Government Disgraces Pakistan’s Highest Civil Award
Was President Zardari too embarrassed to decorate China's envoy that he needed to balance it with Boucher? Why Boucher was awarded Pakistan's highest civil award, the Crescent of The Great Leader?
Because his government killed Pakistanis, displaced thousands of them, turned Afghanistan into a den of anti-Pakistanism, and empowered India against us?
Or was the President using an official award to thank the man who helped him get his hands on his – and his late wife's – millions of dollars in illegal wealth?
By AHMED QURAISHI
Wednesday, 7 January 2008.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—Why would the Pakistani president decorate a deserving Chinese official with the country's highest civilian award and then follow it up the next day by awarding an undeserving U.S. official?
President Asif Zardari couldn't wait after decorating Luo Zhaohui, the Chinese ambassador, on Saturday. 
Come Monday, the first thing he did was to decorate Bush admin official Richard Boucher with the same award, the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam, or The Crescent of The Great Leader, named after the Founding Father of Pakistan.
Was President Zardari embarrassed after decorating the Chinese and wanted to balance his act?
Or was he simply saying thank you to Mr. Boucher, who played a crucial role in ensuring that Washington helped Mr. Zardari and his late wife return to Pakistan and lay their hands on millions of dollars in frozen bank accounts?
On a personal level, Mr. Boucher is a nice guy. But the symbolism here is all that matters.
Ambassador Luo is a man who has gone beyond his official duties to serve Pakistan. When no one in the country, including the Zardari-Gilani government, paid any attention to the fact that a team of Pakistani players with physical disabilities won the only silver medal for Pakistan at Beijing Olympics, it was Ambassador Luo who ensured that every one of the players was invited to Islamabad from their villages and towns, and then the Ambassador invited the federal sports minister and the media to the embassy building and made sure the Pakistani players received recognition. Mr. Luo even distributed valuable gifts among the players. That's much more than what their own government did for them.
Compare this to Mr. Richard Boucher. After receiving the highest Pakistani civilian medal, the only thing he had to say was that the U.S. air attacks against Pakistan, in which tens of innocent civilian Pakistanis have been killed and which have resulted in displacing close to 300,000 Pakistanis, will continue and that Washington will not stop them.
Our award is completely wasted on Mr. Boucher. Even if you make a case for niceties—that the medal would help win over a senior diplomat in an important country, how does this apply to Mr. Boucher who will exit in a few days along with his entire government? How can he be of any help?
Zardari's Real Motive
The only reason that Mr. Zardari awarded Mr. Boucher the medal is because of the U.S. diplomat's role in negotiating a deal with the Pakistani military to allow him to become president, clean his criminal record and –most importantly- ensure that he receives millions of dollars in unexplained wealth deposited in bank accounts abroad.
This 'deal', originally negotiated with Benazir Bhutto, could not have materialized without American help.
The medal for Mr. Boucher is also an insult to Pakistanis. Having met him twice, I know he is a gentleman.
But the award was given to a man representing a government that;
1. has turned Afghanistan into a den for terrorism and insurgencies inside Pakistan
2. allowed India into Afghanistan in order to antagonize Islamabad
3. has deliberately damaged Pakistani interests in the region
4. is committing acts of war against Pakistan and Pakistanis
5. is backing Indian bellicosity against Pakistan
An official from such a government deserves to be snubbed by Pakistani officials and not given the nation's highest civilian award.
Pakistanis should also note how that not a single PPP official has objected to their government's weak handling of Pakistan's foreign policy. We haven't heard even a murmur from PPP officials on their party's weak reactions to Indian belligerence and to continued U.S. violations of Pakistani airspace.
Once again, the PPP government needs to stop acting as if it's a U.S. installed occupation government in Pakistan. That's Maliki and Karzai's job.
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Comments
To see Richard Boucher being given the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam was to see our leaders slapping the Pakistani nation on its face. After all, Boucher represents the U.S. administration that has all but destroyed the Pakistani polity through daily killings of our people in drone attacks and through consistent demands to 'do more' even as we have seen the fallout of the insane 'war on terror' bring suicide bombings, terrorism and polarization into Pakistan as never before. Yes, we had had our share of sectarian terror much before 9/11, but it was limited and on the wane before the U.S. struck Afghanistan with its deathly military might.
So what is Boucher being rewarded for? Killing Pakistanis in the tribal belt? Pushing forward a debilitating agenda for Pakistan? Putting Pakistanis into Guantanamo Bay and other U.S. prisons? Getting our military political leadership to participate in renditions and torture of Pakistani citizens? Or getting our civilian political leadership to give in to the new round of Indian histrionic demands post-Mumbai? Are all these what our rulers see as the furtherance of U.S.-Pakistan ties? What a shame and disgrace to this long-suffering nation of Pakistan.
But there should be no surprise in this. We now stand devoid of strong institutions, moral and ethical leadership and any modicum of dignity and self-respect. So when Boucher comes effectively as an emissary of India, to push Pakistan into accepting unquestioningly the Indian dossier on Mumbai, we award him the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam. Which brings up the whole issue of the Mumbai dossier. Those who have seen this brilliant piece of diplomatic propaganda feel there is little substantive in the way of credible proof. Instead, it is a compilation of past accusations, old theories plus pictures and apparent identities of the dead perpetrators with some purported mobile calls and so on. It is no wonder the Indians sent their U.S. partner to push Pakistan into accepting everything without question. And our rulers welcomed Boucher with a national award!
By Shireen M. Mazari
The News International
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
The US Assistant Secretary of State, Richard Boucher distinguished himself by undertaking weekly visits to Pakistan - missions that involved great personal hardship and risk to his life. Acting beyond the call of duty , he brokered the NRO deal that allowed some of the most corrupt individuals to occupy the highest places of power in Pakistan. Although it was none of his business, he went out of his way to render unprecedented advice to ensure that the judiciary is not restored and that Musharraf’s PCO laws are retained in Pakistan. He acted with remarkable sagacity and used the highest diplomatic skills to convince Pakistani rulers on the social, political and economic benefits of the drone attacks on Pakistan. For his outstanding contribution and unparalleled services in causing systematic harm to the state of Pakistan, he is hereby conferred the award of Hilal-e-Quaid-eAzam.
PS: Will all the previous recipients of Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam please consider returning their awards in protest.
The day on which Richard Boucher was quoted as saying that drone attacks were a compulsion for America and that the Mumbai attackers’ had links that led to Pakistan, he was awarded our highest civilian award -- the Hilal-e-Quaid-e-Azam. Simply speechless.
Islamabad
THE NEWS (7th of Jan, 2009)
Dr. Irfan Zafar
irfanzafar@msn.com