Why Taliban Attack on Karachi Airport

Just as it preferred to ignore the recent Chinese intrusion in Ladakh until forced by public opinion, the ruling UPA Government has taken zero cognisance of the dangerous implications of the US Pentagon building – a Tactical Control and Operations Centre at Karachi airport.

Ostensibly to monitor and counter drug smuggling activities, bids to build the high security fortification have been invited in the immediate wake of the Israeli attack on Syria and there are speculations that America might join the fight despite the United Nations asserting the Syrian rebels had made use of chemical weapons.

Experts say that the Tactical Control Centre will serve as headquarters for operations in the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean, and South Asia. It will enhance American intervention in the region and heighten tensions with Russia and China, both of which are reasserting themselves and resisting American unilateralism on the global stage.

Permission for a command centre which will allow the US Army Corps to operate from Jinnah International Airport at Karachi was given by the Pakistan People’s Party Government (PPP) in March 2013, but would be inconceivable without the blessings of the Pakistan Army. This suggests that Sunni-dominated Pakistan maybe actively colluding with the West for action against Shia Iran and its allies, sooner rather than later. This bodes ill for the stability of the region and could escalate into a larger conflagration.

According to Dawn, the US Army Corps of Engineer has been permitted to build a Tactical Command and Operations Centre (TCOC) compound at Karachi’s airport to exchange information with Pakistan Customs Drug Enforcement Cell on smuggling activities in and around the city. This is unlikely to be its sole activity, since it will install state-of-the-art electronic surveillance equipment.

This suspicion is reinforced by the fact that the project envisages coordinated quick-response to narcotics and contraband smuggling tactics in and around the port city, including the entire coastline of Pakistan! The Centre will have a separate cell/interrogation building. It will house the Pakistan Customs Drug Enforcement Cell and Rummaging and Patrolling Sections.

Contractors have been invited to bid for the construction of the US$1-2 million project, which must be completed within one year, as per specifications of the US Army Corps of Engineer, Middle East District.

Public opinion in Pakistan is hostile. Critics point out that the Government and the Army joined hands to permit US drones to attack designated persons within the country, and private armies like Blackwater/ XE were allowed to operate with impunity. The killing of innocent civilians, including women and children, was quietly condoned.

The nation lost face when US Navy Seals honed in on the secret hideout of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in the high security zone at Abbottabad in May 2011. Furthermore, the American embassy in Islamabad is one the largest mission’s in the world, with a marine barrack that can house a phenomenal 7000 soldiers.

Now, enhanced militarisation of the country seems inevitable in the guise of fighting drug smuggling. The critics say that the Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) has been run by the Army since its inception and is one of the most corrupt departments in the country. The impact on drug smuggling is negative. On the contrary, it has given some vested interests a kind of exclusive monopoly on the country’s ‘most lucrative export’. Thus, far from being a ‘war on drugs’, it seems possible that the new American dole will more likely be used for the war on drug competitors.