This article appeared in The Daily Mail, which is a prominent English language daily newspaper published in Islamabad (Capital of Pakistan).

PESHAWAR—Jamaat-e-Islmai (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad has warned any US military action inside Pakistan borders will be considered a declaration of war against Pakistan adding if US tries to take any such step, people of the country will put up stiff resistance

Ranting and canting, as usual. 

 
JI Amir was talking to media men here Sunday. He held there was no threat of any occupation from Taliban and the solution to the prevailing situation lies in end to coalition with US. Pakistan should forge coalition with Iran, Afghanistan and other neighboring countries, he urged.

Of course he feels that there is no threat from the Taliban – he is Taliban!

 
“We have been asking all US protagonists if US will show hostility towards us we will reciprocate in hostile way and if it will foster friendship we will extend hand of friendship with it. We will consider any outside interference within our territories action against our country”, he underscored. “We demand US should pull out from Afghanistan and Iraq forthwith and give their right to people of Palestine”, he maintained. Muslims should be allowed to live with dignity and if any attempt was made to push them to wall, we would also take action against US interests, he added.

We’re victims, we’re victims, we’re victims. Infamy, infamy, you’ve all got it in for me!

Responding to a question he said the threat of attack on the country was looming large and “ we invite all political and religious parties to get united to safeguard the defence, independence and nuclear assets of the country and give an open message to US that any interference from her side inside our tribal areas will be regarded a declaration of war against Pakistan.

We’re going to be the victims, we’re going to be the victims, we’re going to be the victims. Infamy, infamy, etc. etc. etc.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said Saturday night that he had told Bush administration officials during his visit to Washington on Friday that while Pakistan will not hesitate from using force where and when required, terrorism could not be fought through military force alone. “Our strategy is that the military option alone is not enough,” he told a largely-attended meeting of members of the Pakistani community at the Pakistan House in which the offices of the UN mission and the consulate general are located.

So, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that ‘the military option alone is not enough’. He’s partly right – he also needs the WILL to oppose the Taliban and that he has not got. He needs the STOMACH for the fight and that he has not got. He needs the TRUST of the Pakistani military (that overblown, wealthy and corrupt, self-serving institution) and that he has not got, for they are just waiting to see who wins in Pakistan so that they can join the victor’s side.

Also, he is partly wrong – the military option is enough, as the British proved in Malaya! One just needs the will-power and the belief – neither of which, being the Muslim that he is (equivocating, prevaricating, never certain that the Taliban don’t, after all, have the right of it; brought up as he was, and as countless others in the Pakistani establishment were, on the Koran and the other disingenuous, but only if one allows them to be – and can they help it – writings of Islam) he possesses. How can he? He is a Muslim – a victim, not of the West, as he would in his private moments, like to believe, but a victim of that vicious and primitive system of thought known to us all as Islam.

Contrast his vacillation today with what he said in this article.

"In fact, we have more reason to go after these people than the previous government," he says. "Terrorists killed Benazir Bhutto, the wife and mother of our party co-chairmen and my friend. They have attacked our rallies and murdered our supporters, and people in the West think we will go easy on them? Think again."

Well, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, we are thinking again - and we are still waiting!