The Passive Voices

It is army-bashing time, in Pakistan and elsewhere. Every tongue-happy can say anything, anywhere depending on what suits him.  This may be because of a misplaced perception that Pakistan’s armed forces have been weakened. Yes, there were certain incidents of some security lapses, essentially in the areas of civilian administration. And everyone has joined the campaign to malign the armed forces as much as one can; latest to join these forces is no other than Dr AQ Khan. This most respected Pakistani scientist is the one who stole the blueprints of a very classified project at his workplace in Holland and moved to Pakistan to steal, yet again, the limelight and become “father” of Pakistan’s nuclear program. He has the insatiable appetite for media projection and has now decided to sell his soul to devil to remain in the headlines. His voice is music to the ears at home and abroad. He is the same man once called by the Time magazine as “The Merchant of Menace”.  Apparently, Pakistan’s armed forces are on the wrong side of the history.

In his latest statement, which was flashed on all the media outlets like 9/11 incident, the self-appointed founder of Pakistan’s nuclear bomb program has asserted that the government of North Korea bribed top military officials in Islamabad to obtain access to sensitive nuclear technology in the late 1990s. He has also made available documents that he says support his claim that he personally transferred more than $3 million in payments by North Korea to senior officers in the Pakistani military, which he says subsequently approved his sharing of technical know-how and equipment with North Korean scientists. According to Washington Post, Khan also has released what he says is a copy of a North Korean official’s 1998 letter to him, written in English, that spells out details of the clandestine deal.

The letter has instantly been branded as fabricated by the military leadership of 1998.

Apart from his sickly attention-seeking psychological issue, what else he wanted to achieve through this fabricated revelation? He, like Nawaz Sharif, is trying to settle his personal score with Army who committed the blunder of saving him from the world for his proven acts of nuclear proliferation. His Dubai-based businesses, his hotel in Tanganyika, his un-audited spending of billions of dollars are matters of record. He has aroused suspicions, though unsuccessfully, that Pakistan’s armed forces are nothing more than a mafia. His leanings and sympathies for religious terrorists are well-known and his stabbing the army in the back when the country is at war with these very militants is understandable.

According to the Post report, Western intelligence officials and other experts have said that they think the letter is authentic and that it offers confirmation of a transaction they have long suspected but could never prove. Pakistani officials, including those named as recipients of the cash, have called the letter a fake. Khan, whom some in his country have hailed as a national hero, is at odds with many Pakistani officials, who have said he acted alone in selling nuclear secrets.

The way Western media is flashing the news and the motive behind it is not surprising. It is that unholy alliance of Western and local media which have started a smear campaign against Pakistan army. It was the same media who had been crying hoarse that Dr AQ Khan himself was the Master Proliferators for monetary gains. He was dubbed as The Merchant of Menace. It is surprising; however, that self-appointed father of the Pakistan’s nukes’ program has decided to become the youngest recruit of this alliance.