Pakistan is a neighboring Muslim country with a population of over 176 million. I have visited Karachi for two weeks in 1994 during a joint training course on immuno-chemistry as a course requirement for PhD students of immunology. We were hosted by the Karachi University faculty led by the late Professor Zafar Zaidi and we enjoyed their kindness and hospitality. The attire and customs observed by the faculty and students indicated their high esteem for their national heritage and culture.
Karachi is a over populated port, quite modern and advanced in some quarters but most of the city was marked by under development and poverty. Dr. Zaidi was quite concerned for our security due to the activities of violent Salafi groups like the Sepahe Sahabe and he asked us to use the University van allocated to our group for transportation. One day we devised an escape plan and went to the traditional bazaar to get a taste of the local culture and atmosphere. On the way back we took a minibus which was very noisy and overcrowded and gave us a close up to life in Karachi.
We enjoyed the stay and the university held a graduation ceremony for us at the end of the course. The presence of an American air force base in Karachi and the strong control of American politics was quite evident, in spite of the democratic and Islamic aspirations of the educated elite of the country. Now 18 years later, Pakistan has been through very difficult turmoils and relentless violence continues to shake the country. This statistical visualization of US drone attacks made available by the Huffington Post, is the most evident visualization of how American forces have plowed Pakistan territory and how civilians and children have been massacred silently all these years.
The visualization, seen below, tracks the victims of the strikes using data from the Bureau for Investigative Journalism, at least 3105 casualties 175 of which were children.
Looking at the interactive graphs I was thinking is this one of the benefits / advantages of being an ally of the United States of America for all these years and harboring their armed forces and protecting their interests??
2 comments:
Salaam,
People tend to laugh about it now but when Imam Khomeini labeled the US the Great Satan he was telling an enormous historical truth. I deem it to be more diabolical and dangerous than Hitler's Third Reich.
One does not have to support drone strikes to point out that those killed are murderers who hide among civilians to discourage being arrested.
These terrorists have killed thousands of Shiite Muslims for the crime of being a heretic, shot medical personnel for the crime of helping people, and burnt down girls' schools and shot school girls.
In other words, the drones are doing the job that the Pakisani police do not dare to do...or won't do because they are bribed to look the other way, using drug profits from smugggling heroin into Iran...so add Iranian border guards into their list of victims.
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