Afghanistan http://opioids.com/afghanistan/index.html


Now the world has come to a point where Afghanistan is a battlefield and has not favored any one yet. We have sent troops in Afghanistan where today the people tend to pose a great threat to the existence of sanity in the Muslim world. In there people are able to survive if not thrive and the last thing we want is to not eradicate the people that hold this ideology. Since their ideology is so demented and would live as long as these individuals live. These people are staunch in their beliefs and not reluctant to dismiss any other ideology. These people need to be removed just like tumor from the body. You can either achieve surrender from these people and send them to rehab or wage war and suppress them.

Reflection of the believers

Amrozi the mali bomber in explicit gratitute has earnned himself several nicknames such as that of the laughing bomber.

Having been brought up in Pakistan, the ultimate will of embracing death for a dear cause as Amrozi exhibits comes to me as no surprise. I say this not in anyway to remind us of the poverty stricken masses all over Pakistan that would set themselves to fire in times of dire straits. The emphasis is indeed on the cultural acceptability of the excercise of free will within the boundaries of the religion. Islam, atleast in Pakistan exihibits sincere acceptability for people to do "their Thing" as long as it can be associated with God. To be more appropriate, lets not get into whether it is islam that grants that freedom or the culture within Pakistan. Whats most important is that the phenomenon exists. Political scientists and patriots insist that the biggest problem with Pakistan is a lack of an identity of character pertaining particularly to national identity. But more importantly, when we have islam as a religion that expects religion to supercede nationalism because the only form of nationalism that has ever been in Islam has been Arabism. Some may feel my facts aren't right. But I write in context of the version of Islam that I had been exposed to (which by the way is variably the version of over 150 million people). We must not forget that most customs and traditions of the Arabs had been inculcated in Islam. Apparently god thought that some of the traditions of the pagans of Mecca who were sent the last prophet (pbuh) were fit for the rest of the humanity to follow as Islam. Nationalism is a post Napolean idea, so noone is to be blamed.


It is unclear whether the gallantry that the likes of Amrozi exhibit is the remnants of arab imperialism, Tipu Sultanic pride or mongul mutations , and is certainly challenged by the thoughts of current day theories of orientalism or western propaganda. The uniqueness of the mechanism of pakistani society is yet to be explored, a task that should be left for the great minds of the future. But it may be interesting to have an insight into it.


Islam is based on the concept of the submission to the will of god, an acceptably modest idea, but there is such hesitance to explore what really "god" is, that anyone, anything, anybeing, any abstract claiming to be holy is deemed to be the will of god. Whether it is the ignorant holy Imam at the mosque, who resorted to the mosque for bread and butter simply because he lacked in having any expertise, or a bearded politician making tall claims---- in pakistan, submission to ANY will is easy, just associate it with God. Even the greatest of intellectuals, or the so-called elites of Pakistan, or an aspirant and hopeful of heaven can dare not object to even the most abjectable lessons of life as presented by the respected bearded man called imam meaning leader. The Shia version of Islam is a little more soothing atleast in this regard. In the shia world there is no concept of a bearded man running while passionately fixing his shalwar to perfect above-ankle height of piety at a prayer time to lead the prayer primarily because he got there first, is reverence bound for being old and is afterall bearded. They seem to take the concept of Imam(leader) and give the idea a little more meaningful approach. But the sunni version atleast manages to have a bigger population say their prayers at a time that shias would dispute.




The source of fear lies not in the unwritten law of Islam to objection to religion but the unimaginable reaction of all others with you in the mosque attendees/momins/ namazi whatever one may want to call them, with their ability to reason suspended simply because of being in a mosque. Not that I would expect religious institutions in pakistan to be any liberal than church's or temples' elsewhere. But there is a intolerable level of intolerance. I had grown to be shunned in my search of wisdom simply because god has suggested that I shouldnt think too deep in matters of faith. And have often been blamed of being of the damned ones who god has chosen to have their hearts sealed to faith and cannot be convinced. I have ever and always been suggested to turn to righteous ways but my questioning has never resulted in answers, instead have always been keenly reminded of my doomed fate.

Some friends and other believers often argue with me that this is not true islam, i would not disagree. But just like I would expect to judge the tastiness of the baked salmon id make at a dinner night on how people have liked its taste with its flavors manifested by a positive or negative response from the dinees, I would expect the to judge a religion the same way as it is manifested by its followers in a certain society.

Viscious Ventures

Where is the spirit to find the soul