Shashi Tharoor gets it wrong

Shashi Tharoor writes a piece in today's Guardian that is actually typical of what's wrong with the post-BB analysis in the West. For one, Shashi notes that "most people assume her killers were religious fundamentalists." But, accurately or not, most Pakistanis believe the military is responsible for Benazir's death, not religious fundamentalists. Shashi goes on to conclude:

The great danger in Pakistan has always been in the risk of a mullah-military coalition. The prospect of the uniformed rulers of this nuclear-armed state being infused with the zealotry of the Islamic fanatics among their compatriots has always sent shudders down the spines of the world's chancelleries. The death of Benazir Bhutto, and the backlash it has engendered, has made that less likely for now, and that may remain her most significant legacy.

Here's the problem, Shashi - the mullah-military coalition already exists. It is at least 30 years old, dating back to Zia's embrace of the jehadis under the tutelage of the Americans, but likely goes back further, perhaps to the Bangladesh war, perhaps earlier. And Benazir's death has actually strengthened the military in Pakistan, by giving it an excuse to clamp down even harder, for even longer. And, a strengthening of the military (as Shashi argues for) necessarily means a strengthening of the mullahs, and this is what Western observers can't or don't want to grasp. The fantasy that the military will be a force against the jehadis is a fantasy only in the minds of those who don't know Pakistan well.

Here's one thing Shashi gets absolutely right:

The central fact of Pakistani politics has always been the power of the military, which has ruled the country for 32 of its 60 years of existence. In other countries, the state has an army; in Pakistan, the army has a state. The military can be found not only in all the key offices of government but also running real estate and import-export ventures and petrol pumps and factories. Retired generals head most of the country's universities and thinktanks. The proportion of national resources devoted to the military is perhaps the highest in the world.

What we really need is to push for an end for military aid from the West. It's time to shut down the source that feeds the beast.