Swat and East Pakistan

The crisis in Swat is tremendous. Not only we in Pakistan are following it with dismay and uneasiness but the whole world is following it (Yahoo! homepage is highlighting two news stories about it every day on an average).

Last October, I posted my forecasts about the next 20 years of Pakistan:

• 2008-10: Disenchantment with the West
• 2010-16: Isolation (and possible conflict)
• 2017-26: Crisis of federation
• 2026-27: Emergence of inherent unity

Details can be seen on my other Blog . Accompanied with heavy loss in life and property, the tragic events of Swat seem to be completing the disenchantment with the West in the heart of an average Pakistani. This is what is not being realized by those who hope to gain from human misery (and no, the ports of Gwador and Karachi are not going to fall into the laps of foreign demigods by these means, at least not forever, if that's the bigger plan).

I wish I could explain it in more detail. The writings of Iqbal, Jinnah and Liaquat Ali Khan (along with many others) give us a very clear idea about what is actually happening here and what should be done. However, we need to know more about our history than most of us do (the way the history of Pakistan is written by its sympathizers as well as its critics, it has got more loopholes than the plot of a James Bond movie).

In the meanwhile, here is a snippet from the past: compare the events happening today with what happened in 1971 with the help of this special page in the Chronicle of Pakistan . Do you think there are similarities - or how are they different?