Farrukh Khan Pitafi’s Official Website

This week Pakistan’s most influential class is meeting in Rawalpindi. A ‘routine’ meeting of the Corps Commanders and the formation commanders will be held under the leadership of the Army Chief. It would have been an ordinary meeting had it not been an extraordinary juncture in our national history. Apart from the countless operations and international pressures the country is enduring, the fact that the government coalition seems gearing up for the impeachment of the sitting president Pervez Musharraf a former army chief and coup maker, is bound to have an impact on the psyche of the officers corps. It is clear that Musharraf has not survived for so long just because of sheer luck. While claiming to be a courageous man who neither fears death nor stepping down, he has made hectic efforts to escape the both. For instance he concedes in his book and in a related episode of Jawabdeh (albeit reluctantly) that on October 12, 1999* had the Corps Commander Quetta decided to move it could be civil war. In other words he doesn’t mind risking civil war for the sake of personal survival.
What worried me the most yesterday were two things. First the sudden statement of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee on Pak Army’s readiness to face all challenges no matter external or internal. This statement could have been a mere matter of routine referring to the operations going on in tribal/Balochistan regions. But it is not. We know the sitting CJS is very close to Musharraf and to me the statement is quite ominous. The CJS as we know is a ceremonial position hence has to borrow all man power from the services chiefs and he is expected to make statements everyday. But hardly any statement is brought to the media’s attention. The current statement seems a clear message and perhaps a warning to the political class. And if the truth be told in the time of crisis this post can be used to hijack the army control from the army chief. The trouble now is that there are clear attempts being made to isolate the sitting Army Chief by none other than Musharraf’s moles only because he believes in the discipline within the army and thinks that he should not be partisan. I am deeply concerned that owing to the fact that the most of the corps commanders were appointed by Musharraf and that he still enjoys the US support he may not risk something silly again. Then Musharraf’s political puppets have started using very crude and outrageous statements on the television. For instance there is a Lilliputian Barrister who used very sad language on television. This is the old roller coaster. Army is being lured into a trap of becoming partisan and polarized. Since the neo-cons have already shown readiness to inflict as much damage on Pakistan as can be done before being thrown out of the power corridors, this serves their hidden agenda and helps Messrs Hamid Karzai and Zalmay Khalilzad in their quest for alternatives to the Gwadar deep sea port. It is our responsibility not to get entangled in such open traps.
The pretexts being made for the army rank and file’s disquiet are 1) the government has failed in controlling the multi faceted crises created by Musharraf’s eight year policies, 2) the govt had the nerve to try to bring the ISI under its direct control especially through its hideous interior adviser.
The first is indeed rubbish. While we can pretend to do so for our own convenience, the new government has only been in power for four months or a little more and Musharraf’s lackeys and the ISI both have done their bit to throw spanner in its way. When usually it takes a dictatorship 8 to 12 years in creating such chaos how can you expect the democratic governments to undo that within a short span of time? The foreign cooperation with the new cabinet has not been serious owing to the presence of Musharraf and his clout. If anyone instead of complaining actually wants the system to survive he should ensure that Musharraf is gone.
As far as the confusion on the ISI is concerned folks whom are we mocking? I know the decision to let Rehman Malik head the agency was downright stupid which has duly been reversed but those army officers who have not worked in the ISI know its repute already. Brigadier (retired) Yousaf in his book the Bear trap has not made any bones about this. Likewise countless former DG ISIs have conceded that they took part in political engineering and manipulation which is not actually its brief. Is a little bit of discipline and coordination bad? Why should the army give in to the lousy feudal sentiments like other supremacists? Why should the army behave as if it is the sole monopoly on all wisdom. Again the ISI does not comprise the untouchable core national interest. It should rather be addressing its image problems both here and abroad. And any form of civilian control (of course not interior ministry and not Rehman Malik) is its best chance. If the army keeps behaving as if it is a no go area the impression that the government has not been granted the real powers will only strengthen. Sirs, for the future of the country, for the sake of your own children and grandchildren if they are in this country and for the sake of the faint promises that we once made to ourselves to defend our country in our schools please do not allow the discipline of the army to be destroyed. Please do not let this country die for its enemies want that to happen quickly. Army should not take sides. It should ensure neutrality and respect for the original system that was envisaged by our founding fathers. Democracy and institutionalized justice system are our best hopes. Please do not let them get destroyed. No matter whatever the Army has done under Musharraf’s command to please the foreign powers the enemies of the country have not made any concessions. Today everyone from the presidency warns between the lines that the country would plunge into civil war if Musharraf is sacked yet no ones understands that if another martial law is imposed or democracy is dismissed the real civil war going on in Balochistan, NWFP and the like of which we witnessed on the eve of Benazir’s murder in Sindh will become out of control. Musharraf is a liability for the army and the political set up. He should seek an immediate safe exit in order to save all of us who believe in this army, of any embarrassment. Those who still have doubts should pick a newspaper and read the reports on Dr Aafia Siddiqui. I would not want that to happen to my own child one day.

Posted on August 7th, 2008 under General •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback