T

he recent request made by Pakistan for the withdrawal of hundreds of US CIA agents and contractors from the country and the cessation of drone strikes comes as another sound bite as the innocent Pakistanis continue to be killed by America.

With the latest plea supposedly originating from Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani himself, 335 personnel are being asked to leave the country — a figure said to represent anywhere between 25 and 40 percent of the number of foreign spies and fighters in the country. This request was relayed by Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, DG ISI, at a meeting with CIA director Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen in Washington.

Such apparent shows of independence and strength have been seen before by the skeptical Pakistani public. Indeed, people learnt through the WikiLeaks cables of the full extent of this circus show when Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani was exposed to have reassured America that whilst much protest would be made in the National Assembly of the drone strikes, the issue would in fact would not be pursued.

The reality is that Pakistan’s rulers, be they the military top brass or the civilian politicians, have failed in preserving the very basic right to life for their people. For several years drone strikes have continued with impunity on Pakistani soil, resulting in the deaths of 900 people in 2010 alone.

They have continued to issue ridiculous denials that the drones do not operate from Pakistan’s bases. Further, it is same ruling elite that has allowed the emergence of a shadow spy network run by the CIA in Pakistan, challenging the very fabric of independence and security in the country.

The rulers of Pakistan have justified such developments to the people by claiming that America is an ally that is helping the country, and that together the two are fighting a common enemy. This could not be further from the truth. America is neither an ally of Pakistan’s nor is it fighting for anything other than its own colonial interests.

For to be an ally would suggest the existence of an equal partnership based upon shared values and interests between to countries. Yet through multiple examples it can be made abundantly clear that the relationship that exists between the two is one of master to slave rather than of mutual respect and cooperation.

Pakistan’s ruling elites continue to ensure that the country is in no position to have any demands fulfilled through their constant slavish loyalty to America and their betrayal of the people of Pakistan and their interests.

The latest set of demands shall continue to follow the path of such others in the past; they shall subsequently be responded to with more drone strikes and the expansion of foreign agents from the CIA and Blackwater/XE in Pakistan. America will continue to run amok in the country as long the Pakistani ruling elite sits in its pocket.

The only solution is the removal of such an elite and the political system that empowers them. The Arab revolts across the Middle East have shown that in the face of solid political will from the people, even the most hardened and resilient rulers are swept away.

The people of Pakistan need to come together and speak with one voice that they refuse to be humiliated.

Muhammad Asim
Karachi