Pakistani military have a mind set of their own. They believe in claiming victories while surrendering their arms in humiliating defeats. They have lost almost every war fought since independence, their so-called finest performance pertains to frequent conquests of their own people who have kept them well-fed, fat and flabby by starving themselves.  

We have suffered their blatant occupation, usurpation of the democratic rights of the people and exploitation of country’s resources to fill their coffers. By selling Pakistan’s vital interests, compromising on issues of life and death for the country, they have reduced national pride, its honour and patriotism. When the head of a state hands its citizens to foreign predators of new global imperialism, he deserves to be known as the person who would sell his mother to fill his pockets with dollars. 

The generals scavenged Pakistan and its poor masses through corruption that, according to foreign experts, “will take years just to catalogue it.” Their acquisition of vast tracts of state-owned land at nominal rates, their domination of businesses and industries, ranging from banking to cereal factories to manufacturing of undergarments and even bangles—has made them the unchallenged usurpers of national wealth. Their control of the economy has grown so great it will present an enormous challenge to any future democratically elected government to free it from their stranglehold.  

As one of the senior retired generals put it the other day that a soldier never dies, they assume they are in a battle when they are not and prefer to sleep with their uniforms on as General Pervez Musharraf declared it in his defence of retaining the army chief’s uniform. Besides the use of the gun to keep their people subdued, their other extensively employed weapon is psy war. It is a weapon employing lies to overwhelm truth, to brain wash people, to blind them from seeing the reality and to character-assassinate their political opponents. 

General Musharraf’s failures is desperately making last ditch efforts including unleashing of a dirty tricks war on his arch political rival former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. The most recent internet circulation of a digitally fabricated photograph  of a lady in a short skirt with a caption: “Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on her birthday” is more of the same propoganda the Generals used since the time she entered politics in 1979 to oppose the General Zia dictatorship and to complete the mission of her Shaheed father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto who lost his life ushering in an egalitarian socio-economic order for the greatest good of the largest number of his people.  

Indeed, even most strong condemnation of such a slanderous attempt to undermine Pakistan’s most popular and internationally respected political leader would not be enough. It is reflective of the sick and depraved mindset in its basest macho spirit that most of our Bonapartist Praetorians have hidden behind their glittering medallions and ribbons acquired by them without performing any feat of genuine dare. No wonder the dirty tricks operation by Musharraf’s intelligence apparatus has been shown a boot of contempt by every one who received the computer forged pictures being circulated on the net. “The regime has sunk to the lowest depth of degradation resorting to this kind of forgery and character assassination”,” said the PPP vice Chair Makhdoom Amin Fahim in a statement issued by him after he was shown the superimposed, forged picture. One would fully share the views expressed by Makhdoom Sahib that such dirty tricks emanating from the military regime only revealed sickly souls and deceased minds behind “glittering medallion and shining ribbons” masquerading as so-called champions of moderate Islam and enlightened moderation. 

On various occasions—whenever under public pressure—similar psywar methods were used to undermine the growing popularity of the Bhutto ladies. Makhdoom Sahib has rightly recalled that during Zia days the agencies had constantly tried to paint Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto as unpatriotic by circulating forged letters purported to have been written by her to some foreign dignitaries. However, in terms of dirty tricks the Musharaf dictatorship had surpassed even its predecessor, he said. Obviously this is nothing but a sure sign of panic in the dictator’s camp where his band wagoners have started passing sleepless nights on learning about the determination of Bhutto’s valiant daughter to return home, come what may, to participate in the 2007 elections. “Do whatever dirty they need to save their house of cards, the Bhutto tide is on its way and Musharraf cannot save his regime from being swept away.”

While agreeing with Makhdoom Amin Fahim that such slander deserves to be condemned by all and sundry alike, it also needs to be pilloried at the bar of the people since "Islam condemns slander in the strongest terms”. “Never before the national and international laws were so flagrantly violated and never before a regime had sunk so low in morality to heap dirt on Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto who is not only the most popular leader of the country but has also been the twice elected Prime Minister and the first woman prime Minister anywhere in the Muslim World”, he said. Besides, Makhdoom Amin Fahim reminded that Hazrat Ayesha Bibi (May peace be upon her) was also subjected to a campaign of slander but the perpetrators did not succeed in their designs. He said that Mohtarma Bhutto is also not deterred and will continue to fight the dictators and Bonapartists.
 

Well-informed sources have disclosed that this picture was circulated by ISI, what one would like to know is its ultimate purpose. If past was any experience for them, they would know it well that its circulation would hardly undermine Ms Bhutto’s popularity. In that case, the other suspect objective could rather be more alarming. It is both aimed at inciting the genuine fanatic into provoking him to act against her or it could also be used as an excuse by the regime’s intelligence apparatus to act on their own physically against her and then put the blame on any unknown fanatic.  If the regime has any iota of decency then it should hold an inquiry into it since it clearly violates Pakistani laws that prohibit slander and fabrication. The international community too should put pressure on Musharraf not to resort to such brigandage. He should not be allowed to stoop so low to incite the fanatics in the traditionalist Islamic society by playing the Islamist card. Circulating of such material  also poses a threat to one’s life because fundamentalists could be provoked into “upholding Islam” by eliminating some one who is a Muslim bringing disgrace to it by dressing “immodestly”. Most Muslims would find hard to understand that but bigots and obscurantist are brainwashed into believing they must defend Islam from those who violate Islamic injunctions and for them wearing clothes exposing flesh is considered to be violation of Islamic law.