I bear witness that none has the right to be worshipped but Allah (swt), and I bear witness that Muhammad (pbuh) is the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets.

There are two fundamental beliefs in Islam, the first being Tawheed, and the second is to believe that Muhammad (pbuh) is the Prophet and Messenger of Allah (swt). Tawheed is the essence and core belief of Islam and it is an obligation upon all Muslims to know and believe in it. This is a huge topic, but I will only give a brief understanding of what Tawheed means and what are its categories. Tawheed comes from the Arabic word “wahhada” which means “to unite, unify or consolidate”, therefore, Tawheed means “unification” or “affirming oneness”. So in Islamic terminology, it is the proclamation that Allah (swt) is The One and Only True God Who deserves to be worshipped in truth and also to confirm all of His Names and Attributes.

There are three categories:

1. Tawheed ar-Rububiyyah – This means that Allah (swt) is One, without partner in His dominion and actions. The word “Rububiyyah” is derived from the word “Rabb” which means “Lord, Cherisher, Sustainer, etc.” It is imperative to believe in the Oneness of the Lordship of Allah (swt), to believe in Maintaining the Unity of Lordship and to believe that Allah (swt) is the Creator, Cherisher, Sustainer, Provider, Organizer, Planner and the Giver of security, etc. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an: “Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Wakeel (Trustee, Disposer of affairs, Guardian) over all things.”(Az-Zumar: 62)

2. Tawheed al-Uluhiyyah – This means that Allah (swt) is One, without rival in His divinity and worship (Allah Alone is worthy of all worship and anything that is worshipped besides Him is a false deity). Allah (swt) says: “Do you then worship besides Allah, things that can neither profit you, nor harm you?” (Al-Anbiya: 66) It is imperative to believe in the Oneness of the Worship of Allah (swt), to believe in Maintaining the Unity of Worship, to have total obedience to Him and His Laws. All acts of ‘Ibaadah (worship and all actions that please Allah) are performed for Allah (swt) Alone. In the Qur’an, Allah (swt) says: “Say (O Muhammad) ‘Who provides for you from the sky and the earth? Or who owns hearing and sight? And who brings out the living from the dead and brings out the dead from the living? And who disposes the affairs?’ They will say: ‘Allah’.” (Yunus: 31) The Messenger of Allah, Muhammad (pbuh) said: “If you ask in prayer ask only Allah, and if you seek help, seek it only from Allah.” (Reported by Ibn ‘Abbaas and collected by at-Tirmidhi)

Allah (swt) says: “And when My slaves ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, then (answer them), ‘I am indeed near (to them by my Knowledge). I respond to the invocations of the supplicant when he calls on Me (without any mediator or intercessor). So let them obey Me and believe in Me, so that they may be guided aright.” (Al-Baqarah: 186)

3. Tawheed al-Asma’ wa as-Sifaat – This means that Allah (swt) is One, without similitude in His Essence and Attributes. It is imperative to believe in the Oneness of the Names and the Attributes of Allah (swt), and to believe in all the Divine Names and Attributes of Allah (swt) in a manner that suits His Majesty, as mentioned in the Qur’an and the Sunnah. Therefore, we must affirm the Names and Attributes of Allah (swt) and not liken them to the creation. Allah (swt) says: “There is nothing like unto Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer.” (Ash-Shura: 11)

Allah (swt) says: “Say (O Muhammad): ‘He is Allah, The One (and Only). Allah, The Eternal Absolute (The Self-Sufficient Master, Whom all creatures need). He begets not, nor was He begotten. And there is none co-equal or comparable unto Him.” (Al-Ikhlaas: 1-4)

All Praise and Glory be to Allah (swt) – and Woe to those who ascribe partners unto Him.

The whole nation is in mourning as over 150 precious lives were lost in the tragic air crash on Margalla Hills in Islamabad. The plane was merely eight kilometres away from its final destination. The rescue operation, as usual, happened without much management though all the organisations, including the armed forces, took part in recovering the dead bodies in a difficult terrain. We all should acknowledge the good work by our rescuers. However, the National Disaster Management Authority, which has a clear mandate in times of national disasters, was missing all the way. The NDMA is the leading agency at the federal level and it is the executive arm of the National Disaster Management Commission (NDMC), which has been established under the chairmanship of the prime minister as the apex policy-making body in the field of disaster management. This authority should have played a pivotal role in the rescue efforts but the usual chaos and mismanagement were seen at the incident site with literally common men taking part in the operation. In our part of the world, we have a number of these so-called authorities and commissions with fancy vision and mission statements but they usually falter in testing times.

The vision statement of the NDMA reads and I quote: “To achieve sustainable social, economic and environmental development in Pakistan through reducing risks and vulnerabilities, particularly those of the poor and marginalised groups, and by effectively responding to and recovering from all types of disaster events.” The mission statement of the NDMA reads and I quote: “To manage complete spectrum of disasters by adopting a disaster risk reduction perspective in development planning at all levels, and through enhancing institutional capacities for disaster preparedness, response and recovery.” The website of the NDMA is worth reading as it seems to cover a wide spectrum of national disasters but it’s merely lip service in my opinion. I request the honourable prime minister to kindly pay due consideration to such commissions and authorities especially in terms of their effectiveness.

Robert Gallagher said that change is inevitable – except from a vending machine. It is inevitable that structures and processes and relationships will change in our day-to-day lives. It is inevitable that we will face new challenges and it is inevitable that things may seem a little different in the years ahead. Yes, life is definitely going to become a little “shaken up and stirred”. 

But as we look back on a journey – a journey that started out with hesitant, tentative steps, in retrospect, we see just how far we have progressed. I would like to share a memory – memory that serve to illustrate that while some things will change and rightly so – the core fundamentals in our lives will remain the same.

This brief illustration is about a sports event in a school with parents invited as well. A youngster is sitting next to the sports field trying to put on his sock. The sports teacher walked past. The boy stands up, hopping around on one leg, his sock in his hand and he greets, “Sir” He sits down again intent on putting on his sock. The teacher walks on a little way and watch. The youngster it seems has chosen a bad spot. At least six other parents happen to walk past him, separately, but in relatively quick succession. And, every time, without fail, he clambers on to his one foot and greets, “Sir or Ma’am!” I’m not sure if he eventually did get his elusive sock on – but I can testify to the exceptional manners that were witnessed – manners that are so firmly ingrained that they are almost intuitive.

This phenomenon of ‘change’ is visibly coming up in the form of extreme ‘competitiveness’. The world is becoming very competitive in every sense. Let’s take golfing and tennis, aspiring players graduating from academies with stringent intake criterion and undergo untiring trainings.

There is astounding research going on in the fields of Engineering and Medicine. The advancements in the area of Telecommunications are beyond ones comprehension. The desktop machines are become outdated with laptops becoming common at affordable prices. In academia, now we get to hear of close to perfect scores in exams such as GMAT and GRE and intake of top schools are becoming stringent.  In the field of defense there is sophisticated weaponry with unmanned air craft’s offering high precision and accuracy and GPS technologies literally offering street views at few clicks of any part of the world. And the list goes on. These are all few examples of how world are evolving and are becoming very scientific.

Now given this backdrop that change is inevitable and it is the most constant thing in this world, let’s see what we have to offer as a Pakistani as we have to be on our toes to meet the demands of the ever changing paradigms of this world. 

We are living in difficult times and unfortunately our beloved Pakistan has few threats. We all have to face the current turmoil with brave hearts. I am a firm believer that we the Pakistani’s are one of the most talented nations in the world.

Although the list of great Pakistani’s is never ending but I would like to take this opportunity and share few names who made all of us proud.

Jahangir Khan the greatest player of all times made history in the game of squash. He won world open record six times and won the coveted British Open ten times. He also had an honor of being unbeaten for record 5 years, a record breaking winning streak in the history of squash. I am not sure how many of you know that Jahangir underwent multiple surgeries as a child and was advised strictly by doctors to avoid any physical exertion as he was extremely week.

Wasim Akram the great cricketer made it to hall of fame as he holds the record for the most number of wickets in one day cricket (502) which is no mean feat.

Cadet Ghulam M. Malik (retired as Lt. Gen G.M Malik) is the first Asian to win the prestigious Queens Medal at Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in UK.

The gifted Junior Under Officer Uqbah Hadeed Malik (Now Capt) merely at the age of 22, wins the coveted sword of honor at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in UK as he was declared as the best overall international cadet.

18 year old Ali Moeen Nawazish, a wiz kid from Rawalpindi made a world record by securing 22 A’s in A level examinations of University of Cambridge. He is also acknowledged by the Guinness Book of Records at this tender age for outstanding achievement.

Dr. Atique Samdani awarded ‘physician of the year’ award in USA.

 The world’s youngest Microsoft Certified Professional is a Pakistani

There was one common denominator amongst all of them, they all had an extra-ordinary ‘will’ do to do well in their respective areas and they were extremely focused in their pursuits. And surely they were able to adapt to the best of their abilities to the ‘change’ in pursuit of

their goals. The above are few examples of Pakistani’s who have outshined other nations which suggest the talent which we all can leverage provided we have the ‘will’ and right ‘intentions.’

And then there are other phenomenal achievements of recent times in the field of Telecommunications and biometrics databases:

- There were 300,000 mobile users in Pakistan in year 2000 and within a span of few years the number stands at around 98 million mobile users.

- Pakistan is the most connected country in South Asia, with the highest teledensity in terms of mobile access per hundred people which stands at 62%

- Pakistan has the world’s largest biometric database (NADRA); this system (not the data) is now being provided to allied countries

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. ~Eleanor Roosevelt

The following extract from a speech by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling who spoke to Harvard graduates on June 5, 2008 offers a very unique perspective when she says…

“If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better”

And our great founder of the nation Muhammad Ali Jinnah rightly points out…

‘With faith, discipline and selfless devotion to duty, there is nothing worthwhile that you cannot achieve’.

The greatest example of a man who really brought an extra ordinary change for the generations to come can be attributed to our beloved Quaid Muhammad Ali Jinnah, when somebody very rightly points out….

“The change in the world is always brought by one man, whom we call “the leader”. Who has the vision and the force not only to make people dream, but to reach and live that dream. He is intelligent enough to foresee tomorrow. He is selfless and courageous to the extent of being ready to scarifies everything and express truth even if it defames him. People fellow him where he takes them. He is the one who accelerates history and for whom nature proclaims itself. “What a man”"

God bless Pakistan

Who are the Jinn? This is a question which many people are interested in knowing as they (the Jinn) are also a creation like Mankind but different in many ways. The Qur’an, Sunnah [sayings, actions and tacit approvals of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)] and the ijma’ (consensus of the scholars) show us that the jinn do in fact exist, and just like Mankind, they too have a purpose of existence in this life, which is to worship Allah Alone, and not associating any partner to Him. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an: “And I (Allah) created not the jinn and mankind except that they should worship Me (Alone).” [Adh-Dhaariyaat: 56].

The word ‘Jinn’ by definition means something that is hidden from sight or which cannot be seen, therefore they are called ‘Jinn’ because they are concealed from human sight. Allah (swt) says: “…Verily he (Satan) and Qabiluhu (his solders from the jinn or his tribe) see you from where you cannot see them….” (Al-Ar’af: 27). The Jinn have an independent and separate world which is hidden from the world of humans. Mankind and the Jinn have some familiarities, such as they (Jinn) have understanding and the ability to choose between right and wrong. The Jinn differ from humans in their creation as Allah (swt) states in the Qur’an: “And the jinn, We created aforetime from the smokeless flame of fire.” [al-Hijr: 27] In another verse: “And the jinn did He create from a smokeless flame of fire.” [Ar-Rahman: 15]. There is a hadith which is related by ‘Aa’ishah [may Allah bless her (the wife of the Prophet)], where the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “The angels were created from light, the jinn were created from fire, and Adam was created from that which has been described to you.” (Reported by Muslim, 5314).

The Jinn are of different kinds, some of them can assume different forms, for example they can take the form of dogs and snakes (this does not mean that all dogs and snakes are Jinn); there are some who can fly and some who can journey and rest. Abu Tha’labah al-Khushani said: “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: ‘The jinn are of three types: a type that has wings, and they fly through the air; a type that looks like snakes and dogs; and a type that stops for a rest then resumes its journey.” There are different names describing them, such as ‘Amir’ which refers to a resident Jinn who lives with humans; then there those called ‘Shaytaan (plural – Shayateen)’ which refers to the wicked and evil among them and some are called ‘Ifreet’ which is used for one who is very strong and powerful (and can move with great speed). There is an example of this in the Qur’an when the Prophet Sulaiman (Solomon) wanted the Throne of Sheba to be brought before him in Jerusalem: “An ‘Ifreet (strong one) from the jinn said: ‘I will bring it to you before you rise from your place (council). And verily, I am indeed strong, and trust-worthy for such work.’ One with whom was knowledge of the Scripture said: ‘I will bring it to you within the twinkling of an eye!’ Then when he [Sulaiman (Solomon)] saw it placed before him, he said: ‘this is by the Grace of my Lord….’” (An-Naml: 39-40).

Every human has been assigned with a Jinn companion (qareen). In a hadith, Ibn Mas’ood said: “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, ‘There is not one of you who does not have a jinn appointed to be his constant companion.’ They said, ‘And you too, O Messenger of Allah?’ He said, ‘Me too, but Allah has helped me and he has submitted (according to Al-Nawawi, this means that he became Muslim), so that he only helps me to do good.’” (Reported by Muslim, 2814). It is important to know that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) was physically and mentally protected from Shaytaan. All Muslims must be cautious against this Jinn companion who is constantly whispering and tempting us to do evil.

In the Qur’an, Allah (swt) informs us that some of the Jinn said: “‘And of us some are Muslims, and of us some are Al-Qaasitoon (disbelievers – those who have deviated from the Right Path). And whosoever has embraced Islam, then such have sought the Right Path. And as for the Qaasitoon, they shall be firewood for Hell.’” [Al-Jinn: 14-15] These Muslims amongst the Jinn differ in levels with regards to their righteousness and taqwa (being conscious of Allah or fear of Allah). Allah (swt) says that some Jinn said: “‘There are among us some that are righteous, and some the contrary; we are groups having different ways (religious sects, etc.)’” [Al-Jinn: 11] Mankind will brought to account on the Day of Judgment for all that we have done here on Earth and so will the Jinn too be brought to account. Allah (swt) says: “… but the Jinn know well that they have indeed to appear (before Him) (i.e., they will be brought to account).” [Al-Saaffaat: 158]:

We humans eat and drink and the Jinn do the same. Ibn Mas’ood (ra) said: “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: ‘Someone from among the jinn called me, and I went with him and recited the Qur’an for them.’ He took us and showed us the traces of where they had been and the traces of their fires. They asked him for food and he said, ‘you can have every bone on which the name of Allah has been mentioned that comes into your possession, as meat, and all the droppings as food for your animals.’ The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said, ‘so do not use [these things] for cleaning yourselves [after relieving oneself], for they are the food and provision of your brothers.’” (Reported by Muslim, 450). Another report states: “A delegation of Jinn from Naseebeen came to me, and what good Jinn they are! They asked me for food and I prayed to Allah for them, so that they would not pass by bones or droppings, but they would find food on them.” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 3571). The believers among the Jinn may eat any bone on which the name of Allah has been mentioned, because the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) did not allow them to have anything on which Allah’s (swt) name has not been mentioned (they are for those Jinn who are disbelievers).

The Jinn exist on this very Earth where we humans reside. The Jinn are mainly found in ruins and unclean places like toilet rooms, dunghills, garbage dumps and graveyards. Therefore the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has taught us to take protection when entering such places, by reciting the necessary supplications. There is a report by Anas ibn Maalik (ra), who said: “When the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) entered the toilet, he would say, ‘Allaahumma innee a’oodhu bika min al-khubuthi wa’l-khabaa’ith (O Allah, I seek refuge with You from the evil ones, male and female).’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, 142; and Muslim, 375). The Scholar Al-Khattaabi clarified that the word ‘khubuth’ is the plural of khabeeth (evil or dirty – masculine form), and the word ‘khabaa’ith’ is the plural of khabeethah (evil or dirty – feminine form), therefore meaning the male and female shayaateen. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has taught us many ways to protect ourselves from these evil ones among the Jinn, by saying ‘a’oodhu billaahi mina-shaytaan nir-rajeem’ (I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Shaytaan), we can recite Surah al-Falaq and an-Nas (the last two Surahs of the Qur’an). In the Qur’an there are many passages for seeking refuge with Allah (swt), for example Allah (swt) says: “Say: ‘My Lord! I seek refuge with You from the whisperings (suggestions) of the shayaateen (devils). And I seek refuge with You, my Lord, lest they may attend (or come near) me.’” [al-Mu’minoon: 97-98]

The Jinn have the ability to possess people. They do that because sometimes the Jinn or its family gets hurt by accident. It also occurs because the Jinn have fallen in love with the person. But most of the time, it is because the Jinn is simply wicked and evil. The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) warned us about lurking in places where the Jinn reside, e.g. graveyards, ruins, garbage dumps, deserts, toilet rooms etc. Also, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) commanded us to recite the Qur’an regularly in our homes: “Indeed, the shaytaan flees from the house in which Surah Al-Baqarah (the 2nd chapter of the Qur’an) is recited.” (Reported by at-Tirmidhi) The name of Allah (swt) is used for expelling the Jinn from the body and there are numerous verses and supplications that the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) has taught us to say when performing an exorcism.

Remember that the shayateen (evil ones among the Jinn) are chief components in occult activities such as magic, witchcraft, voodoo, etc. Also fortune-tellers use the Jinn (the qareen assigned to every human) to find out about the future. None knows the Unseen except Allah (swt), but what these Jinn do is that they would go to the lowest heaven and eavesdrop on the conversation of the Angels who talk amongst themselves about events of the future which they heard from Allah (swt). These Jinn would then inform the fortune-tellers. Before the time of the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), many fortune-tellers were very accurate in their predictions. Nonetheless, upon the Prophet’s arrival the heavens were guarded intensely by the Angels, and any Jinn who tried to listen was attacked by shooting stars: “And indeed, We have put the big stars in the heaven and We beautified it for the beholders. And We have guarded it (near heaven) from every outcast shaytan (devil). Except him (devil) who steals a hearing then he is pursued by a clear flaming fire (shooting star).” (Al-Hijr: 18) But if they succeeded in eavesdropping and did not get hit by the shooting star, then they would bring the future prediction to the fortune-teller and add a 100 lies to it. So whenever you see a shooting star(s), don’t make a wish, but know that a devil(s) is being chased away by it!! The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) forbade us from going to these fortune-tellers (that includes believing in astrological signs): “The prayer of one who approaches a fortune-teller and asks him about anything, will not be accepted for forty days or nights.” (Reported by Muslim – Vol.4, p.1211, No.5540) and: “Whosoever approaches a fortune-teller and believes in what he says, has disbelieved in what was revealed to Muhammed.” (Reported by Ahmed). So please stay away from them!!!

This is just a brief synopsis regarding the Jinn, if you are interested in learning more about them, then please refer to the book by Dr. ‘Umar S. Al-Ashqar: “World of the Jinn and Devils.”

Last year the commander of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), General William Ward, said the Pentagon had military partnerships with 35 of the continent’s 53 nations, “representing U.S. relationships that span the continent.” [1] 

That number has increased in the interim.

As the first overseas regional military command set up by Washington in this century, the first since the end of the Cold War, and the first in 25 years, the activation of AFRICOM, initially under the wing of U.S. European Command on October 1, 2007, then as an independent entity a year later, emphasizes the geostrategic importance of Africa in U.S. international military, political and economic planning.

 Africa Command’s area of responsibility includes more nations – 53, all African states except Egypt, which remains in U.S. Central Command, and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara), which is a member of the African Union but which the U.S. and its NATO allies recognize as part of Morocco, which conquered it in 1975 – than any of the Pentagon’s other Unified Combatant Commands: European Command, Central Command, Pacific Command, Southern Command and Northern Command (founded in 2002).

The U.S. is alone in maintaining regional multi-service military commands in all parts of the world, a process initiated after World War Two as America pursued its self-appointed 20th century manifest destiny as history’s first worldwide military superpower.

Until October 1, 2008 Africa was overwhelmingly in the European Command’s area of responsibility, with all African nations assigned to it except for Egypt, Seychelles and the Horn of Africa states (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan) overseen by Central Command, and three island nations and a French possession off the continent’s eastern coast (Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Reunion) placed under Pacific Command.

The month before AFRICOM began its one-year incubation under U.S. European Command in 2007, Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy

Ryan Henry said, “Rather than three different commanders who have Africa as a third or fourth priority, there will be one commander that has it as a top priority.” [2]

The Pentagon official also revealed that Africa Command “would involve one small headquarters plus five ‘regional integration teams’ scattered around the continent” and that “AFRICOM would work closely with the European Union and NATO,” particularly France, a member of both, which was “interested in developing the Africa standby force”. [3]

The Defense Department official identified all the key components of Africa Command’s role and adumbrated what has transpired in the almost three-year interim: By subsuming nations formerly in the areas of responsibility of three Pentagon commands under a unified one, the U.S. will divide the world’s second most populous continent into five military districts, each with a multinational African Standby Force trained by military forces from the United States, NATO and the European Union.

Later the same month, the Pentagon confirmed its earlier disclosure that AFRICOM would deploy regional integration teams “to the northern, eastern, southern, central and western portions of the continent, mirroring the African Union’s five regional economic communities….”

The Defense News website detailed the geographic division described in Defense Department briefing documents issued in that month:

“One team will have responsibility for a northern strip from Mauritania to Libya; another will operate in a block of east African nations – Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Uganda, Kenya, Madagascar and Tanzania; and a third will carry out activities in a large southern block that includes South Africa, Zimbabwe and Angola….

“A fourth team would concentrate on a group of central African countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad and Congo [Brazzaville]; the fifth regional team would focus on a western block that would cover Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Niger and Western Sahara, according to the briefing documents.” [4]

The five areas correspond to Africa’s main Regional Economic Communities, starting in the north of the continent:

-Arab Maghreb Union: Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia.

-East African Community (EAC): Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.

-Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS): Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

-Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS): Angola, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of Congo (Brazzaville), Democratic Republic of Congo (Kinshasa), Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda and Sao Tome and Principe.

-Southern Africa Development Community: Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Africa’s far northeast, in and near the Horn of Africa, is in a category of its own, having long been subordinated to the U.S.’s Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa (CJTF-HOA) based in Djibouti where the Pentagon has approximately 2,000 personnel from all four branches of the armed services. The Combined Joint Task Force – Horn of Africa area of operations takes in the African nations of Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda as well as Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula. In addition to Seychelles, the CJTF-HOA is expanding its purview to include Comoros, Mauritius and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.

Three years ago it was reported that the Pentagon had already “agreed on access to air bases and ports in Africa and ‘bare-bones’ facilities maintained by local security forces in Gabon, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda and Zambia.” [5] That is, in northern, eastern, western, central and southern Africa.

The U.S. has maintained its military base in Djibouti, Camp Lemonnier, since 2003, established a naval surveillance facility in Seychelles last autumn, and has access to base camps and forward sites in Kenya, Ethiopia, Morocco, Mali, Rwanda and other nations throughout the continent.

AFRICOM, as noted above, plans a central headquarters on the continent – its current headquarters remains in Stuttgart, Germany, although Djibouti’s Camp Lemonnier functions as a de facto one in Africa – with five regional satellite outposts in northern, southern, eastern, western and central Africa.

The African Standby Force is nominally under the control of the African Union, but its troops are being trained and directed by the U.S., NATO and the military wing of the European Union.

The website of the African Standby Force (ASF) contains links to the following sites:

-ASF Headquarters (Addis Ababa)

-Eastern

-Western

-Southern

-Central

-Northern [6]

The African Union’s secretariat, the African Union Commission, is based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Ethiopia is also one of the nations – Liberia and Morocco are others – that has been discussed as a potential site for AFRICOM main headquarters on the continent.

African Standby Force: Trained By U.S. Special Forces, Modeled After NATO Strike Force

Each of the five geographical units listed above is to supply a contingent of up to brigade size (4,000-5,000 troops by NATO standards) for the African Standby Force that is projected to be launched this year.

Two days before U.S. Africa Command was established on October 1, 2007, the American armed forces newspaper Stars and Stripes reported that “The command, scheduled to become operational this week, will focus much of its activity on helping to build the fledgling African Standby Force.

“It is hoped the force, being organized by the Ethiopia-based African Union, or AU, will be ready by 2010. It would consist of five multinational brigades based in the giant continent. Each brigade would perform missions in its given region, such as peacekeeping when the need arose.

“Gen. William E. Ward, nominated to become the first AFRICOM commander, last week told the U.S. Senate in writing that U.S. troops would help the brigades come to life.”

Ward, earlier head of NATO’s Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia in 1996, said in his own words, “AFRICOM will assume sponsorship of ongoing command and control infrastructure development and liaison officer support. It would continue to resource military mentors for peacekeeping training, and develop new approaches to supporting the AU and African Standby Forces.” [7]

This February a NATO website detailed the North Atlantic military bloc’s role in complementing AFRICOM efforts to build the African Standby Force:

“NATO began providing support to the AU Mission in May 2005 based on specific requests from the AU. NATO nations supported [the] AU Mission in Sudan (AMIS) by providing airlift for 32,300 personnel….NATO continues to support the AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) through the provision of strategic sea- and air-lift for AMISOM Troop Contributing Nations on request. The last airlift support occurred in June 2008 when NATO transported a battalion of Burundian peacekeepers to Mogadishu.

“Joint Command Lisbon is the operational lead for NATO/AU engagement, and has a Senior Military Liaison Officer at AU HQ in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. NATO also supports staff capacity building through the provision of places on NATO training courses to AU staff supporting AMISOM, and support to the operationalisation of the African Standby Force – the African Union’s vision for a continental, on-call security apparatus similar to the NATO Response Force.” [8]

The NATO Response Force (NRF) completed what was described at the time as its final validation in the two-week, 7,000-troop Steadfast Jaguar military exercises in the African island nation of Cape Verde in 2006.

Africa was the testing ground for the NRF and the NRF is the model for the African Standby Force:

“Since June 2007, NATO has assisted the AU Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) by providing airlift support for AU peacekeepers. This support was authorized until February 2009 and the Alliance is ready to consider any new requests from the AU. NATO also continues to work with the AU in identifying further areas where NATO could support the African Standby Force.” [9]

“NATO is also providing, at the AU’s request, training opportunities and capacity building support to the African Union’s long term peacekeeping capabilities, in particular the African Standby Force.” [10]

Since the Berlin Plus agreements between NATO and the European Union in 2002, the military components of both organizations not only overlap and complement each other, but are being integrated at a qualitatively higher level for overseas missions like those in and off the coasts of Africa.

Three years ago French General Henri Bentegeat, then Chairman of the European Union Military Committee, met with EU defense ministers in Germany and an account of his comments included: “The European Union’s drive for a stronger global military role includes an upgrading of ties with the United Nations, NATO and the African Union….In addition to last year’s military mission in Congo and logistical help for African Union forces in Darfur, Bentegeat said the EU wanted to help an ambitious AU program to create a standby force for peacekeeping missions.” [11]

Even before AFRICOM was activated as a separate military command in the autumn of 2008, U.S. European Command was conducting large-scale multinational military maneuvers in various regions of Africa to train units for the five regional brigades that will form a unified, continental African Standby Force.

Starting in 2006 U.S. European Command (and subsequently Africa Command) has conducted annual Africa Endeavor multinational communications interoperability exercises – frequently in nations on the strategic Gulf of Guinea – with the participation of the armed forces of African, NATO and European Union nations. Africa Endeavor 2007 was held in Ghana and the contributing countries were the U.S., Algeria, Angola, Belgium, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Sweden, Uganda and Zambia. It was jointly run by U.S. European Command, U.S. Central Command and the nascent U.S. Africa Command.         

“AE [Africa Endeavor] fosters better collaboration in the Global War on Terrorism and supports the deployment of peacekeepers in Sudan and Somalia.

“Furthermore, AE assists in establishing critical communication links to enhance the African Standby Forces’s developments in command, control, communications and information systems (C3IS) and strengthens national, regional, continental and partner relationships….” [12]

Africa Endeavor 2008 was held in Nigeria and included military personnel from 22 African and European nations as well as the U.S.

“During the course of the exercise, participating nations and organizations also continued their efforts to develop standard practices and procedures for the African Union and its African Standby Force.” [13]

In 2005 the U.S. launched the first of regular Flintlock multinational military exercises to initiate and expand the Pentagon’s Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative (TSCTI), formed in the same year, to train the military forces of Algeria, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, Morocco, Nigeria and Tunisia. Washington’s NATO allies Britain, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain are also involved in the Trans-Sahara Counter-Terrorism Initiative.

The exercises are run by U.S. Special Operations Command Europe. (In 2007 NATO announced that its Special Operations Coordination Center would be headquartered at the same Kelley barracks on the U.S. base in Stuttgart where AFRICOM headquarters are located. 

An account of the initial 2005 operation divulged that “The U.S. government reportedly plans to spend $500 million over five years to make the Sahara Desert a vast new front in its war on terrorism….During the first phase of the program, dubbed Operation Flintlock, 700 U.S. Special Forces troops and 2,100 soldiers from nine North and West African nations [participated].” [14]

This year’s 22-day Flintlock 2010, launched on May 2, includes 600 U.S. Special Forces and 150 counterparts from Britain, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Spain.

“The objective of Flintlock 10 is to develop military interoperability….Centered in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, but with tactical training conducted in Senegal, Mali, Mauritania and Nigeria, Flintlock 10 will begin 2 May and end 23 May, 2010….Flintlock 10 looks to build upon the successes and lessons learned during previous Flintlock exercises, which were conducted to establish and develop regional relationships and synchronization of efforts among the militaries of the Trans-Saharan region.

“This exercise will take place in the context of the Trans-Sahara Counter Terrorism Partnership (TSCTP). Supported by the U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) and the Special Operations Command (SOCAFRICA), the exercise will provide military training opportunities….” [15] 

AFRICOM recently announced that the Special Operations Command Africa “will gain control over Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara (JSOTF-TS) and Special Operations Command and Control Element – Horn of Africa (SOCCE-HOA),” [16] to centralize special forces activities in Africa.

 Efforts to create the proposed African Standby Force brigade in the north of Africa have floundered for several reasons. Egypt is not member of the Maghreb Union nor is it in AFRICOM’s area of responsibility. Libya is one of the most vocal opponents of AFRICOM. There is residual tension between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara, which Algeria recognizes as an independent nation. But Algeria, Egypt, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia are all members of NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue partnership program.

AFRICOM’s plans for regional military intervention contingents are proceeding more favorably in the east, west and south. In June of 2008 the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) conducted a military exercise, Jigui 2008, in Mali with its fifteen member states, and “for the first time, the regional force exercise involved the African Union, the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), the multinational Standby High Readiness Brigade based in Denmark (SHIRBRIG) and the Ethiopia-based Eastern African Standby Force (EASTBRIG).

“All the exercises were supported by the host governments as well as France, Denmark, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the United States of America and the European Union 

“Jigui 2008 is consistent with previous training programs of ECOWAS and is within the framework of the African Union (AU) Standby Force, which seeks to have ready by 2010 one force by each of the Regional Economic Communities (RECs) in Africa.

“The ECOWAS target is to create a 2,770-man Task Force of the 6,500 troops of the regional force which will be available under the control of the AU [African Union].” [17]

A year before Senegal hosted military maneuvers with several other West African nations – Burkina Faso, Gambia, Guinea Bissau, the Republic of Guinea (Conraky) and Mali – to “test the (troops’) deployment ability” with military aircraft, vehicles and ships provided by France “ahead of the planned creation of an ECOWAS standby force.”

The participating states were trained to “form the western battalion of the 6,500-men intervention force which ECOWAS wants to set up by 2010.

“Army chiefs of ECOWAS member countries agreed in June 2004 to create the permanent 6,500-man force, including the 1,500-strong rapid reaction unit for troubleshooting missions.” [18]

Jigui 2009 was held in Burkina Faso with the participation of U.S. Army Africa, the Vicenza, Italy-based Army component of AFRICOM. 

Last month ECOWAS held a field training exercise in Benin, Exercise Cohesion Benin 2010, which “aimed to evaluate the operational and logistics readiness of the Eastern Battalion of the ESF, which is part of the overall preparation for the operationalisation of the African Standby Force by December 2010.” [19]

In October of last year the Kenyan press reported on Western involvement in building the African Standby Force brigade on the eastern end of Africa:

“Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Finnish officers will assist the region in the ongoing establishment of a united military force to deal with conflicts on the continent.

“Once functional, the East African Standby Brigade (EASBRIG) will be deployed to trouble spots within 14 days after chaos erupts, to restore order….The brigade will have troops from 14 countries.

“The experts from the European countries…are based at the EASBRIG headquarters, at the Defence Staff College in Karen, Nairobi.

“Vice-Chief of General Staff Julius Karangi said the foreign experts would help fast-track the process of setting up the standby brigade.” [20]

EASBRIG consists of troops from Burundi, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania and Uganda, and through the Eastern African Standby Brigade Coordination Mechanism is moving toward the consolidation of the eastern wing of the African Standby Force.

The East African Standby Brigade is to be headquartered in Kenya, and last November a field training exercise was held for it in Djibouti where the U.S. has its main military base in Africa and France has its largest anywhere abroad. A Rwandan news source wrote of it months afterward: “The historical exercise brought together approximately 1,500 troops, police and civilian staff from 10 countries working side-by-side for the first time.” [21]

The most immediate site for the use of the East African Standby Brigade is Somalia, where member states Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Kenya are already involved. EASBRIG will also be available for operations in Sudan, Congo and the Central African Republic as well as against Eritrea. In March of last year AFRICOM chief General William Ward “cited three areas of current conflict on the continent, including border disputes between Eritrea and Djibouti on the Horn of Africa and in North Africa [with] the Western Sahara, and clashing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.”

Speaking of the command he heads, Ward added, “the United States was able to lend assistance to Uganda, Rwanda, and Congo and to a lesser degree…the Central African Republic.” [22]

The European Union, already involved in the first naval operation in its history, European Union Naval Force Somalia – Operation Atlanta, in the Horn of Africa, has deployed a military mission to Uganda to train 2,000 Somali troops to defend the Western-backed Transitional Federal Government.

Africa Partnership Station: U.S. Warships Patrol African Coasts

In recent years U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa has developed the Africa Partnership Station (APS) as a naval component of AFRICOM. Its first deployment took the APS to Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Senegal, Sao Tome and Principe, and Togo, all on the Gulf of Guinea except for Senegal which lies to the north of it.

In the same year, 2007, NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 1, with one warship each from Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal and the U.S., started a circumnavigation of Africa with stops in the Gulf of Guinea and ending with “exercises in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Somalia….” [23]

At the time Admiral Henry Ulrich, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Europe, said, “The Global Fleet Station concept is ‘closely aligned’ with the task to be provided by the still-developing U.S. Africa Command,” [24] and later announced the departure of the USS Fort McHenry and the High Speed Vessel Swift for a seven-month deployment to the Gulf of Guinea in November of 2007 as part of the Navy’s Global Fleet Station program. The Africa Partnership Station is one of several Global Fleet Stations recently set up by the U.S., others being assigned to the Caribbean Sea and Oceania. “As a dock landing ship, the Fort McHenry is designed to help get U.S. personnel onto ‘hostile shores,’ according to the Navy.” [25]

Phil Greene, director of Strategy and Policy, Resources and Transformation for U.S. Naval Forces Europe, added that the USS Fort McHenry would have a multinational staff, “partnering with nations such as France, the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal and others who have an interest in developing maritime security in that region.” [26]

In fact the USS Fort McHenry first arrived in Spain “to take on passengers from several European partners – Spain, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Germany, among them – before heading to the Gulf of Guinea,” where it was joined by the High Speed Vessel Swift to “transport students as well as trainers during visits to Senegal, Liberia, Ghana, Cameroon, Gabon, and Sao Tome and Principe.” [27]

In 2007 U.S. warships visited Mozambique for the first time in 33 years and Tanzania for the first time in 40.

As part of Africa Partnership Station port visits last year, the guided-missile destroyer Arleigh Burke traveled to Djibouti, Kenya, Mauritius, Tanzania and South Africa, in the last case holding a week of joint exercises with one of the nation’s warships.

In February of 2009 “for the first time the U.S. Navy [had] warships on each side of the African continent as part of Africa Partnership Station’s ongoing teaching mission with African nations.” [28] To wit, a frigate in Mozambique, Kenya and Tanzania and an amphibious transport dock in Senegal.

The month before a U.S. frigate became the first Navy warship to anchor off Equatorial Guinea’s mainland city of Bata “as part of the Navy’s Africa Partnership Station initiative,” after visits to Cape Verde,

Senegal, Benin and Sierra Leone on its way to Tanzania and Kenya.

The U.S. charge d’affaires in Equatorial Guinea was quoted as offering one reason for the visit: “It’s the third largest oil- and gas-producer in sub-Saharan Africa, with a significant foreign investment footprint….” [29]

“The October 2007 initial deployment of the Africa Partnership Station (APS) to the Gulf of Guinea and the coincident rollout of A Cooperative Strategy for 21st Century Seapower signaled a strong American commitment to leveraging U.S. sea power….The APS is a Global Fleet Station (GFS) sea base designed to assist the Gulf of Guinea maritime community in developing better maritime governance….The Global Fleet Station, born out of a need for military shaping and stability operations…is a proven concept for this mission in such areas as the Gulf of Guinea and the Caribbean basin.” [30]

Currently AFRICOM is leading the Phoenix Express 2010 maritime counter-insurgency exercise in the Mediterranean Sea with Morocco and Senegal among other African nations.

Paralleling NATO’s almost nine-year Operation Active Endeavor in the Mediterranean which patrols the northern coast of Africa from the Suez Canal to the Strait of Gibraltar, the U.S. Navy now regularly roams the African coastline from where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic Ocean down to the strategic oil-rich Gulf of Guinea and all the way south to Cape Town, then north again along the entire Indian Ocean coast to the Red Sea. Africa is encircled by U.S. and NATO warships.

Pentagon Builds Surrogate Armies To Control Africa Region By Region

On the mainland, the Pentagon has transformed the armed forces of Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia into military surrogates on both ends of the continent. Since 2006 “a U.S. State Department-led initiative…has completely rebuilt the military in Liberia,” according to AFRICOM. [31]

Last October the commander of U.S. Army Africa, Major General William B. Garrett III, visited Rwanda (whose military is a U.S. and British proxy) and “stressed that the US army is interested in strengthening its cooperation with the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF).” Garrett confirmed that the U.S. was ready to send more advisers and trainers for the Rwandan army and added, “Likewise, we hope that the Rwandan Defence Forces can also participate in our exercises. So we are hoping to increase the level of cooperation between the US and the Rwandan Defense forces.” [32]

Earlier in the year AFRICOM’s General Ward also visited Rwanda, where he “met with Rwandan defense leaders and watched displays of Rwandan Defense Force (RDF) capabilities during a two-day visit April 20-21, 2009.” [33]

Late last year Ward visited Morocco, a U.S. military partner for several decades, where he had paid two visits the preceding year, and “discussed bilateral military cooperation and opportunities to strengthen

partnership between the Royal Armed Forces and the U.S. Army.”

Recently U.S. Marines trained Moroccan troops in Spain ahead of 12-nation naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea.

This April 28 Ward paid his third visit to Botswana, “where he discussed ongoing regional security efforts and potential future military-to-military activities with the BDF [Botswana Defence Force]….The BDF and U.S. military conducted 40 cooperation events together in 2010.”

The following day the AFRICOM chief paid his first visit to Namibia where “he met with Namibia’s National Defense Force officials to discuss potential future cooperation activities.” [34]

On April 27 Brigadier General Silver Kayemba, chief of training and operations for the Ugandan People’s Defense Force (UPDF), visited Washington to meet with Major General William B. Garrett III, commander of U.S. Army Africa.

The Ugandan general was quoted saying on the occasion, “This visit strengthens our relationship with the U.S. Armed Forces, particularly with U.S. Army Africa. We are looking forward to even closer cooperation in the future.” [35]

Under an Africa Partnership Station program, a 130-troop Security Cooperation Marine Air Ground Task Force has been training military forces in Ghana, Liberia and Senegal. The marine commander in charge, Lieutenant Colonel John Golden, said, “This is the cutting edge of phase zero counterinsurgency,” an aspect of “military-to-military training in a very austere environment in areas where there hasn’t been a lot of U.S. military presence in the last 235 years.” [36]

A report by the Stars and Stripes on May 2 disclosed that “At a remote military base in the jungle city of Kisangani, an elite team of U.S. troops is attempting to retrain a battalion of Congolese infantrymen.”

The feature laid emphasis on the humanitarian facet of the operation as reports on AFRICOM activities generally do, but also contained these excerpts:

“There are economic and strategic incentives to bringing more security to the Congo, which is rich in natural resources such as cobalt, a key component in the manufacturing of cell phones and other electronics. The country contains 80 percent of the world’s cobalt reserves….An April 2009 report to Congress by the National Defense Stockpile Center made clear that ensuring access to mineral markets around the world is of vital interest to national security.” [37]

The U.S. is not dragging almost every nation in Africa into its military network because of altruism or concerns for the security of the continent’s people. AFRICOM’s function is that of every predatory military power: The threat and use of armed violence to gain economic and geopolitical advantages.

Notes

 1) U.S. Department of Defense, March 18, 2009
2) Agence France-Presse, September 12, 2007
3) Ibid
4) Defense News, September 20, 2007
5) Xinhua News Agency, May 28, 2007
6) http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/AUC/Departments/PSC/Asf/asf.htm#]
7) Stars and Stripes, September 30, 2007
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
   Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe
   February 24, 2010
9) North Atlantic Treaty Organization, March 11, 2009
10) North Atlantic Treaty Organization, February 18, 2010
11) Deutsche Presse-Agentur, February 28, 2007
12) United States European Command, April 18, 2007
13) United States European Command, July 29, 2008
14) United Press International, December 28, 2005
15) U.S. Africa Command, March 31, 2010
16) U.S. Africa Command, April 30, 2010
17) Ghana News Agency, June 23, 2008
18) Agence France-Presse, November 29, 2007
19) Afrique en ligne, April 19, 2010
20) The Nation, October 29, 2009
21) The New Times, May 4, 2010
22) U.S. Department of Defense, March 18, 2009
23) Business Day (Nigeria), July 25, 2007
24) Stars and Stripes, June 14, 2007
25) Stars and Stripes, October 16, 2007
26) Stars and Stripes, June 14, 2007
27) American Forces Press Service, October 15, 2007
28) Stars and Stripes, February 1, 2009
29) Stars and Stripes, January 20, 2009
30) Afrique en ligne, April 13, 2010
31) U.S. Africa Command, April 29, 2010
32) The New Times, October 20, 2009
33) U.S. Africa Command, April 22, 2009
34) U.S. Africa Command, May 1, 2010
35) U.S. Africa Command, April 30, 2010
36) Marine Corps Times, May 3, 2010
37) Stars and Stripes, May 2, 2010

The expansions which followed Christopher Columbus’ s voyage to the Americas resulted in the destruction of great civilizations the Aztec, Inca, and Maya. The Indians of North America suffered a similar fate. Nearly all of God’s creation including land and labour were turned into commodities in the capitalist sense of the word. People were kidnapped, bought, transported and sold. The demographic colour of continents changed with white settlers and black slaves displacing the brown natives in the Americas and the Caribbean.

A world system of unparalleled political, economic and cultural dimension, was created and continually reinforced by new technology. In the industrial age, the expansionist drive moved on to Asia and Africa most of which was colonized. At the start of the 20th century, nearly all of the world’s non-Western peoples were under some form of Western domination, and remain hopelessly trapped in structures of extreme inequality which is not merely economic.

“The conquest of earth, which means the taking it away from those who have a different complexion or slightly flatter noses than ourselves is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much”, wrote Joseph Conrad in Heart of Darkness, a novel set in Congo which was colonized by Belgium at the turn of the century. Conrad, who sailed up the Congo river in 1890, witnessed the enterprise that cost an estimated ten million lives. He betrays but little empathy for the African victims and none whatsoever for their history or culture. The “heart of darkness” is situated, nevertheless, in Europe not Africa, in London and Brussels, above all, in Kurtz, the legendary agent of the Belgian company “his mother was half English, his father was half French who symbolizes corporate greed, inhumanity in extremis and the quest of redemption in an idea. “All Europe”, wrote Conrad, “contributed to the making of Kurtz.” How could an enlightened civilization engage in so “not a pretty thing”?

Conrad’s answer is implied in the above quotation: do not “look into it too much.” That requires the complicity of intellectuals. From inertia and ignorance no less than active belief in the imperial mission, the intellectuals of the West complied by and large. The fate of the great hemispheric civilizations merited but a rare and eccentric recording. Until very recently, we knew little about the holocaust in the Congo which had gone on right into the twentieth century. We did not hear about the struggles in which civilizations perished and some 200 million people died until a battle occurred in which a Custer was killed or a Gordon was besieged.

The habit of ‘not looking into it too much’ persists. Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, not one major work of history, art, or cinema has examined Vietnamese experience of the American intervention. By contrast, America’s experience of Vietnam has yielded a significant body of analysis and narrative. Or take a recent instance: as thieves and killers go, Mobuto, who fell from power recently, a likeness of King Leopold I, was sustained for three decades by Washington and Paris. How much did we know of his doings until the spring of 1997? Excavation of continually suppressed truths remains one of the great intellectual tasks of this our information age, a task rendered enormously difficult as governments and the media corporations democratic and otherwise have gained a certain monopoly over historical truths. They distort and bum them freely. I have just learned that the CIA has destroyed the records of its murderous Third World interventions, including its overthrow in 1953 of Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh’s elected government in Iran.

Conrad suggests another mechanism of rescuing imperial conscience: “What redeems it is the idea only. An idea at the back of it; not a sentimental pretence but an idea; and an unselfish belief in the idea something you can set up and bow down before, and offer a sacrifice to…” We all know the idea from popularized redemptive phrases White Man’s Burden, La Mission Civilizatrice, Manifest Destiny. Like all mobilizing slogans these were merely the lowest common denominator of the imperial consensus. Notions of racial superiority and divine ordination, the contrast between the West’s higher mission and the native’s humble reality, were not the only ideas that redeemed imperialism. Beginning with Edward Said’s Orientalism, first published in 1979, a significant body of works in criticism, history, and cultural studies have excavated the deep roots and complex structures of imperial ideologies. They took many forms which have penetrated deep in our knowledge system and consciousness both Western and non- Western.

Boundaries were drawn to deny our common humanity. An ideology of difference possessed the empires’ intellectuals and administrators. They had a mania for classifying people and viewed each as a distinct, necessarily divisible entity. Easy intermingling of peoples was regarded as somehow unnatural. Edward Said points to how the English were astonished to find Muslims, Christians and Jews socializing as though they were not different species. So in the novel Tanered, one of Disraeli’s characters quips that ‘Arabs are simply Jews on horseback, and all are orientals at heart.’ The policy of divide and rule flowed easily from this sectarian outlook.

While the menace of miscegenation haunted imperial cultures and barriers of policy and social sanctions were erected to prevent it, complex mechanisms emerged to break the barriers to conquest and domination. There was the notion of mystery, as in the mysterious East, an invitation to exploration. Mysteries, after all, demand solution by enlightened, knowledgeable men. Or the idea of darkness, as in the dark continent to which one should bring light. Or the notion of empty lands which of course needed filling up. Or the veritable literature on identifiable, collective mind the Arab mind, Hindu mind, etc. that is still prevalent. All led to a set of common conclusions: they are not like us. They are different. Hence they can be treated differently, according to standards other than those that apply in civilized places. The outlook was so embedded in civilization that it traversed centuries. One finds strange bedfellows, separated in time and space. ‘We must save Chile from the irresponsibility of its people’, Henry Kissinger was reported to have said while proceeding to destabilize the elected government of Salvadore Allende. A century earlier Karl Marx had written: “They cannot represent themselves. They have to be represented.” Third World dictators give precisely this argument to justify their tyranny. This culture is pervasive, it cuts across continents and penetrates our outlook by a variety of mediums. As I outline this talk in the flight from Islamabad to New York, Pakistan International Airlines shows Star Trek: First Contact. I snip at what looks like a high-tech, outer-space replay of an earlier voyage into an ‘undiscovered’ world. Commander Jean-Luc Picard plays a modern-day Cortes, leading the crew of the newly commissioned Enterprise E to war against the Borg “an insidious race”, informs the PIA flier.

Those “half organic aliens” appear like Indians in the early Westerns mysteriously, ubiquitously and sometimes seductively. Violence flows freely as ‘contact’ is made. Fallen aliens are shot even as they beg for mercy. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew commit quite a holocaust with an insouciance we are expected to appreciate only because they have vanquished an alien race mysterious, dangerous, seductive and, ultimately, vulnerable. The Borgs have no individual identity, only a collective one. Their defeat is deemed final only when their roots are destroyed, when their head which assures life’s motion to the entire race is cut off. An idea redeems this “mission”; once contact has been made the world will change. Promises Captain Picard: “Poverty, disease, and war will end.”

Star Trek is but a crude, popular expression of the culture of imperialism. This culture is not Western any more. Rather, it enjoys hegemony, it has become global. Note an irony: Pakistan International Airlines, which will not serve wine to passengers, happily serves up Captain Picard on its flights.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden told Palestinians today that they deserve a “viable” independent state with contiguous territory.

Biden’s comments appeared aimed at reassuring the Palestinians of U.S. support a day after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem. The Israeli move has overshadowed Biden’s visit, which is meant to promote U.S.-led peace negotiations that are set to begin in the coming weeks.

At a news conference in Ramallah in the West Bank with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Biden reiterated his condemnation of Israel’s plan and urged both sides to refrain from actions that could “inflame” tensions.

Growing settlements take up more and more of the land the Palestinians want for their state and make partition increasingly difficult. Today, nearly 300,000 Israeli settlers live in the West Bank and 180,000 in east Jerusalem.

The Palestinians want east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, as their future capital.

Israel apologized today for disrupting Biden’s visit with its announcement, but made clear it had no intention of reversing the order.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said the Israeli announcement was “damaging” and posed a “great challenge” to restarting peace talks. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said the new construction would be the main item on the Abbas-Biden agenda.

“I think the Israeli government is making it almost impossible for us, the Americans and the international community, to take a one centimeter step in the direction of reviving the peace process,” Erekat said.

Abbas has said he won’t resume direct negotiations without a settlement freeze, leaving the U.S. no choice but to arrange indirect talks in hopes of ending the impasse.

Is the peace process doomed to fail? Here’s what some commentators say:

Bogged down by complexity:

Blogging for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Carlo Strenger suggests that part of the problem is there are no simple answers for who is right and who is wrong.

“More than anything, all sides want a morally simplistic picture: either Israel is the clear-cut bad guy in the story; a cunning regional superpower with colonial ambitions hidden behind pretexts about Israel’s security; or: Arabs have never accepted Israel, and are doing everything to undermine its existence. The truth, I suspect, is more complicated than the aficionados of moral simplicity would like. We should remember how long it generally takes for states to find their identity. Most European nation states went through major wars, whether civil or against foreign powers, in the process of welding an identity. And none of them turned into modern democracies easily or quickly.”

A reason to tread lightly:

The Atlanta Journal Constitution’s Jay Bookman writes that Israel is playing a dangerous game by insulting both friends and foes.

“It is hard to shake the notion that, having defeated the Palestinians militarily, the conservative Israeli government now feels no need to make peace, and little need to treat its foes and perhaps even its friends with respect. They have come to the place where war is more comfortable and reassuring to them than peace. But the truth is that Israel has solved its security problems only in the short term; its long-term strategic problems remain and in fact grow more difficult and threatening with time.”

A test of fairness:

JTA’s Ami Eden cautions those condemning Israel’s announcement should be watching Palestinian actions with the same critical eye.

“In response to claims that they are picking on Israel by focusing so heavily on settlements, the White House and left-wing Jewish groups often counter by saying that they are equally concerns about areas where the Palestinians need to do better, particularly on ending incitement. Well, it turns out that the Palestinians have their own timing issues: On Thursday, according to Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority is planning to go through with plans to name a public square after Dalal Mughrabi, who led a 1978 bus hijacking in which 37 Israelis, including 12 children, were killed. Thursday is the 32nd anniversary of the attack. Biden will still be in town. So it’ll be interesting to see if he weighs in, as he did on the Israeli housing starts.”

Pointless proximity talks:

Blogging for Huffington Post, Oxford University’s Sharmine Narwani labels the indirect negotiations as Theater of the Absurd.

“Palestinians and Israelis are not even going to be at the table together. Mitchell could not even make that happen. This isn’t phase one of a longstanding conflict. These are adversaries who have sat across many tables and struck many agreements over the past 19 years. And so this is where we are in the gruelingly endless Middle East peace process. About a dozen steps back from where we started.”

Insincere efforts:

Writing for The American Spectator, David Gutmann argues that peace talks won’t work because Palestinians don’t really want their own independent state, and their previous actions serve as proof.

“Why won’t they accept the grant of statehood? To repeat, perhaps because they don’t really want their own country? There are, after all, many bounties attached to their current status, perks that would disappear under the condition of statehood. This is the age of the sanctified victim; and any person or group who can claim that title is automatically in a state of grace. Nobody is allowed to “blame the victim,” and so these lucky unfortunates can follow any course, however bloody, so long as they can blame their violence on their victimized condition. Convincing much of the world — including too many Jews — that they were the embodiment of the new Christ, the latest targets of Jewish savagery in the holy land, the Palestinians years ago captured the victim’s high-ground, and have since worked their claim for great profit

The Sixth and last article of faith in Islam is to believe in Fate, whether good or bad, which Allah has measured and ordained for all creatures according to His previous knowledge and as deemed suitable by His wisdom. This subject is misunderstood by many Muslims and has also taken many Muslims away from the Straight Path. It is important to know that to believe in Al-Qadar (Predestination) is an obligation but not to delve too deep into it as the secret of this knowledge rests with Allah (SWT) Alone just like the knowledge of The Ruh (The Spirit).

There are four levels of Belief in Fate:

1) The Knowledge of Allah (SWT) encompasses everything (He knows everything) and His Knowledge is Eternal. He knows what has happened and what will happen and how it will happen. Allah (SWT) is never forgetful of what He knows nor does He gain new knowledge.

2) Allah (SWT) has recorded in Al-Lawh al-Mahfoodh (The Preserved Tablet) whatever is going to happen until the Day of Judgment as Allah states: “Know you not that Allah knows all that is in the heavens and on the earth? Verily, it is (all) in the Book (The Preserved Tablet). Verily, that is easy for Allah.” (Al-Hajj: 70).

3) Everything that is in the heaven and the earth has been willed by Allah (SWT) and nothing can happen except by His Will. This means that whatever Allah (SWT) Wills will come to pass and if He does not Will it, then it will not happen.

4) Everything we do whether publicly or secretly is known to Allah (SWT) as He says in the Qur’an: “Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Wakeel (Trustee, Disposer of affairs, Guardian) over all things. To Him belong the keys of the heavens and the earth. And those who disbelieve in the Ayat (signs, verses, proofs, revelations, evidences, etc.) of Allah, such are they who will be the losers.” (Az-Zumar: 62-63) Allah (SWT) has also mentioned this in many other verses such as: “To whomsoever among you who wills to walk straight. And you cannot will unless (it be) that Allah wills, the Lord of the Worlds.” (At-Takweer: 28-29); “…….If Allah had willed, they would not have fought one against one another, but Allah does what He likes.” (Al-Baqarah: 253); “…..And if Allah had willed, they would not have done so. So leave them alone with their fabrications.” (Al-An’am: 137); “While Allah has created you and what you make (Man’s Free Will).” (As-Saffaat: 96).

Allah (SWT) has given man the power of free will by which he performs his deeds. Therefore, the sinner has no excuse in Allah’s (SWT) Divine Decree, because the sin is committed by his free will, and the sinner does not know what Allah (SWT) has decreed for him, for no one knows Allah’s Decree before it takes place. Allah (SWT) says: “….No person knows what he will earn tomorrow, and no person knows in what land he will die. Verily, Allah is the All-Knower, All-Aware (of things).” (Luqman: 34). So, it would not be possible for the person who committed the sin to present an excuse that is not known to him. Allah (SWT) says: “Those who took partners (in worship) with Allah will say: ‘If Allah had willed, we would not have taken partners (in worship) with Him, nor would our fathers and we would not have forbidden anything (against His Will).’ Likewise belied those who were before them, (they argued falsely with Allah’s Messengers), till they tasted Our Wrath. Say: ‘Have you any knowledge (proof) that you can produce before us? Verily, you follow nothing but assumption and you do nothing but lie.’” (Al-An’am: 148).

It is recorded in the Saheehayn (al-Bukhaari & Muslim) regarding the people who use The Divine Decree of Allah (SWT) as an excuse: “Why did you not perform deeds of obedience, assuming that Allah has decreed them upon you, since you did not know the difference between good deeds and sins? That is why, when Prophet Muhammad told his Companions that everyone’s position in paradise or hell has been assigned, they said: ‘Should not we rely on this and stop working?’ He said: ‘No, work and everyone will be directed to what he is created for.”‘

For example if you were travelling to Makkah and there are two roads that may take you there. You are told by a truthful person that one of these roads is dangerous and difficult; the other is easy and safe. Any sane person would take the easy and safe path. It would be dim-witted of you to take the first road and say that it was decreed upon me. If you did that, then people would call you insane. Another example would be if you are presented with two jobs, and one of them has a high salary than the other, you would definitely take the one with the higher salary. So think about it, why would you choose something that is lower in the Hereafter and use Allah’s (SWT) Divine Decree as an excuse? If you get a sickness, you would be going to every doctor looking for a cure; you would bear the pain resulting from the medicine or even if it meant a surgical procedure. So, if your heart is spiritually sick with sins, then why not do the same?

Evil should never be attributed to Allah (SWT) as Allah’s (SWT) Mercy and Wisdom are faultless. In Muslim it is recorded that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “And evil is not attributable to You (Allah).” However, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said to Al-Hasan, to whom he was teaching the supplication of Qunoot: “And protect us from the evil of what You decreed.” (Recorded in at-Tirmidhi and others). Now it is important to know that the evil in Allah’s (SWT) decree is not pure evil. It is rather evil in one respect and good in another, or it is evil in one case and good in another. So, corruption caused in a land due to drought, or disease, or poverty is evil, but it is good in another respect. Allah (SWT) says: “Evil (sins and disobedience to Allah) has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of men have earned (by oppression and evil deeds), that He (Allah) may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return (by repenting to Allah, and begging His Pardon). (Ar-Room: 41).

Al-Qadar (Predestination) gives us a peace of mind and comfort, no matter what calamities befall us, we remain steadfast and we are satisfied with Allah’s (SWT) Decree. Any good that comes to us, we should thank Allah (SWT) and if any bad comes to us, we should persevere and be patient and ask Allah (SWT) to remove it from us. Allah (SWT) says: “No calamity befalls on the earth or in yourselves but it is inscribed in the Book of Decrees (The Preserved Tablet) before We bring it into existence. Verily, that is easy for Allah. In order that you may not grieve at the things that you fail to get, nor rejoice over that which has been given to you. And Allah likes not prideful boasters.” (Al-Hadeed: 22-23).

For more information on this subject, please refer to the book by Dr. ‘Umar S. Al-Ashqar – “Divine Will and Predestination – In the Light of the Qur’an and Sunnah.”

Remember my brothers, that Allah (SWT) does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. Obey Allah (SWT) by following the Qur’an and obey His Messenger, Muhammad (PBUH) by following his Sunnah (what he said, what he did, and what he approved of). That indeed is the Straight Path.

We haven’t got a lot to be thankful for these days in Pakistan.

But at least we are not Dubai.

Fed up with loadshedding, bombs, and TV cynicism pervading Pakistan, I recently escaped to Dubai for a holiday. Big mistake. Huge. Ten days later I returned, gasping for Karachi’s polluted, but far sweeter, air. Dubai may have the world’s tallest building and the world’s largest shopping mall, but it also has the world’s tiniest soul. It’s a plastic city built in steel and glass.

It has imported all the worst aspects of western culture (excessive consumption, environmental defilement) without importing any of its benefits (democracy, art). This is a city designed for instant gratification a hedonistic paradise for gluttons to indulge in fast food, fast living and fast women. It’s Las Vegas in a dish dash. You want to eat a gold leaf date? Munch away.

You want to drink a Dhs 3,000 bottle of champagne? Bottoms up. You want a UN selection of hookers at your fingertips? Tres bien. Let’s start with the malls. These cathedrals of capitalism, these mosques of materialism are mausoleums of the living dead. Slack jawed zombies roam around consuming food, clothes and electronics in a desperate attempt to fill the emptiness of their existence.

Whilst at the Mall of the Emirates the azan goes off. Nobody appears to move to the prayer room; everyone’s too busy performing sajda before Stella McCartney, genuflecting before Gucci, and prostrating themselves at Prada. With Dubai, one recalls F Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby.

The people are modern day Gatsbys, buying shirts that they will never wear and books they will never read. Like Fitzgerald’s roaring 20s America, Dubai is a moral failure a society obsessed with wealth and status. Everyone is trying to keep up with the Jones’ or the Javaids. You see the goras with their perma-tans, streaked highlights and their flabby cleavages.

The upwardly mobile South Asian man prances around wearing a silly shirt with a large picture of a polo player on a horse, whilst their women wear oversized sunglasses and carry oversized handbags. And the Arabs walk about with enough gold bling to blind you at ten paces. But not everything that glitters is gold. And Dubai is not only morally bankrupt it is also financially bankrupt.

Lately, Dubai, and its ruler, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum have been compared to another piece of literature — Percy Shelley’s famous poem Ozymandias, which illustrates the inevitable decline of all leaders and the empires they build. Shelley finishes it thus: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains.

Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The lone and level sands stretch far away With $80b of debt and a stock and property market that has tanked, the comparisons with Ozymandias are apt. Abu Dhabi may have bailed them out but can Dubai survive as a regional hub in the long-term? Or will this city of hubris built on sand and folly sink back into the dunes a desert mirage that evaporates once the public relations people, the speculators and the tourists disappear?

So for all you naysayers that bemoan Pakistan and its numerous problems please temper your pessimism. Take time to celebrate our cultural, religious, linguistic plurality and richness. Stop the cynicism coursing through your corroded veins. For all its inadequacies, at least we have a democracy.

For all its irresponsibility, at least we have a robust media. For all the police corruption, at least we are not a police state. For all our littering, at least we have paper wallahs. Remind yourself that at least we have a heart. At least we have a soul. At least we are not Dubai.

Satan called a worldwide convention of demons.

In his opening address he said,

“We can’t keep Muslims from going to Mosque.”

“We can’t keep them from reading their Quran and knowing the truth.”

“We can’t even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their Allah and his messenger Muhammad.”

“Once they gain that connection with Allah, our power over them is broken.”

“So let them go to their Mosques; let them have their covered dish dinners, BUT steal their time, so they don’t have time to develop a relationship with Allah and his messenger Muhammad.”

“This is what I want you to do,” said the devil:

“Distract them from gaining hold of their Allah and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day!”

“How shall we do this?” his demons shouted.

“Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds,” he answered.

“Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, and borrow, borrow, borrow.”

“Persuade the wives to go to work for long hours and the husbands to work 6-7 days each week, 10-12 hours a day, so they can afford their empty lifestyles.”

“Keep them from spending time with their children.”

“As their families fragment, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work!”

“Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.”

“Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive.” “To keep the TV, VCR, CDs and their PCs going constantly in their home and see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly.”

“This will jam their minds and break that union with Allah and his messenger Muhammad.”

“Fill the coffee tables with magazines and newspapers.”

“Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day.”

“Invade their driving moments with billboards.”

“Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, mail order catalogs, sweepstakes, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering free products, services and false hopes.”

“Keep skinny, beautiful models on the magazines and TV so their husbands will believe that outward beauty is what’s important, and they’ll become dissatisfied with their wives. “

“Keep the wives too tired to love their husbands at night.”

Give them headaches too!

“If they don’t give their husbands the love they need, they will begin to look elsewhere.”

“That will fragment their families quickly!”

“Give them story books to distract them from teaching their children the real meaning of Salat.”

“Keep them too busy to go out in nature and reflect on Allah’s creation. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, plays, concerts, and movies instead. “Keep them busy, busy, busy!”

“And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences. “

“Crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Allah.”

“Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family for the good of the cause.”

“It will work!” “It will work!”

It was quite a plan!

The demons went eagerly to their assignments causing Muslims everywhere to get busier and more rushed, going here and there.

Having little time for their Allah or their families.

Having no time to tell others about the power of Allah and his messenger Muhammad to change lives.

I guess the question is, has the devil been successful in his schemes?

You be the judge!!!!!

Does “BUSY” mean:

B-eing

U-nder

S-atan’s

Y-oke?

Think about it ……………