Impact of WikiLeaks beyond Pakistan
This is with regards to Raza Rumi’s article of December 3 titled “WikiLeaks and Pakistan’s dysfunctional state”.
Regarding the lawyers’ movement, shifting the balance between civil-military relations was only one part of it. Equally importantly was the fact that it was an indigenous movement that did not rely on outside powers and thus worked to rid us of the ‘client state’ mentality. This has been amply confirmed by WikiLeaks, with both Saudi Arabia and the US working to placate the Chief Justice. Of course, one movement is too little to alter the historic civil-military imbalance in Pakistan but it would be incorrect to say that it did nothing.
I am also surprised that there is so little concern in Pakistan for what WikiLeaks revealed beyond Pakistan. There may not be so many surprises from within Pakistan because we are a nation that rarely trusts its government (for good reason) but in other countries, there have been some surprises, including places like Germany, where it has been revealed that the US has a large number of informants keeping it abreast of the German government’s policies. And thus, although we must be concerned that Pakistan should not be a client state, it is important to maintain context and realise that the reach of the US and its paranoia has so influenced several countries across the globe that legitimate processes have been derailed even in the case of European allies.
It is not for nothing that one can no longer access the site, as I discovered early this morning.
Ayesha Ijaz Khan
Source: The Express Tribune
Date:12/6/2010
” 
” 
” 
” 
