PRESENT POSITION IN PAKISTAN POLITICS

AUM
PRESENT POSITION IN PAKISTAN
By Brigadier Chitranjan Sawant,VSM
The philosopher poet who conceived of an Islamic State in British India and coined the word, Pakistan must be turning restlessly in his grave at the entrance gate of the Mughal mosque in Lahore. He was none other than Mohd. Iqbal, the nationalist poet who gave India the evergreen song, Sare Jahan se Achcha Hindostan Hamara. A turncoat later, he was out and out a Muslim communalist but that is another story. Right now I am recalling him in connection with his hobby horse, a homeland for the Indian Muslims, Pakistan that is in turmoil. The crux of the matter is: who will rule Pakistan now and hereafter.
NEVER A DEMOCRACY
The founding father of Pakistan Mohammad Ali Jinnah, a non-conformist Muslim who loved to eat pork and drink wine, was a votary of Pakistan as a democratic State. He, however, never had a chance to implement his ideas because cancer took its toll and Jinnah’s dead body ay buried in Karachi. The sundry politicians misruled and mismanaged the El Dorado of Islam, the largest Muslim State in the world that Pakistan became a fiefdom of the Army Generals. The top brass of the Navy and the Air Force, still fledgling services, had little choice but to toe the Army’s line. The story was repeated time and again. The average Pakistanis got so used to seeing the Khaki of the army on the road day and night that their presence in the barracks made news.
The professionalism of the Army took a beating because right from the under training cadets at the academy in Kakul to induction into their respective regiments and going through career courses, young officers always had issues pertaining to running the country uppermost on their minds The professional pamphlets on running the operations of war always took a back seat. Consequently Pakistan army lost the three major wars and the Kargil conflict that it fought against India.
The Pakistan Army remained supreme at home and in running state organisations where large amounts of money went into their personal pockets. The Pakistan army officers got so used to be at the helm of affairs in the civil administration that in the heart of hearts they detested administering army units and looking after welfare of their troops. The standing and image of the Army officers took a beating in the eye of Pakistani citizens The Pakistani generals lost more credibility when it was discovered that they had harboured hard core Islamist terrorists and their leaders like Osama bin-Laden.
Pakistan Army also stands exposed as an ungrateful outfit. It bites the hand that feeds it. The US govt gave Pakistan a lot of money and the weapon system and yet the Pakistanis were so deceitful that they planned to have the American soldiers killed by the Taliban terrorists. No less a person than General Pervez Ashfaq Kayani, Paki Army Chief was involved in this anti-American conspiracy. His voice was recorded by the Indian Intelligence Agencies when he spoke to General Musharraf stating that the Pakistan Army would never kill Islamist terrorists but use them to protect flanks in a war with India.
Admiral Mike Mullen, erstwhile Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff had gone on record branding General Kayani as a liar. Pakistan is an untrustworthy ally and the world has realised it except the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who gave the paki PM a certificate as “Man of Peace.”Meek Manmohan is abetting his own country to commit Harakiri. Disgraceful show indeed!
SURPRISE IS A SURPRISE
President Asif Zardari is in Dubai attending the wedding of a friend’s son. Isn’t it surprising that the Army is reportedly planning a coup and return to power but the President is away attending a wedding ceremony in the Middle-East? An experienced analyst of Pakistan affairs is of the opinion that the wedding is a facade and President Zardari is canvassing for support for his civilian rule and building pressure on his own army to desist from a coup. Reportedly Zardari is returning within 24 hours as something is cooking in the Rawalpindi cantonment where the General Headquarters of the Army is located. The Civil government of Zardari and Gilani of the PPP does not want to be caught with its pants down. What will late Zulfiqar Bhutto and his daughter, late Benazir Bhutto think of the diplomatic calibre of their successors in power?
In any case late Zulfiqar Bhutto had been arrested by General Zia in a bloodless coup one fine morning long ago and was hanged till death by his own chosen Army Chief, Zia. That explains why no one trusts on one in Pakistan in the tradition of Aurangzeb of the Mughal dynasty of Agra-Delhi. Afterall, it was General Ayub Khan, a friend of the Indian Army Chief, General Cariappa who had removed his brother officer, Maj Gen Iskander Mirza in a bloodless coup and assumed power as the Chief Martial aw Administrator. Old Ayub ran the show for about a decade when his own junior officer General Yahya Khan replaced him in a coup. When General Yahya Khan lost the war against “That Woman”( Indira Gandhi) in 1971 and India dismembered Pakistan, it was the turn of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto to assume power in what was left of the original country named Pakistan. Thus the coup and the counter coup are a part of the Paki tradition. Of course, that is nothing to be proud of.
A patriotic Pakistani citizen feels ashamed of the fact that their own Army has been disloyal to the country and the constitution and overthrown the lawfully elected government time and again. Indeed no citizen shed tears for the overthrown politicians because they were as corrupt as corrupt could be. They have their villas and big bank balances in secret accounts in foreign banks to hold them in good stead on a rainy day.
ARMY NOW NOT THE SAME
Is the Pakistan Army now not the same as it used to be in their good old days? The political system in Pakistan is in disarray at this point of time. The external debt is mounting. America that used to run the administration of Pakistan is now not on their side. It stands cheated and has almost abandoned Pakistan.
China, a major player in the area and a benefactor of Pakistan right from giving them the Nuclear device to building ports and bridges or providing relief in earthquake hit areas has stakes in Pakistan’s stability. China has declared from housetops that Pakistan is their all-weather friend and that China will be with Pakistan through thick and thin. Above all it is Pakistan that keeps India engaged militarily and does not let it compete with China with single minded attention. Pakistan is a strategic asset for China and the latter will not allow the circumstances to deteriorate to such an extent that Pakistan disintegrates.
The Pakistan Army is now not as strong in national affairs as it used to be. Right from the days of General Ayub Khan to the recent rule after a coup by General Pervez Musharraf, the Pakistan Army did whatever it wished to. Perhaps it sought and obtained the nod of Washington DC for a change of rue from civil to military. Now America is no longer one of the three As – America, Army and Allah; and in the same order of priority – that ran the show in Pakistan. China is a counter-balance to America and from the days of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, Pakistan has been looking across the Himalayas and getting the required help and diplomatic support from the People’s Republic of China.
As of now, China has not given the nod to the Pakistan Army to go ahead withtheir plan to stage a coup and remove Zardari and Gilano of the People’s Party of Pakistan from authority China, of course, wishes to have a strong Pakistan Army to counter-balance the armed forces of India BUT AT THE SAME TIME MAINTAINING A CIVILIAN GOVT IN Islamabad will enhance the democratic image of China too.
The Pakistan Army too may not be interested in taking over the administration of a country laden with debt. The Army wishes to have the Authority without corresponding answerability to a constitutional body like the Parliament. At the same time the Army does not want the country to think that the troops are back in barracks and civil administration is supreme. A happy via media is the answer to the myriad problems. Since Zardari is involved in the old corruption cases, so the Supreme Court may order removal of corrupt administrators and that would make the Army Numero Uno once again.
Won’t that scenario be as good as a bloodless coup that would enthrone the generals with Chief as the Head of Administration and the State both. Thus general Ashfaq Pervez Kayani would steal a march over all the previous Chiefs put together. The son of an army havildar will be a Chief, a King and an Emperor - all in one. The dance of democracy will be stage managed by the Pakistan Army.

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