Rumsfeld will ask Pakistani leader for quick decision on troops deployment

By Asif Farooqi, IOL Pakistan Correspondent

ISLSMABAD, September 6 (IslamOnline.net) – U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is due in Pakistan later this month to coax the Pakistani leadership into sending troops to Iraq, well-informed sources told IslamOnline.net Saturday, September 6.

Pakistan has kept a final decision on the issue pending an American request, owing to a political consensus in the country.

Prominent opposition groups have threatened to challenge a government decision in favor of troops deployment in Iraq.

After the visit, which has not yet been officially announced for security reasons, Rumsfeld would fly to Afghanistan for talks with Afghan leaders and U.S. troops based there.

Though at the institution level the army seems to be readying for the big job, on the political front things seem very different.

While a strong opposition is bent upon to stop the dispatch of troops to Iraq, the government is seemingly backing down from an earlier position.

The issue of sending troops to Iraq for "reconstruction and peacekeeping" was first publicly discussed during a visit by President Prevez Musharraf to the U.S. in June this year.

In a news conference at the end of his visit, he announced his agreement to deploy his army to Iraq on a request by President George W. Bush.

But things changed as he arrived back home. Foreign troops came under frequent attacks in Iraq, resulting in a sharp increase in the causalities incurred by the U.S. and British soldiers.

Many countries, including south Asian neighbor India, flatly refused and others like Japan showed reluctance to sending their troops to Iraq.

But the incident which caused an apparent change in earlier Musharraf policy was breakdown in talks with the powerful opposition group Muttahidda Majlis e Amal.

The government was aiming to lure this group of religious parties, the strongest voice against troops deployment to Iraq, into the government fold but certain conditions by the top MMA leadership led to the breakdown of talks.

While this impasse affected the government in many ways, it also made the cabinet thinks twice before announcing a formal decision to send troops to Iraq.

"The Prime Minister was about to make a statement in the National Assembly on his decision to send troops to Iraq when the MMA backed out of its earlier decision to join the treasury benches," a senior government member.

He added that since then a formal policy announcement with regards to sending troops to Iraq has been laid pending, till conclusion of ongoing talks with MMA.

During his maiden visit to Pakistan after taking over the command of U.S. forces, General Richard Myers was to receive a formal commitment from the Pakistani government on troops deployment, the sources said.

But in a meeting with Musharraf and Chauhdary Shujaat Hussein - ruling party President on the eve of the visit, Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali said a formal announcement of troops dispatch should be delayed for a while.

He stressed the government would face problems if it announced this decision without having MMA onboard.

Shujaat, a close confidant of Musharraf, was of the view that they should take MMA along while taking a decision on troops dispatch.

He expressed fears that MMA could ignite a chain of street protests in case the government failed to bring them into the government and announced a unilateral decision of sending troops.

Sources said Musharraf agreed to the two of his most trusted men and nothing was mentioned in the press release issued by the government at the conclusion of General’s Myers visit.

They added that Myers and his Pakistani counterpart General Muhammad Aziz discussed details of the Pakistani troops deployments, including the strength and the area under Pakistani responsibility.

But officially the government position is different.

"The government has not taken any decision on sending troops to Iraq. We shall take a decision after carefully viewing the proposed new resolution in the UNSC by the US and UK" a foreign office spokesman told newsmen Monday in Islamabad.

In the face of a latest announcement by the MMA and other opposition groups, Musharraf while addressing a public gathering in Karachi last week also said a decision on sending troops to Iraq would only be taken after taking the Parliament into confidence.

Army Poised

But whatever Musharraf or Jamali may say for the public consumption, the fact remains that the army leadership is convinced and making all its preparation of going on peace duties in Iraq, whether or not MMA or other political parties support this decision.

According to a senior military officer, many in uniform have no ambiguity in this regard.

"They have been told to be ready" the officer said, adding that for them it is not the question of if, it is when they would be flying to Iraq.

A number of military and civil officers confirmed to IOL that President Pervez Mushharaf, also the Supreme Commander of Pakistan armed forces and Chief of Army Staff, has already issued directives to the concerned military authorities to prepare at least two divisions of the army for out country deployments, while a formal decision at the political level is still awaited.

Properly armed, briefed and vaccinated, two divisions of Pakistan army are just a nod away from Baghdad, where they are to do peace keeping.

Although a political formality is keeping the divisions waiting, well-placed sources said the selection process for this lucrative duty is in full swing.

Young officers are volunteering for the job, some even looking for a connection at the senior level to secure a position in the lists being prepared at various corps headquarters of the intending Iraq travelers.

Soldiers and officers selected so far for the out country duties have been given vaccines for diseases common in Iraq.

They have been asked to open bank accounts in name of their kin, a formality for those army officials who go on ex-Pakistan duties.

Money

Pakistan armed forces, like many in the world, are always keen on foreign peacekeeping and other duties on foreign lands.

For the leaders and senior cadre it may be a matter of international relations and pride, but for soldiers and the officers it is purely financial interest.

Most of the soldiers in the army belong to the villages. They often have poor family background. But a foreign posting may bring permanent change in their life.

A mid level officer in the army gets rupees 1.5 to 2 million per year while he is on a foreign mission under the U.N.  Monthly salary and other privileges are paid to their kin as usual.

Unlike previous occasions, this time some civilian officers as well as senior civil servants are also likely to be included in the Pakistani batch deployed in Iraq.

This has never happened in the past but sources said Musharraf has asked his civil bureaucracy to name some officials who would be accompanying some 10,000 servicemen to Iraq.