With an increasingly tense security atmosphere in the country, the government’s decision to deploy the army for security in Islamabad is giving rise to speculations, apprehensions and very serious questions across the political and civil spectrum. The government formally asked the military to assist with Islamabad’s security on Friday under Article 245 of the Constitution that specifies that the armed forces, “subject to law, act in aid of civil power when called upon to do so”. The Article also says that under these circumstances the directive cannot be questioned in any court and that high court jurisdiction of the subject area shall remain suspended until the military returns to barracks. Despite that, the deployment has been challenged in the Islamabad High Court. Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar has specified that the army had not been handed Islamabad’s security indefinitely but would be deployed for a period of three months under the supervision of the district management, though it would play the leading role in security operations with the support of the police. Chaudhry Nisar has recently been almost invisible after he complained of interference from other ministers in the workings of his interior ministry and the failure of peace talks with tribal areas terrorists left him isolated within the government and reportedly furious about being sidelined from important decisions. He now faces renewed criticism in the wake of the announcement for the government’s perceived failure to use the civilian law enforcement apparatus to ensure security in the capital. The PPP was especially critical of the decision, which they say is unconventional and unnecessary given that Islamabad is not under any more threat than other parts of the country. Their objections should also be seen in the light of the country’s past experiences with military involvement in civilian affairs. The military has not commented on the matter. It was ordered to secure the capital and it has, but if it has been ordered for political reasons, it seems unlikely it will allow itself to be dragged into the middle of the ongoing political rivalries.
The timing of the decision is also responsible for setting off a veritable storm of speculations, coming as it does just days before Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) is set to march on the capital on August 14 for a ‘final confrontation’ with the ruling PML-N. It is equally strange that contradictory statements have been issued by government representatives like Minister for Railways and Transportation Khwaja Saad Rafique who — in a clear reference to the rally — alleged that the army was deployed to prevent fasad (strife), while Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid said the decision was made “only to deal with terrorists and not to stop any political activity”. These contradictory stances have led to wild and inflammatory speculation at a time when the country faces multiple existential crises. One perspective is that the government is choosing to send a message to the PTI that it has the military’s support. If so, this is an exceptionally provocative and unwise way to do so. They forget Imran Khan is a stubborn man. The military has begun cordoning off and establishing check posts in the capital and the prospect of clashes between military personnel and PTI marchers is a new factor to be calculated into the increasingly risky August 14 scenario. In all of this, the government and the PTI seem to have forgotten that the country is fighting a war in which 60,000 people have been killed, and that just a few weeks ago terrorist attacks were bringing the country to its knees. A slight improvement in the security situation seems to have engendered undue confidence. The government has been conspicuous by its absence in governing the country but is very conspicuously playing politics and may be using the state’s resources to cement its own position, while Imran Khan and other detractors cannot seem to stop drooling at the prospect of greater power for themselves by hook or by crook. This pathetic state of affairs is as dangerous for the nascent democratic process as it is for the average citizen. Only time will tell if these shortsighted political polemics will result in greater tragedy than the country can bear, but they are unlikely to lead to anything positive.
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