Pakistan has tried to be too clever for too long. As they say you can't fool all the people all the time.
Ever since the surprising all out attack on Red Mosque in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, I've wondered what exactly happened that pushed Musharraf over the edge. It is not like the general and his army didn't know about the militants who were trained and housed in the mosque. We are yet to get definitive answers for this.
But it looks like the Red Mosque assault is a turning point in Pakistan polity. It may signal the start of a low-level insurgency within Pakistan. More than 100 people killed in suicide attacks on Pakistan forces in the North West Provinces points to that.
A brief history of Pakistan and terrorism below the fold.
Pakistan was created when the British left the Indian sub-continent in 1947. It was supposed to be a "safe" home for Muslims - the idea being they can never be safe in India. Pakistan had two geographic areas - East Pakistan which later separated into current Bangladesh - and West Pakistan, separated by a thousand miles of Indian territory in between.
Almost immediately after creation, Pakistan encouraged "tribals" to cross over into Kashmir and occupy it. Kashmir was one of the princely states unaligned at that point. This "tribal invasion" forced the King of Kashmir to join India. Ever since that point, Kashmir has been the bone of contention between India and Pakistan.
So in a sense, Pakistan started using irregular fighters as a part of state policy 60 years ago. And it continues to do that in various forms till today.
But real terrorism, as we know it today, was encouraged by Pakistan in the 80's. Not with Kashmir focus, but with Punjab. That movement that cost 10s of thousands of lives, wound down in the 90s.
Around the same time, Soviet Russia occupied Afghanistan and installed a puppet government. Now Pakistan suddenly became the center of American resistance against the spread of communism. Zia-ul-Haq, the military dictator at the time, had already learnt how to exploit religious feelings towards his political end. CIA in their infinite wisdom, decided aid and arm Pakistan. Zia channeled the money to train and arm religious fanatics and of course buy loyalty of his army men. Corruption in Pakistan army is legendary.
The religious fanatics trained and armed by CIA money were used not just in Afghanistan - but more importantly in Kashmir. Kashmir is at the very heart of the power of military in Pakistan - but for Kashmir the armed forces of Pakistan would never get the kind of money they have been able to get in a poor country. But Pakistan knows - after 3 defeats to India in conventional wars - that it is no match to the much stronger Indian armed forces. So, they decided to use terrorism as the means to keep festering the Kashmir issue - and terrorism became the state policy.
On the northern front, once CIA and Russia left Afghanistan, Kabul became the battle ground for various war lords. Pakistan saw an opening there - and helped formed the "Taliban" - a rag tag group of trained religious students who took over the power in Kabul with the help of Pakistan's Army.
The training facilities that Al Qaeda setup with the help of Taliban in Afghanistan could then be increasingly used to train not just Arabs but also Pakistanis who would then be sent to Kashmir to fight the Indian Army.
Pakistan's dreaded intelligence agency handled all the "Jihadi" organizations. Training, arming and to a great extent controlling their operations. The modus operandi was simple. Once the fanatics were trained, they would be pushed to the Indian side where they would attack Indian army and civilians. The terrain being very mountainous, the infiltration was hard to detect and impossible to stop. Besides, the Pakistan Army would start firing whenever the Jihadis were crossing the border (technically the Line Of Control) into Indian controlled Kashmir.
Everything was working so well - terrorists killed over 60,000 people in the 90's.
9/11 Changed all that ... or did it ? While professing to be an ally of the US in the fight against "terror", Pakistan didn't completely give up on Jihadi groups. They were told to lie low ... they could no longer have well advertised offices in major Pakistani cities. The madrassas continued to train and brainwash young Pakistani men.
Except for outward appearances, nothing much really changed in Pakistan.
So, now we come to the present, and with the above background can easily ask - How can anyone expect to actively train and arm tens of thousands of young men - completely brainwashed and indoctrinated in the most regressive and violent of ideologies - the Deobandi school of Islam - and hope to be a peaceful society ?
Just look at what Osama did to US - after getting US help during Afghan Jihadi days. Once people are indoctrinated in ideologies they come to believe as indisputably correct - how do you control them and direct their wrath only towards your enemies ? How do you grow a pit full of poisonous snakes and hope to have them bite only your enemies - not you ? For long Pakistan has used terrorism as a form of state policy - and finally the snakes are biting back.
Yes, Gen Musharraf, welcome to the Hell, which you and your predecessors created with such deliberate care.