The United States, the champion of diplomacy, now has to its credit not just Raymond Davis, but also the latest report revealing that it used the devastating earthquake in Kashmir to send in spies in the garb of aid workers. At a time of a natural calamity, operatives from the most lethal force Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), which has to its credit the Osama Bin Laden episode as well, were sent into a Pakistan desperate for help from friends. This disclosure has been made in the recently published eBook entitled ‘The Command: ‘Deep Inside the President’s Secret Army’ authored by two Americans namely DB Grady and Marc Ambinder. The authors further allege that JSCO took advantage of the genuine misery caused by the earthquake to create its own network in the name of humanitarian assistance and aid workers. As if this was not enough, Admiral William McRaven, who heads the JSOC, is now pushing for a larger and more direct role for its force.
These disgusting disclosures are shocking for anyone to hear and again will be difficult for disillusioned Pakistanis to palate. Genuine aid workers get kidnapped and mislabelled, because of the mistrust about the authenticity of their credentials, due to such tactics by a supposed ally - who has been revealed to have taken advantage of us when we were at our weakest and most vulnerable. Army Chief, Gen Kayani has already insisted on the exit of American military trainers, which are now being requested to be allowed to return. Given this revelation, there is now not much doubt that Raymond Davis was an important operative of JSOC and that was the reason that even the US President himself lobbied for his return. Another important disclosure in the eBook is that JSOC agents have been following ISI officials, suspecting them of being involved in the training and funding of Taliban and Al-Qaeda men, involved in jeopardising the American interests including destabilising the Karzai government. Pakistanis are often labelled a paranoid and conspiracy-obsessed nation, but given such revelations, our paranoia unfortunately becomes justified. These incidents also reveal that even superpowers, who often claim to be the upholders of truth and justice in the world order, are capable of taking advantage of the lowest point in a country's circumstances, to further their own mercenary interests. Not just the fact that operatives were sent, but the fact that they were sent at a time when the entire country was in mourning and struggling to help those in need, leaves a bad taste in the mouth. The US's reputation will continue to plunge lower and lower in Pakistan - and justifiably so. Such obnoxious and callous acts are not ones to be thought well of by any measure and will not sit well with any Pakistani.