Pakistan Historian

In the province of Fergana, in the year 1494, when I was twelve year old, I became king. Zahiruddin Babur’s Bāburnāma (Tuz e Babri) begins with these plain words.

Thus began of the greatest adventures of our time which transformedd South Asia and the world forever.

Zahir-ud-din Mohammad was known as Babur, the Turkish word for “Tiger”. He was a descendant of the famed Turkish warrior Timurlane and the Mongolian Genghis Khan. Babur’s father, Omar Sheikh , was the king of Ferghana, a district of modern Uzbekistan. Omar died in 1495. Babur, though only twelve years of age, succeeded to the throne. Babar’s short reign of his ancestral homeland was ended and even after several tries he gave up on his dream to build an empire in Central Asia. Babar came down Khyber pass after he couldn’t conquer Samarqand and Bokhara.

Babur 12000-man army, complete with limited artillery, and marched into the Subcontinetn and defeated Sultan Ibrahim 100000 soldiers and elephants in the First battle of Panipat on April 21, 1526. Sultan Ibrahim Lodi was slain and his army routed and Babur at once took possession of Agra and this was the beginning of the mighty Mughal Empire which lasted about 300 more years till the arrival of the British.

Vascoda Gama had discovered a route to South Asia just a few years ago, and Columbus had sailed to the Americas and discovered “India” when he landed in the Caribbean. These were tough times in Europe. It saw the end of the Muslim caliphate in Andulusia and the beginning of the most vicious and ruthless campaign of the Spanish Incision which was directed against the Muslims and the Jews of Spain.

Historically Pakistan is intractably linked to the valleys and the rivers of Central Asia. Just like America consideres itself a torch bearer of the Greeks and the Romans, Pakistan is a direct result of Babur and a successor state to the Mughal and Ottoman Empires. Uzbekistan lies north of the Oxus which is now called the Amu Darya. When the Ottoman empire broke up the czars took over the provinces which had now become independent. Eastern Turkistan was taken over by China and renamed Xinjiang. Afghanistan was the buffer state after Lord Curzon’s “On to the Oxus” policy failed and he decided that the British Empire would stay this side of the Indus.

From the October revolution of 1917 to the 1990, the USSR tried to eliminate Islam and Muslims in the six Central Asia states. In the waning years of the USSR, the former provinces of the Ottoman empire became independent again. Islam survives and the number of mosques grew from zero to thousands within a few years. The IMU. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan wages a war of attrition against the dictators who rule Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Krygyzstan.

Tehran eager to end American interference in Tehran abolished the RCD as soon as the Mullahs came to power. In Iran the ECo was seen as repainted RCD. The RCD had too much of an American badge on it. The ECO was hurriedly put together to prevent Tehran from moving to far away from the RCD. started in the beginning of the Islamic revolution in Iran when Tehran wanted to go out and conquer the world. Iran wanted to overthrow all Arab regimes and install a Shia client state in Baghdad. The former Soviet republic didn’t know what to do. They were confused and besought by insurgencies which would today be called Taliban. The IMU was wreaking havoc and Gul Hamid saw an opportunity to extend Pakistani borders beyond Uzbekistan. Pakistan was seen as a US lackey. Pakistan on the other hand was flush with victory in Afghanistan and the US had departed the scene. At the time Nuclear bomb and a strong economy in Pakistan did not allow it to reach to Iran. Today, there is more opportunity to build the ECO.
After the islamic revolution Pakistan tried to work with Iran to build a Muslim Common Market called the ECO. Due to conflicting Pakistani and Iranian interest and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the ECO remains a vision and a dream. Pakistan helped them with the basics, typewriters, computers, mosques, Qurans and gave scholarships to hundreds of students.

All that ended in 2001 after the invasion of America by the USA. Pakistanis could no longer go to Central Asia. For the first time in history there is a barrier between the countries.

Chaudhry Rehmat Ali, one of the greatest visionaries of our time named Pakistan after the Central Asia states. He wanted Pakistan to be part of the other “tans”. This was Iqbal’s vision too “Aik houn Mulim haram kee paasbani keh liyeh, Neel keh sahil say ta khak e kashgar”. The Nile is in Egypt and Kashgar is in Ughuyristan (China). The ECO was the first part of that dream of a Muslim Union. The European Union remained a dream for centuries. The Muslim Union is inevitable after the occupation forces leave Afghanistan. In fact many believe that the foreign forces are here to prevent the inevitable. Graveyard of Empires: AfPak-TurkTaj-UzbKaz-AzKyr -istan

“Pakistan attaches great importance to joining the SCO. We would like to fully participate in the programmes and events of SCO and play an appropriate role in achieving the goals of the organisation.
“That’s why Pakistan expects its admission into this organisation as a full-fledged member,” Mr. Zardari told local business daily ‘Kommersant’.
In 2001 Pakistan had formally applied for SCO’s membership, but due to differences between Moscow and Beijing over the issue, the Shanghai Six had frozen the entry of new members. The Hindu
Mr. Zardari may or may not be cognizant of the the dream of Chaudhry Rehmat Ali. He surely does know Iqbal’s dream. There are enough number of patriots alive to make sure that despite the temporary troubles, the dream is kept alive.

Central Asia map: Kyrgyzstan moving closer to Pakistan
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari’s recent proposal at the platform of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to develop special mechanism for Pakistan in areas of energy, security and economic cooperation will pave way for the country to link up with energy-rich Central Asia.

Political analysts believe that Pakistan took full benefit of its participation at the SCO summit in Russian city Yekaterinburg as an observer for the first time, by asserting its involvement in key SCO sectors aimed at strengthening its economy.

Mr. Zardari’s speech at the SCO was classic and legendary. He made it clear that Pakistan was a major player of the region and wanted full membership of the SCO. He did not mince his words. He reached out directly to Russia and informed them that Pakistan wanted a bilateral relationship with Moscow. From all accounts the Kremilin reciprocated the sentiments. The SCO today represents half of humanity. It is but natural that Islamabad wants to be tied into the future superpowers. Ural Sunrise: Russian wants full-fledged bilateral relationship with Pakistan

A small strip of land separates Pakistan from Tajikistan
Pakistan almost has a border with Tajikistan. It has links of language, culture, religion and food with Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. A narrow trip of land a few miles wide separates Tajikistan from Pakistan. That strip of Afghan land was deliberately placed their to separate the British Empire from the Tsars of Russia. Pakistan has to negotiate with Afghanistan on that narrow strip of land near Shariarv or the Iskashim Nature reserve in Uzbekistan. Pakistan could build an Afghanistan specific berth in Gwader or Port Qasim or Karachi and declare it Afghan territory but Pakistan has to get direct access to Tajikistan. This would link up Pakistan directly to Tajiksitan. An alternate arrangement would allow Pakistan to build a bridge or a tunnel under Afghan territory to link up to Tajikistan. Afghanistan is totally landlocked and needs Pakistan. Some Pakistani territory can be exchanged with Afghanistan to link up to Tajikistan. It has no access to the outside world. The modern’s relations with the Central Asia states have seen their ups and downs. After 1990, the Central Asia came down in droves to Pakistan selling their wares.

A Foreign Office statement said that Pakistan enjoys an important status of possessing unique strategic depth geographically, which offers transit-route between Central Asian and South Asian countries. “The interaction and cooperation with the SCO members would prove to be proven determinant to develop momentum of trade between Pakistan and members of SCO,” the statement said.

Independent political experts are of the view that interactive and cooperative outlook of SCO is a major symbolic drift from unipolar world order to a multipolar system. For Pakistan, the summit also provided an ample opportunity to develop cordial chemistry with other states as President Zardari held separate meetings with several heads of states and governments gathered at the SCO forum.

The much-awaited rendezvous between President Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of SCO summit, left a positive note that the foreign secretaries of both countries would meet soon for the revival of comprehensive dialogue. The tri-lateral meeting between President Zardari, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Afghan President Hamid Karzai on the sidelines of summit, helped the three leaders find ways to resolve issues of terrorism.

The joint communiqu’ issued after the SCO moot resolved to establish the sound and rational system of inter-governmental relations and set up the priorities for future interaction among the SCO members.

Shanghai Cooperation Organization was founded in the backdrop of countering western influence in the energy-rich region, and comprises Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan, India, Iran and Mongolia joined in as observer nations while Afghanistan attended as a special guest. Zardari’s proposal to help link Pakistan with Central Asia. ‘Pakistan Times’ Diplomatic Correspondent

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