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Governance, terrorism and the use of aid in Pakistan
There's more that connects drone attacks and the AirBlue crash than the fact both relate to Pakistani airspace. Huma Yusuf writes in the Dawn newspaper that in Pakistan the thread of poor governance runs through terrorism and natural disasters.
As Huma points out, where government fails to provide, extremist groups see plenty of opportunity:
"Few can forget that five years ago, in the wake of the October 2005 earthquake, the government's failure to cope with immediate relief efforts created a vacuum within which the Jamaatud Dawa pulled off its greatest publicity stunt. The extremist organisation had the most efficient response teams on the ground, and boasted the most functional and well-stocked relief camps. Its mobile X-ray machines and operating theatres made international headlines. Through their clever use of mobile technology, the group's volunteers established an unparalleled communications infrastructure that facilitated relief work.
The government and army, meanwhile, fumbled in early relief and reconstruction efforts, as charges of corruption in the distribution of aid and resources were rampant. The consequences of Jamaatud Dawa stepping in where the government should have been exercising its authority are obvious today in the support and influence that the organisation enjoys"
The Jamaatud Dawa to which Huma refers is the new front group for the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Christine Fair and Jacob Shapiro did some polling about a year ago on militant support in Pakistan and came to the conclusion that increased living standards or the provision of aid did not lead people to abandon support for militancy. To me, it sounds like the structure of the polling was a bit off. In 10 years of reporting around the Muslim world, I have seen countless times extremist or fundamentalist groups step in and provide social services where a government seen as incompetent and corrupt has failed. And everytime they have done this, they have increased their level of grassroots support. In Ain el Helwe camp in Sidon, it's Hamas that is seen to look after the interests of the Palestinian refugees, not the bumbling and corrupt Palestinian secular organisations. The same was true in Gaza before Hamas took power there. Since the 1920s, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt has built up a formidable national network through social service provision. The Jordanian chapter of the group has replicated that model in the Hashemite Kingdom and predictably has gained support. So maybe it's not about aid in $ terms persuading people not to support militants, even though that's nice and easy to quantify. Really, its about aid supporting better governance.
In the Muslim political consciousness, Islamic governance equates to social justice and social services provision, which is why the "Islamic state" bandwagon is so tempting a short cut for leaders looking to replace competence with PR. In my view, one of the reasons al-Qaeda has failed to gain widespread popular support is due to the fact that it has failed to demonstrate its commitment and ability when it comes to providing "Islamic" governance. This, coupled to its bloody butcher's bill of Muslim lives and its zealous pursuit of communal warfare makes it fundamentally unattractive to most Muslims. It's only claim to popular support is its "Jihad against the crusaders and their allies". Ultimately, that's not enough.
The earthquake was five years back, Huma has more current examples to take note of:
"The collapse of the legal system - the backbone of efficient governance - in the Swat Valley led to locals supporting the call given by Sufi Mohammad of the Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Shariat-i-Mohammadi for Sharia law in the mid-1990s, and again last year. The closure of civil courts in the Malakand division indicated the usurpation of the state's authority by militants and extremist organisations. Indeed, Maulana Fazlullah and Sufi Mohammad were only able to win over (or terrorise) the Swatis because of the government's seriously compromised administrative capacity in the region."
And to the events of the past week:
"Official responses to the past week's events have betrayed equally problematic failings in governance. Much has already been written about the poorly coordinated rescue operation at the Margalla Hills - a situation in which rescue workers are prevented from reaching the site of a disaster by security forces indicates a crippling level of administrative chaos.
Meanwhile, the government's handling of relief and rescue operations for flood victims in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan has been totally inadequate. As the rains abate, the variety of ways in which the government has again failed its people is becoming obvious: ill-conceived evacuation plans; a shortage of boats and helicopters for rescue missions; sparse provision of food and other relief goods to those stranded or displaced; defunct district-level disaster management authorities.
I haven't heard that militant groups have stepped in to fill the gap but they definitely have the capacity and the motivation.
Another option, as expressed to me by a non-posh friend in Lahore: "If the Americans really care about the well being of Pakistanis why don't they send helicopters or planes with aid? They are just across the border and it's because of them that the army doesn't have the manpower to handle the floods."
Amen. if we really actually
Amen. if we really actually wanted to get good outcomes with these military adventures, we'd actually start planning for good governance. But since we are losing what little of that we ever had, I'm not holding my breath. Pretty much we're exporting corruption, and giving the locals a poisoned chalice, a choice between corruption and extremism.
In the Muslim political
In the Muslim political consciousness, Islamic governance equates to social justice and social services provision, which is why the "Islamic state" bandwagon is so tempting a short cut for leaders looking to replace competence with PR.
No, it does not. Justice is the heart of al-Islam.....not just social justice handouts, but islamic jurisprudence and the universally perceived justice of shariah law.
You cannot "implant western style democracy" in islamic culture......it can't be done.
No substrate. Exum you are still laboring under the profound falsehood that western culture is superior to islamic culture.
It is not.....at least not in situ.
the Prophet (SAW) famously said, a nation can survive with god, but it cannot exist without justice.
how can you be so ill-informed about al-Islam when you have been working on this for years?
Pardon, Amil.... but i still
Pardon, Amil....
but i still get the stench of condescending western culture chauvinism from your post.
Perhaps it is unintentional.
It sounded very like sneering at social justice as papering over leadership problems with handouts. Perhaps i misread you.
This is what you said.....
In the Muslim political consciousness, Islamic governance equates to social justice and social services provision, which is why the "Islamic state" bandwagon is so tempting a short cut for leaders looking to replace competence with PR.
Did you mean something else?
I don't think islamic governance equates to social justice and social services provision, in all cases, in the whole "muslim political consciousness". Perhaps you could restrict your generalization to dictators, demogogues and tyrants?
Is it possible that western culture chauvinism is so deeply ingrained in most americans that it is wholly unnoticed by the practicioners? Like ingrained racism in the american right?
Londonstani, Human nature is
Londonstani,
Human nature is similar the world-over, no doubt about that. But here, I think Rabia ignores the shared heritage of Islamic societies and so-called Judeo-Christian societies, going back to ancient times and not just because of Abrahamic religious connections, either, some of these connections going back to Neolithic times and beyond. In our better aspects and in our pathologies, we are much more culturally akin than what people realize. Not to minimize differences or to imply that people are cognizant of shared connections, but "Westerners" and inhabitants of the Muslim world are far closer culturally to each other than we are to Subsaharan African, N. American, or East Asian societies.
I might be wrong, but the recent Islamist movements tap into a much older tradition of periodic renewal. Clean out the community of all the accumulated injustice, religious additions, and hypocrites. Something like this happens in Christian countries, as well. The great irony is that the Islamists and their Fundamentalist Christian foes (and Soviet foes, in the early Bolshevik days) are acting on the same impulse. Unfortunately, these movements never manage to eradicate the pathologies of their societies, some of which are fundamental to the societies, hence the need for periodic, often violent purges.
And at first I thought Rabia was just a classic naive revert, now I am not so sure what her game is.
Lord High Sockpuppet, thanks
Lord High Sockpuppet, thanks for the comment. Yes, I'd agree with that. Rabi'a, thanks for your comment too. I don't think social justice is to be sneered at. It's fundamental to the Islamic idea of public affairs. Dictatorships in the Muslim world, in my view, are outside the spirit of how Muslims feel their countries should be run. Some historians might argue a multitude of sultans, pashas, padishahs etc were dictators. I would argue that for the most part their societies' had developed a system of organic checks and balances that was as good as any and better than most in their time. But also, I think sometimes Muslims throw out the baby with the bath water. Just because something looks and sounds Western doesnt mean it should be rejected outright, particularly if at its core it addresses a common human concern. To look at Islamic civilisation as by definition the antithesis of Western European Christian civilisation is reactionary and reductive. Re. "Islamic state bandwagon" countries that play up their Islamic credentials hardly ever exhibit what their citizens would describe as truly Islamic. They use the Islamic epitaph to appeal to a popular simmering Western sentiment but carry on with corruption, feudalism, cronyism etc etc. How many Muslims do you hear say, "There's no truly Islamic country in the world"? In the Muslim world, people don't demand beards and burkas for their own merit. But some can be duped into thinking a government that encourages beards and burkas is moving in the right direction. And everytime those governments stop at beards and burkas, they don't move on to accountability, fair resource distribution or any of the other things that Muslims believe were instituted by the Prophet Mohammad in Medina, the Ummayads in Spain, the early Caliphs in Baghdad, the Ottomans at their peak etc etc. What im talking about is good governance. Whether someone believes that Western powers have actively undermined good governance in the Muslim world or have done all they can to promote it despite the odds is immaterial. It's a plain fact that the Muslim world is presently struggling with the concept and practice of good, accountable governance (whatever you choose to call it). Turning a blind eye to that is not productive and calling attention to it is not sneering.Londonstani, 2010: You could
Londonstani, 2010:
You could look up Ibn Khaldun's al Muqaddima... a lot of what these people are saying chimes with the core principles of Western society.
Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddima, 1337, tr. Franz Rosenthal, p. 63:
We have seen that Negroes are in general characterized by levity, excitability, and great emotionalism. They are found eager to dance whenever they hear a melody. They are everywhere described as stupid.
Of course, there's that clever phrase, "a lot of." Ibn Khaldun indeed puts his pants on one leg at a time, and observes the sky as blue. And so does the Koran. It seems the Rabbit isn't the only cultural imperialist in the building, though.
Londonstani is a Pakistani aristocrat. As his ancestors have for generations, he longs to rule Pakistan. Pakistan is ruled, like any feudal country, by feudalism, in which the winner is he with the most clients. When he suggests "aiding" Pakistan, what he means is: America, you have a magic machine that prints dollars. Please print some more and buy a vote bank for me and my cultured, sophisticated friends.
After all, why does the Taliban have to provide "social services?" If it wants to give people stuff, why doesn't it just give them money? They can use the money to buy stuff. I feel the American printing press should be used to give every peasant in Baluchistan a guaranteed income of $100 a week.
But there's a big difference between US aid and Taliban aid. The Taliban expects loyalty from its clients. When its clients take its money and betray it, it hangs them. The US expects betrayal from its clients. When its clients take its money and betray it, it gives them more money. Thus feudalism is not a game USG can win at. It simply doesn't understand the rules.
"It's a plain fact that the
"It's a plain fact that the Muslim world is presently struggling with the concept and practice of good, accountable governance (whatever you choose to call it). Turning a blind eye to that is not productive and calling attention to it is not sneering."
while this is true, it is the pernicious influence of Big White Christian Bwana Meddling that has caused all this misery. Operation Ajax, the Shah, Israel, Saddam, even applauding Attaturk, the cruel dictator that outlawed his countries history and alphabet to force Kemalist occidentalism on muslims.
Every secular government in MENA has been imposed by a tyrant, usually with the support of the western powers.
The thing people like you, brother amil, seem unable to accept, is that western culture is INFERIOR in situ.
In theory there are shared values.....in practice muslims have had occidentalism forced down their throats too many times to see any redeeming characteristics.
Do you know what a maftoon is, brother Amil?
I feel like a talking parrot for saying this so many times.....the only common ground there is in MENA is islamic ground.
(the US Marine Corps
(the US Marine Corps using Public Diplomacy, re: Female Engagement Teams and Religious Liaison: http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/military/article_2eda8745-b945-56a7-9b... )
The Marine concentration in one part of the country -- as opposed to Army units, which are spread across Afghanistan -- has yielded a pride of place. As it did in Anbar, the Corps is sending some of its most talented young officers to Helmand.
The result has been a degree of experimentation and innovation unseen in most other parts of the country. Although they account for half of the Afghan population, women had been avoided by military forces, particularly in the conservative south, because it is regarded as taboo for women to interact with males with whom they are not related. In an effort to reach out to them, the Marines have established "female engagement teams."
Made up principally of female Marines who came to Afghanistan to work in support jobs, the teams accompany combat patrols and seek to sit down with women in villages. Working with female translators, team members answer questions, dispense medical assistance and identify reconstruction needs.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/13/AR201003...
Then there's what Marines call the "mullahpalooza tour." Although most U.S. military units have avoided direct engagement with religious leaders in Afghanistan, Nicholson has brought over Lt. Cmdr. Abuhena Saifulislam, one of only two imams in the U.S. Navy, to spend a month meeting -- and praying with -- local mullahs, reasoning that the failure to interact with them made it easier for them to be swayed by the Taliban.
At his first session with religious leaders in Helmand, the participants initially thought the clean-shaven Saifulislam was an impostor. Then he led the group in noontime prayers. By the end, everyone wanted to take a picture with him.
"The mullahs of Afghanistan are the core of society," he said. "Bypassing them is counterproductive."
1,100 Killed in Pakistan
1,100 Killed in Pakistan Flooding.... Sounds like a good start. :-)
Comment by Visitor on August
Comment by Visitor on August 1, 2010 - 1:59pm
1,100 Killed in Pakistan Flooding.... Sounds like a good start. :-)
Daaaaang! Why it gotta be like that, black? You best check yo'self befo' you wriggity wreck yo'self, fool!
yup, last two comments plus
yup, last two comments plus aleph nought.
Brother Amil, take the flood and turn the tide.
Use it to distribute aid via the local mosques.
Instead of trying to count coup on liberals with Assange, do the right thing.
If the cleared analysts have been turned against the war effort, there is a sword of damocles hanging over your heads.
I'd work to neutralize it.
i think he meant giving aid
i think he meant giving aid to pakistanis damaged in the flood is a good start.....at least....i hope that is what he meant.
i don't know about you guys anymore.
i thought you were the good guys.
"If the Americans really
"If the Americans really care about the well being of Pakistanis why don't they send helicopters or planes with aid? They are just across the border and it's because of them that the army doesn't have the manpower to handle the floods."
Why? Because the US has enough blacks and Mexicans leaching off our welfare system, we don't need to be exporting our welfare system to people who just want to blow us up. At least, blacks and Mexicans just do drugs and make babies, they don't blow themselves up, they don't bite the hand that feeds them--they just don't know any better, kinda like retards you gotta take care off.
We are sick and tired of giving you nose picking, fart smellin', goof balls our tax money. Ask China, they have money to spare. Stop asking for our hard earned tax dollars.
Comment by Visitor on August
Comment by Visitor on August 1, 2010 - 2:46pm
Yo, you axed me? Yo Paki-Momma so poor she does drive by shootings on a tuk-tuk!
Daaaaang! Why it gotta be like that, V-rizz-al? You hit pretty good... for a girl. Yup-yup.
Next time you cross the street and schling a schlong, you better watch out, cuz I juz might be stand'in ther ready to wiggy-wack you with my dang a long ling long.
Step off!
Washington Post on Pakistani
Washington Post on Pakistani flooding:
"I haven't even seen a police officer, or a local or provincial representative to at least console us," said Sagheer Khan, a 45-year-old businessman from the inundated village of Nowshera Kalan. "If any government representative is seen now, he will be pelted with stones."
In past emergencies in Pakistan -- including a massive 2005 earthquake and the refugee crisis caused by last year's army offensives -- Islamic charities with close ties to banned militant organizations have provided basic services, filling a void left by the government and scoring points in the battle here for the public's affection."
Yup, that's global warming in action - floods and drought, more or less alternating, that's what the regional forecast is as the Indian Ocean steadily warms. Too much water in one season, too little in another. Social justice? There goes the whole village, from the Brahmins to the Untouchables. You're more likely to survive if you cooperate and abandon your petty ethnic and religious hatreds, as well as your overweening greed. It's going to come down to a question of survival - just ask the flood victims. If an Israeli Jew came by in a boat, a drowning Hamas militant would hop on board - they might kill each other later, but he might help bail the boat too. Who knows, this might even force Pakistan and India to cooperate - or maybe they'll just nuke each other, who can say?
P.S. Rabia is probably a sweaty bald white guy trying to create some impression or other, dominate the thread, etc. Assange is a tool, in any case, and the document dump dovetails awfully nicely with Cameron's comments on Pakistan (which also pissed everyone off), as well as with the WaPo report:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/top-secret-america/
That's one thing about the U.S. system - if that had been published in Britain, the government would likely have intervened and blocked publication - but with Wikileaks, they didn't bother! What is that Official Secrets Act for, anyway? Protecting crooked lawyers and their rotten oil clients?
QinetiQ North America, McLean, Virginia, 2,001-5,000 employees, $1 billion to $10 billion in revenue, 37 locations and 4 government clients. It was formed from the greater part of the former UK government agency, Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) - aka Q's lab.
That's the kind of "leak" the U.S. and British governments are really upset about, although all the information is in the public sector, and none of it is classified, unlike the reckless and low-information Wikileaks charade. You know why the NYT and the Guardian pumped it out in two weeks, when they took months to review the Pentagon Papers before publishing? They must have been in on the stunt, or someone was demanding that the story be used to bump the WaPo expose from the Sunday headlines, is all I can imagine. Or they're just really stupid and incompetent, a distinct possibility in the era of corrupt government and corporate appointments.
These private intelligence contractors are duds, by all accounts - a useless waste of money that does more to endanger U.S. soldiers on the ground in Afghanistan than to assist them. Their true allegiance is to their shareholders, not to anyone else - wake up.
Lord High Sockpuppet, the
Lord High Sockpuppet,
the shared heritage of Islamic societies and so-called Judeo-Christian societies, going back to ancient times and not just because of Abrahamic religious connections, either, some of these connections going back to Neolithic times and beyond.
About this we are in utter agreement.
Islam is a Western religion.
You have to go to India or China before you find a truly Eastern one.
It's because Islam and the Judeo-Christian faiths are so similar,
is why I've never liked any of them.
On the core issues I've never been able to tell them apart.
I haven't liked any western religion,
since Nature's gods abandoned them and vice-versa.
Instead of pointing fingers
Instead of pointing fingers at who is responsible for the lack of good governance in much of the Muslim world, why not look for things to actually make at least marginal improvements? Along the lines of the current post, start a project to identify risks (natural such as floods and accidental such as the plane crash) in Pakistan and develop a mitigation program to reduce the likelihood that a heavy rainstorm would flood a populated area or that an earthquake would level a village. Is there a potential James Lee Witt in Pakistan?
"The U.S. stepped in to help
"The U.S. stepped in to help the government Sunday, promising $10 million in emergency aid. The high-profile gesture comes at a time when the Obama administration is trying to dampen anti-American sentiment in Pakistan and enlist the country's support to turn around the Afghan war."
"The U.S. also provided rescue boats, water filtration units, prefabricated steel bridges and thousands of packaged meals that Pakistani soldiers tossed from helicopters as flood victims scrambled to catch them."
http://www.aolnews.com/world/article/death-toll-from-pakistan-floods-top...
Londonstani: " I thought I'd
Londonstani:
" I thought I'd make this point now, before your comment attracts hostility and blind bigotry. "
Rabi'as comments *consist* of hostility and blind bigotry. If they attract it, it's only because like attracts like, like flies to feces.
I'd like to take a dump in
I'd like to take a dump in Rabi'a's mouth, just to fill it with something better.
well....i just have one word
well....i just have one word for y'all.
Garani.
:)
Its the case of the missing
Its the case of the missing humanitarian dimension all over again. For the third time, the same pattern repeated itself in Afghanistan and Iraq. Hey, you guys, you really need to create a State department in the next 6 years, because the one you had seems to have expired and/or donned their tuxedos and gone into denial.
Srsly, Amil....given that
Srsly, Amil....given that you can assert that the Wikileaks docs burned afghan informants, what is the rationale for classifying the collateral murder video and the Garani massacre video?
Rabi'a, I haven't commented
Rabi'a, I haven't commented on the issue of sources' security over Wikileaks. And I've said little about the killing of the Reuters' cameramen (former colleagues), and less about Garani. I might at some point, but havent yet.sowwy, i meant that comment
sowwy, i meant that comment for the other thread.
But Amil.....can i ax you a question?
Do you believe western culture is intrinsically superior to islamic culture?
Because, your statement about the "Muslim political consciousness" and social justice seems to imply that to me.
I think arguments about the
I think arguments about the superiority or inferiority of cultures is a silly place to start a discussion. It's also totally misleading in relation to the actual issues at hand.. if we are talking about peace and security in the Muslim world and the world in general.. Re. Western culture, which one? The culture of the bygone British imperial class? The culture of a midwestern American family? If an American family.. whose culture within that? The middleaged father? His hiphop loving middle class son? If Muslim culture, the wealthy landed aristocracy of Pakistan (which by the way, does not actually include me)? The sufi fakeers of Lahore who perform at Lahore's tombs? Egyptian professionals? Egyptian peasants? To talk about "culture" in this way is like comparing lunchboxes in the playground, and of about the same use. If the argument is about "my religion is better than yours", there are theological discussion blogs where that issue can be explored. It's not within the remit of AM.more weasel word
more weasel word bullshytt.
i get it, you ARE a maftoon.
we are SPECIFICALLY discussing bootstrapping the consent of the governed with an islamic government incorporating shariah law and islamic jurisprudence instead of trying to "implant" a culturally alien western style democracy.
Rabi'a, we are SPECIFICALLY
Rabi'a,
we are SPECIFICALLY discussing bootstrapping the consent of the governed with an islamic government incorporating shariah law and islamic jurisprudence instead of trying to "implant" a culturally alien western style democracy.
But consent of the governed is already a culturally alien Western idea.
I recall coming across a
I recall coming across a paper which said that providing services boosts the chances of insurgents, but not counter-insurgents. I can't remember where specifically, probably from one of the posts linked here:
http://www.themonkeycage.org/2010/07/counterinsurgency_finale.html
Free money, I'm sure they
Free money, I'm sure they will use it for it's intended purpose. ha!
A late addition -
A late addition - apologies.
Just to clarify one thing. The post quotes Huma Yusuf as writing that "The closure of civil courts in the Malakand division indicated the usurpation of the state's authority by militants and extremist organisations."
Two errors here:
1. The state never lost control of the *institutions* of the justice system. What they lost control of was day-to-day justice in the streets. The local Taliban group, TNSM, came to be the preferred provider - but TNSM never controlled the state-run courts. They set up their own. (One hotel on the opposite bank of the Swat from Fazlullah's home town of Manderai was such a court. When I drove past it in February or so it had been knocked to the ground - probably artillery, but I don't have an eye for such things.) NB All this applies only to Swat, not to the broader Malakand Division.
2. The civil courts didn't actually close. Technically, they did, yes. The Nizam-e-Adl ordinance closed the civil courts across Malakand Division and instated a system of Qazi-run, or Shariat, courts. But in reality all that happened was that the civilian judges were renamed Qazis, and the system went on exactly as before. In fact, more or less, the Nizam-e-Adl regulation mirrored the laws extending Sharia to Swat in 1994 - the govt simply made the additional gesture of renaming the judges. No new legislation was put in place. The courts did not function differently. Everything was exactly as before. (I have this directly from both lawyers and senior local govt, independently.)
One could argue that it is popular perceptions that count, not such technical details. But the closure of the courts would have been a very minor addition to the population's perception of the retreat of state authority: compared to executions in the street, desertion of the police, loss of territory to the Taliban, rumours of military-Taliban co-operation and so on. All these gave a clear enough indication that the government had lost control.
Taliban groups in Pakistan have provided social services, true. Mullah Nazir Wazir in South Waziristan reinvigorated the jirga system, for instance, giving local people the ability to resolve conflicts not available through the defunct state jirgas - but in a fashion that ensured that his armed followers delivered the justice that the people requested. TNSM in Swat did nothing so sophisticated. The social service they provided was the public execution of criminals to provide visible justice (but not tied to any bottom-up system that provided *access to justice* per se), and the opportunity to be violent against resented landowners, and to cut down trees on the lower slopes previously protected by those landowners.
Social service provision is one critical strategy in building insurgent support - but not in Swat. Perhaps that's why TNSM came to be so hated. All stick, no carrot.
Governance terrorism and use
Governance terrorism and use aid pakistan.. Outstanding :)
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