Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old US citizen of Pakistani origin, who enjoyed all the benefits of modern education and a Westernised lifestyle, converted to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism and attempted a bomb attack at Times Square, New York, on May 1, 2010, a Saturday, which — fortunately — failed. Arrested on May 3, 2010 at JFK International Airport, New York, he has been charged with five terrorism-related crimes: (a) Attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction, (b) Attempting to kill and maim people in the US, (c) Using and carrying a destructive device, (d) Transporting an explosive device and (e) Attempting to damage building, vehicles, and other property.
According to a report in a Canadian weekly, an unnamed Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) commander said that Shahzad, during his 2006 trip to Pakistan, had come for three months of terror training to LeT’s main base of operations in Dulai, 25 km from Muzaffarabad, in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (POK). Describing Shahzad as “an eager recruit and very intelligent”, the LeT commander claimed that Shahzad was asked to return to the US after the training and directed not to contact LeT for at least six months. So much for the ease with which groups like LeT attract and train recruits in terror camps that continue to operate in different parts of Pakistan. While US’ initial investigations indicated a link between Shahzad and the Pakistan Taliban, this is the first time that a LeT link has surfaced.
And that, is not at all, all. Another first, according to a report in a leading American daily, is a Pakistani Army major being arrested for his close links to Shahzad, including meeting him in Islamabad and regular contact with him on cellphone. The Pakistan Army, however, immediately denied the link to the Times Square bombing and maintained that Major Adnan was sacked for insubordination and not for links to Shahzad.
Some questions which emerge are: How much has this attack, which came very close on the heels of an extended period of the US cosying up with major monetary aid and arms promised to Pakistan, shaken the latter? Will India’s stand of Pakistan being the epicentre of terrorism, yet again vindicated, make any difference to the US’ approach to it, with particular reference to supplying Pakistan with arms not required for fighting terror and insisting on India to talk to Pakistan on Kashmir etc?
The US has lost large amounts of stores and vehicles owing to repeated attacks on its convoys bound for or in Afghanistan. This daily recently published a report of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security (NDS), accusing Pakistan’s intelligence agency of involvement in the suicide bombing that killed six Nato soldiers, including four colonels. While NDS spokesman Saeed Ansari did not mention the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency by name, he left no doubt of what he meant.
A leading Pakistani English daily quoted Aziz Khan, an old family friend, who describes Faisal Shahzad as “a lovely and friendly person”, who loved pets and reared a number of dogs, partridges and parakeets at the family house in Hayatabad, Peshawar. Aziz Khan, Shahzad’s father, Baharul Haq and some of their friends have been going on yearly hunting expeditions to the Chashma Barrage area in Punjab. “Baharul Haq owned some land there. We enjoyed his company. He could recite every verse of popular Pashto mystic poet Rahman Baba,” Aziz Khan said. “Baharul Haq is a liberal and secular man. I cannot figure out that his son, Faisal, would drift towards militancy and attempt exploding a car bomb,” he contended.
Baharul Haq had a distinguished career as a pilot in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and a recipient of the gallantry award, Sitara-i-Basalat. He served as the defence attaché in Pakistan’s embassies in Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and rose to become an Air Vice Marshal. Around 1990, he was reportedly one of the three top officers considered for the top post of chief of the PAF. After retirement, he served as deputy director-general of the Civil Aviation Authority. His brother, Major General (Retd.) Tajul Haq reportedly served as the Inspector-General of Frontier Corps. Baharul Haq’s father-in-law, Firdous Khan, also served in the PAF and retired as a Squadron Leader. His brother-in-law, Sarfaraz Khan, was a Rear Admiral in the Pakistan Navy. “It is a family of soldiers. Neither Baharul Haq’s friends nor relations are aware that the 30-year Faisal Shahzad travelled to Waziristan or any other tribal area to meet militants and receive bomb-making training,” the news report stated.
American decision-makers must revisit history. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s third tin-pot dictator and self-appointed President from September 1978 till August 1988, “subsidised” the Mujahideen and Islamised the armed forces. In a paper titled “Post-1979 Pakistan: What Went Wrong?”, Touqir Hussain, a Pakistani diplomat states: “In April 1979 in Pakistan, an elected Prime Minister, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, was executed by a military dictator, Zia-ul-Haq, laying the foundation for an 11-year Army rule that, on the one hand, unleashed the Army’s overweaning political and strategic ambitions and, on the other, set in motion the process of the Islamisation of the country. The two merged as part of a religiously denominated national security doctrine that turned Pakistan’s regional policy into a jihad… The Pakistani Army began parading new pretensions of being an Army of Islam, bringing under its banner a new breed of military adventurers and Islamic revolutionaries, including some of the former heads of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, Pakistan to instability, radicalism, which began searching for new targets within and beyond the region. Security concerns were inflated by the Army’s political ambitions and institutional pride, making rivalry and competition with India an end in and of itself. A powerful Army began feeding on a weak and insecure state and, of course, on the US aid.”
What is disturbing is that if Shahzad, whose father represents Pakistan’s aristocratic elite and who retired in 1992, by which time Zia’s Islamisation policy took effect, could get drawn into Pakistan’s terror factories, what can be expected to happen to the children of officers who got commissioned into the Armed forces from early 1990s onwards? Because they belong to the generation which has had large-scale contact with jihadi groups nurtured by them and which are apart from being Pakistan Army’s anti-India active and reserve, are not only a great liability to the US, but to Pakistan itself too.
Up to a point, lies can well be made use of, but what happens when you actually start believing them?

Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a defence and security analyst based in New Delhi