Mumbai massacre and Pakistan

Beyond that perspective there is no dearth of the conspiracy theories that seems to be floating around. From being asserted by some that it is the work of some indigenous group, probably aligned to the religious right in India, in support of which the language spoken by allegedly the saboteurs is cited as evidence, to being the crafted handiwork of international actors bent upon creating the cessation of goodwill gestures between India and Pakistan, every possible scenario has been hinted at in the numerous analysis to emerge on this tragedy.
Whatever be the real story, this much is probable that it has destroyed much of the good prospects which prosperity brings in its wake when there is peace and harmony amongst neighbours. I am thus at a loss what to say. It is thus true that such has been the immediate outcome of this extraordinary act of barbarity that it has rushed to create an atmosphere of mutual distrust.
Only days ago there was the news that two Indian war planes had violated Pakistan air space. Pakistan's air force then went on high alert though Zardari denied that it was intentional. It made the US Secretary of State and British Premier rush to the region. US is worried that any action by India will promptly make Islamabad sneak out of it's effort of War On Terror which seems increasingly having no support of the masses. But it has made Zardari government very uneasy as it dispatched its top soldier rushing to Beijing for consultation.
The world regrettably has become very unstable as a result of these occurrences in South Asia. I hope that some sanity prevails in the right quarters. Talking of violation of air space and territorial sovereignty, or what is left of it in Pakistan's case, when drones from Afghanistan seemly do it at will resulting in even casualties of ordinary civilians with the apparent consent of the present and the previous military administration of Musharraf. Pakistan's fiscal troubles mount daily and it is anybody's guess when the country may even default. May be it is saved presently but only because of the generosity of the US and the World Bank. Why this is done need not be answered.
The plight of the millions of ordinary people of the country is so grave that not only we have really no food to feed the people, even electricity and other sources of energy are scarce. Pakistan is selling petrol today at prices which have no bearing to the actual prices which are currently at international levels of prices of ten years ago. The democratic government is not shy to make some money even be it the peopels'direct expense.
Constituently Pakistan is at odds with its self-proclaimed commitment to representative instructions and rule of law. Not only the Musharraf infused clobbering of the independent judicial branch of state is being maintained, the country is in mess as the current chief justice has been made personally the target of misuse of influence to get his daughter admitted in a medical school by the grant of extra grades at the time of her admission.
With thousands killed by the country's own armed forces and millions displaced in the Frontier region's of the country, there is actually a state of internal war going on. Zardari and team look hopelessly out of their depth to evaluate what is going on or what may happen. Corruption is something abhorred by the West. But in Pakistan's case the infamous NRO has helped almost everyone of note in the current regime.
President's Bush latest tour of Iraq and Afghanistan was to the two countries which would define his presidency. Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets last Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George W Bush, as Arabs across many parts of the Middle East hailed the journalist as a hero and praised his insult as a proper send-off to the unpopular US president.
The protests came as suicide bombers and gunmen targeted Iraqi police, US-allied Sunni guards and civilians in a series of attacks Monday that killed at least 17 people and wounded more than a dozen others, officials said. Journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi, a 28-year-old unmarried Shiite, was kidnapped by militants last year and, separately, detained briefly by the US military prior to this incident - a story of getting hit from all sides that is bitterly familiar to many Iraqis. Such stories regrettably may well have their counter part in Pakistan as well.
As such Mumbai massacre, which seemingly has some connection with the external policies of powers in this region, may yet produce consequences which are far beyond the confines of that city and indeed could usher in potentially cataclysmic changes in Pakistan. Already the UN has also stepped in by banning the outfit blamed by India but which has vociferously protested its lack of any connection with the tragedy in Mumbai, with which Pakistan foreign minister totally agrees. Already Pakistan's ambassador in London is on record saying that an Indian attack is probable.
The writer is an attorney-at-law (US), barrister-at-law (UK), senior advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, and Professor at Harvard University