General Musharraf's book `In the Line of Fire' and his speeches and interviews in the US have proved that America, with all its CIAs and FBIs, is just as vulnerable against Pakistan's perfidy as India was in Kargil. A US corporate printed and published the General's book, which shamed President Bush and his men and the CIA on the American soil. Yet, the CIA had no clue that, in the book, the General had confessed that the agency had paid bribe to buy custody of Al-Qaeda suspects; and that he had also rubbished the US as a blackmailer.

Why, the US spies had no idea of the explosive interview given by the General as a trailer to his book, till it appeared on the CBS TV screen. His comments in and off the book seemed coherent and rehearsed, not just slip of tongue. In fact, he had deliberately timed his visit to coincide with the release of his book.

Reinforcing what he says in his book, he told the Americans who hold out Pakistan as a valued ally in the fight against terror, that Pakistanis were not happy about the US. More, he stunningly admitted the fragility of his own nation Pakistan, saying that it was not homogenous enough for a stand on terror and that it was not easy to govern Pakistan particularly after 9/11! The General's book and his speeches effectively expose the simmering tensions of India's neighbour nation-state widely suspected to be failing both as a state and as a nation.

The General's book testifies to the fact that the Pak-US relations have U-turned with Pakistan turning to blackmail the US instead of, as it was, the other way round at the start. The General's book and interviews constitute the confessions of an ally-turned-approver to torment the US. He has clearly undermined, even de-legitimised, the US-led war on terror. The General also implied that Pakistanis would not like to partner the US to fight terror! He even said that people, not bullets, should defeat the Taliban! Who says this? Precisely the man who defeated the people by seizing power in a coup! More, by shaming Powel and Armitage and implicitly George Bush himself, the General has ensured that Pakistan's relations with the US get worse, not better.

It is no surprise that many in US feel that the uneasy Pak-US pact against terror got up by the US twisting the General's arms is as good as over regardless of politically correct statements either of them may make henceforth to save faces! The General's admission that the US blackmailed him to defect to its side _ by double-crossing on the Taliban _ is certainly not intended to lighten the hate campaign against the US in Pakistan and elsewhere in the Islamic world, which sees the US as `Shaitan' in the Islamic sense. The US is no fool to miss this message. Thus the General has deflected all anger the terrorists had against him on to the US. The US realises this too. So loosing just his shame, the General has gained all the way and ensured that the US loses all the way. His statement that Pakistan is not easy to govern is calculated to tell the US that there is no alternative to the General. Confirming this, days later in London, he told the West that without him _ yes without him _ they would be on their knees!

The General has, like our seculars do, also questioned the prefix `Islamic' to terror, asking why not then call the LTTE as `Hindu Terror'. Answer to the General does not need much elaboration. The prefix `Islamic' fits Muslim terrorists because they claim that they are Mujhahideens undertaking Jihad for their religion to kill _ and even die to kill _ those who are against Islam. Their claim to serve their faith by violence has gone unchallenged by mainline Islamic theologians. That is why they are not simple terrorists and their terrorism itself is seen as Islamic.

In contrast, Velupillai Prabhakaran and his LTTE are undeniably terrorists. And if reports of his conversion to Christianity are not true, Prabhakaran is a Hindu too. But he is not a Hindu terrorist because, unlike Islamic terrorists, he does not wage a religious war in defence of Hindu religion nor does he rationalise his terror on any Hindu scripture against non-Hindus. And many Naxalites, who are Hindus, are anti-religious, actually more anti-Hindu, terrorists. In contrast the spirit of Jihad for Islam and against the non-Islamic inspires the Islamist terrorists and defines them as Islamic. With a little reflection the General can easily understand why the prefix `Islamic' necessarily adds on to Muslim terrorists.

QED: The General yielded to the US threat to save Pakistan from the fate of Afghanistan. He extorted billions from the US to save his nation from economic collapse. Now the General has turned around to do a Kargil on the US. The General has taken Pakistan back to pre-9/11 position almost. Will the US realise that Pakistan, with its brand of Deobandi Islam, is the laboratory for global terror; and that it harbours by conviction, not compulsion, ultras of Taliban and Al-Qaeda and Dawoods, Ashars, and Memons of terror. Likewise, will our own Manmohan Singh realise that he cannot ally with the American ally _ who is in the process of divorcing the US _ to fight the terror it promotes in India as the latest police findings of the 7/11 train blasts in Mumbai establish?

Courtesy: www.newindpress.com, October 04 ,2006