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Article from our brothers at Pakistaniat

Islamabad, from where I write this, is abuzz with talk about Samad Khurram, the Pakistani student currently at Harvard University, who snubbed the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Anne W. Patterson, by refusing to shake her hand or accept an award for Pakistani students from the Roots Academy - a top-notch private school - who are studying in leading U.S. universities.

Washington should also be paying close attention to what Samad Khurram is saying. Because what he is saying is reflective of the public mood in Paksitan much more than what they are hearing from the government - either from Gen. Musharraf or from Asif Ali Zardari and Co.

First, the relevant details of the event from Daily Times:

Pakistani student Samad Khurram refused to accept an award of academic excellence from United States Ambassador Anne Patterson on Wednesday, in protest against the US bombing in Mohmand Agency last week and its support of President Pervez Musharraf, who he said was an unconstitutional president and had destroyed Pakistan’s judicial institution. Patterson, who was due to present the award during a ceremony at the National Art Gallery, said she regretted the attacks, which were “a terrible misunderstanding”. Khurram returned peacefully and did not talk to reporters. The academic excellence award was being given to him for his admission to Harvard, a world distinction in thinking skills, a regional distinction in chemistry and 7 A grades in A level.

The reason Washington should be very very concerned about this incident is not just because it is a bureaucratic snub. It is because of who Samad Khurram is, who he represents and why such an action by someone like him is such a significant indicator of just how low U.S. support in Pakistan has become.

Before the story is spun out of control by those in teh U.S. or the Paksitani media let us be clear on who Samad Khurram is not. He is not a religious zealot or a would-be supporter of any fanatic group. Indeed, he is quite the opposite. He is a liberal, probably secular, certainly modern, clearly democratic, apparently idealistic, and high-achievingly brilliant young man who dreams of a Pakistan molded in democratic, liberal, progressive and humanistic values. He is exactly the type of young man that the U.S. would and should be courting. They obviously are courting him, and it is obviously not working.

Samad Khurram is an active member of the Student Action Committee (SAC) which has been actively protesting with the lawyers movement for the restoration of the judiciary and removal of military rule from Pakistan. He was last in the news in Pakistan just a week ago when he along with other SAC protestors were beaten up by activists from the Islami-Jamiat-e-Talaba (IJT) - the student wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami - in a political scuffle on the judiciary issue in Lahore. He is a regular columnist for the Harvard University student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, where he has also written on Pakistan politics and why the U.S. should dump Gen. Musharraf.

The point that the U.S. needs to understand is that it never had a chance to influence the fanatics and bomb-throwers, but the consistent U.S. support for dictators like Gen. Pervez Musharraf and U.S. political manipulations including on the issues of a free judiciary and a continuing lack of respect for the lives of innocent Pakistanis living in the Northern Areas - where U.S. drones have been indiscriminately killing ordinary citizens and, most recently, Pakistani soldiers - has now made the U.S. policies as untenable amongst progressive and democratic forces.

Note with care what Samad Khurram said. He did not ask for Shariah, or claim support for the Taliban, or throw out a religious manifesto. He asked for the most basic of basic values that the U.S. proclaims for itself: dignity of innocent civilian life (regularly trampled by U.S. drones in teh Northern Areas), democracy (consistently disregarded through U.S. support for a military dictatorship), and respect for law (set aside by U.S. opposition to - or at least lack of support - for the ousted judiciary).

What he is saying is what so many Pakistanis have been saying. That the U.S. will not be respected if its actions defy its own words. It will certainly not be respected if it continues to kill innocent Pakistanis through its indiscriminate drones. Maybe its time that the U.S. begins to listen to the Pakistani people rather than to a few “leaders” who have become so very adept at telling the U.S. exactly what it wants to hear.

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