Thursday, October 15, 2020
Pakistan Army’s Ayub Khan moment — find ways to rule without being seen as ruling
HUSAIN HAQQANI @husainhaqqani
Even if the opposition parties fail to immobilise the Imran Khan government, Pakistan Army chief Qamar Bajwa’s political role will force him to engage with an opposition he despises.
Pakistan’s opposition parties have, once again, formed a broad alliance, even as special assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan, Lt Gen (retd) Asim Saleem Bajwa, resigned from his post Monday.
Such alliances have been created several times since politicians opposing Pakistan’s first military ruler, Field Marshal Ayub Khan, allied against him in the 1960s. But, unlike in the past, this time the politicians have not been content with targeting just the president or prime minister of the day. They are questioning the very premise of the military’s role in Pakistan’s politics.
The army under General Qamar Javed Bajwa thought that wielding power without taking the driver’s seat would insulate it from becoming the target of criticism. But Prime Minister Imran Khan’s civilian government has not been able to protect the military from political attacks while executing General Bajwa’s policies. The weak civilian façade has created an opening for civilian politicians to demand ‘undiluted democracy.’
The opposition leaders all have their flaws, but each of them also has a popular support base. Supporters of politicians expect them to be flawed and support them with those shortcomings. Support for the army, on the other hand, rests on the assumption that it is an institution above politics, trained and willing to defend the country.
Pakistan’s army has been involved in politics since Ayub Khan took over as army chief in 1951. Still, its officers’ oath insists that they would not concern themselves with politics and the army tries hard to maintain the appearance that it is a national institution, not a political actor.
But recently, one of the many retired generals who appear regularly on Pakistani television channels described the army as “Pakistan’s largest political party.” As opposition politicians start criticising the army, treating it as a rival party, General Bajwa might be forced to revisit his strategy of letting the people see Imran Khan’s government as the army’s own, while describing opponents and critics as enemies of Pakistan.
A mythical entity
As I had noted in The Indian Express once, Major General (retd) Sher Ali Khan Pataudi had in 1969 advised Pakistan’s second military ruler, General Yahya Khan, “that the reason the military was able to snatch the initiative from politicians after the fall of Field Marshal Ayub Khan was not because of its firepower but because of its charisma.”
Pakistan Army’s charisma was “the precious political resource that once lost would not be easily retrieved.” It was better for the army to remain, for the people, “a mythical entity, a magical force, that would succour them in times of need when all else failed.”
According to Sher Ali, “In the minds of the people, unlike the bureaucracy and the politicians with whom they had daily contact and whom they knew to be corrupt and oppressive, the army was the final guarantor of Pakistan and its well-being.” The army needed to exercise power from behind the scenes to keep things that way. It could not shoot its way through its own people.
Each period of direct rule by a military commander — Ayub Khan 1958-69, Yahya Khan 1969-71, Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq 1977-1988, and Pervez Musharraf 1999-2007 — has ended with the return to power of politicians the army so desperately wants to bypass. The reason is the military’s desire to avoid exposing itself to the people, to the point of losing its charisma.
But over time, the Pakistan Army has become too intertwined in politics and the media, diluting the charisma that depended on the army being a mythical entity.
This time, the army commander is not even directly in power and already the role of the army is becoming politically controversial. The army will, once again, have to think of ways to rule without being seen to be ruling.
Also read: All that remains for Pakistan now is to hope Gen Bajwa doesn’t turn out to be Gen Ayub Khan
Bajwa’s reluctance
General Bajwa has already held out an olive branch to critics of the army’s political role by saying that positive criticism must not be confused with hybrid war against Pakistan.
“Most voices that might seem loud to you, come from a place of love, patriotism and trust and therefore must be heeded,” he said while speaking at the passing-out parade of cadets at the Pakistan Military Academy.
Which brings us to the reason why Pakistan’s generals have repeatedly failed at politics.
General Muhammad Musa, Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army (1958-1966) explained that politics baffled him because he was trained to “locate the enemy and liquidate the enemy.” He was trained to obey his superiors and command his subordinates, but did not know how to deal with “my own people” whose beliefs and convictions made them defiant.
Politics is about choosing between alternative solutions, ideas, and policy options. It requires compromise and adjustments, and it involves persuasion, not commanding, and getting obedience.
Even if the opposition parties fail to immobilise the Imran Khan government through large street protests, Bajwa’s political role will force him to engage with an opposition he despises. But it may still not lead to the admission by the entire institution that life in uniform does not prepare a general for the rough and tumble of the political world.
Ironically, the reaction of most Pakistani soldiers to this article will be to dismiss it as an exiled Pakistani writing in an India-based news outlet, without thinking what forces people into exile and why so many of us are barred from writing in Pakistan’s own media.
India slams Imran Khan’s Special Assistant, says never approached Pakistan for talks
Govt says statements made by Moeed W. Yusuf earlier this week is Pakistan’s effort to ‘mislead its domestic constituents by pulling India into headlines on a daily basis’.
India Thursday rejected the claims made by top Pakistani official Moeed W. Yusuf that New Delhi had approached Islamabad for talks, saying the statements made by him are “misleading and fictitious”.
In an interview to The Wire earlier this week, Yusuf, the Special Assistant on national security and strategic policy planning to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, had said India expressed its “desire for a conversation” but Pakistan put a condition on including the issue of Kashmir in the talks.
Anurag Srivastava, spokesperson, Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said “no such message was sent from our side”.
“As regards the purported message, let me make it clear that no such message was sent from our side… As always, this is Pakistan’s effort to divert attention from domestic failures of the present government and mislead its domestic constituents by pulling India into headlines on a daily basis,” Srivastava said during a media briefing.
“We have seen reports on the interview by a senior Pakistani official to an Indian media outlet. He has commented on India’s internal matters … The official is well advised to restrict his advice to his establishment and not to comment on India’s domestic policy,” he added.
During the interview, conducted by journalist Karan Thapar, Yusuf had stated that Pakistan is willing to discuss terrorism as well as Kashmir.
Yusuf had further said India must “reverse” the decision on Kashmir, referring to the revocation of Article 370 last August, which they view as “military siege” in the Valley, and also demanded a “roll back of the new domicile law”.
Yusuf’s statements are ‘contrary to facts on the ground’
Srivastava said, “The statements made by him are contrary to facts on the ground, misleading and fictitious.”
He added Pakistan continues to “support, aid and abet cross-border terrorism against India and has also been resorting to unprovoked ceasefire violations to support terrorist infiltration”.
“The Pakistani leadership continues to indulge in inappropriate, provocative and hate speech against India. Such support to terrorism against India and use of derogatory and abusive language are not conducive to normal neighbourly relations,” he said.
Controversy before FATF plenary
This comes less than a week before the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is scheduled to hold its next plenary from 21-23 October where it will take a call whether or not to blacklist Pakistan for terror financing and money laundering.
Meanwhile, Wednesday, during his address at a virtual meeting of the Commonwealth foreign ministers, Vikas Swarup, Secretary (West), MEA, referred to Pakistan as an “epicentre of terrorism and hosting the largest number of terrorists proscribed by the United Nations”.
https://theprint.in/diplomacy/india-slams-imran-khans-special-assistant-says-never-approached-pakistan-for-talks/524374/
فضل الرحمان، مریم لاہور، بلاول لالہ موسیٰ سے جلسہ گاہ پہنچیں گے
اپوزیشن جماعتوں کا اتحاد پی ڈی ایم کل گوجرانوالا میں جلسہ کرے گا ، مولانا فضل الرحمان لاہور سے جلسے میں شریک ہوں گے ، مریم نواز لاہور سے اور بلاول بھٹو لالہ موسی سے نکلیں گے۔
تمام سیاسی قائدین منتخب جگہوں سے جلوس کی قیادت کرکے آئیں گے، تمام سیاسی جماعتوں کے قائدین رات کو آٹھ بجے پہنچیں گے۔
مولانا فضل الرحمان کی زیرصدارت پی ڈی ایم کا اجلاس لاہور میں ہوا۔
میاں افتخار نے اجلاس کے بعد میڈیا کو بتایا کہ مولانا فضل الرحمان لاہور سے جلسے میں شریک ہوں گے۔ مریم نواز بھی لاہور سے جب کہ بلاول بھٹو لالہ موسی سے جلسے کے لیے نکلیں گے۔
میاں افتخار حسین نے کہا کہ حکومت نے آج بھی ہمارے ساتھیوں کو گرفتار کیا، حکومت کے خاتمے اور دوبارہ انتخابات کامطالبہ لے کر نکلے ہیں۔
انہوں نے کہا کہ حکومت کا ڈنڈا استعمال کرکے اپوزیشن کو دیوار سے لگانا مہنگا پڑے گا۔
میاں افتخار حسین نے کہا کہ نرسز ، ڈاکٹرز،اساتذہ، کلرکس ہر شعبے سے تعلق رکھنے والے سراپا احتجاج ہیں
https://jang.com.pk/news/832260
لیڈی ہیلتھ ورکرز کے دھرنے کی حمایت کرتے ہیں، رضا ربانی
سابق چیئرمین سینیٹ اور پاکستان پیپلز پارٹی (پی پی پی) کے رہنما میاں رضا ربانی نے کہا ہے کہ سرکاری ملازمین اور لیڈی ہیلتھ ورکرز کے دھرنے کی حمایت کرتے ہیں۔
سابق چیئرمین سینیٹ میاں رضا ربانی نے اپنے بیان میں کہا کہ یہ احتجاج حکومت کی مزدور دشمن پالیسی اور مہنگائی کے خلاف ہے۔
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ سرکاری ملازمین مہنگائی کے تناسب سے اپنی تنخواہ اور مراعات میں اضافے کا مطالبہ کر رہے ہیں۔
انھوں نے کہا کہ یہ مطالبات جائز ہیں، ملازمت پیشہ طبقہ کے لیے ایک وقت کا کھانا کھانا بھی مشکل ہوتا جا رہا ہے۔
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ قیمتوں میں اضافے میں کارٹل اور حکومت کے سرمایہ دار دوست ملوث ہیں، ملازمین کی جانب سے مناسب تنخواہ کے اسکیل اور ریاستی کمپنیوں کی نجکاری اور برطرفی کے خاتمے کا مطالبہ کیا جا رہا ہے۔
سابق چیئرمین سینیٹ نے کہا کہ حکومت کی نجکاری کی پالیسی آئین کے خلاف ہے، وفاق کے اداروں کی نجکاری مشترکہ مفادات کونسل کے فیصلے سے ہی ممکن ہے۔
ان کا کہنا تھا کہ حکومت نے مزدور دشمن پالیسی اور آئی ایم ایف اور ورلڈ بینک کو خوش کرنے کرے لیے اداروں میں یونین سرگرمیوں پر پابندی عائد کی۔
میاں رضا ربانی کا کہنا تھا کہ بغاوت سے متعلق سیکشن کا طلباء اور مزدوروں پر اطلاق کیا جا رہا ہے، حکومت کے اقدامات کی مذمت کرتے ہیں۔
ان کا یہ بھی کہنا تھا کہ حکومت اس بات کا احساس کرے کہ مزدور تحریکوں پر حملہ، تابوت میں آخری کیل ثابت ہوتا ہے۔
واضح رہے کہ اسلام آباد کی ڈی چوک پر کل سے لیڈی ہیلتھ ورکرز دھرنا دیے بیٹھی ہیں جبکہ اس دوران ان کے حکومتی نمائندوں سے مذاکرات کے 4 دور بھی ناکام ہوچکے ہیں۔
لیڈی ہیلتھ ورکرز نوٹیفکیشن کے اجراء تک دھرنا ختم نہ کرنے پر ڈٹ گئی ہیں، وہ کہتی ہیں کہ تقریباً ڈھائی سال سے کمیٹیوں کا شکار ہیں اب نوٹیفکیشن کے بنا احتجاج ختم نہیں ہوگا۔
https://jang.com.pk/news/832249