Pakistan: Democrats driving wedge between institutions
General Ashfaq Kayani deflates Yusaf Gillani's charade to force the Army to throw the political government out when he said, "Army has no desire to derail democracy."
By S. M. Hali
One would expect that those who claim to be champions of democracy would endeavour to keep the banner of democracy aloft but it appears that the same democrats are sacrificing the notion at the altar of their own self-preservation. The memogate scandal is being examined by the Supreme Court. One would expect that the current political dispensation ruling in Islamabad would let justice prevail and the judicial proceedings to take their legitimate course but nay they are busy hurling impediments in the way of the judicial system. Why are they croaking so loud? Is it that they fear their own weaknesses or veiled function in the macabre plot to upstage the military will get exposed?
Mossad plays an important role in the functioning of state functionaries of Israel, similarly Indian security agency RAW plays an important part in the Indian system of government. One never hears the Israeli government or Indian administration blackball Mossad or RAW but in Pakistan; it is the government and its sympathizers in the media, who have turned their knives on both the ISI and Pakistan Army. There was a time, when the Army in Pakistan would not refrain from usurping the reins of power at the drop of a hat. It needed an excuse to topple the applecart of democracy. Sometimes it was the corrupt practices of the democratic setup while at others it was sheer lack of governance. The current set up in the Army has resisted all temptations to assume power. There have been numerous occasions and opportunities but they have been avoided to give democracy, still at a nascent stage in Pakistan, a chance to thrive and take roots.
The government on the other hand, in order to hide its own inadequacy, has been conspiring to either denigrate the Army or pull the ISI directly under its own control. It forgets that the Army is its greatest benefactor and ISI its own implement to ensure security but the government is hell bent upon disparaging both institutions. The smooth functioning of a government depends upon harmony and close coordination between the pillars of the state, however here in Pakistan; it is the democrats themselves who are trying shoot to shoot themselves in the foot by driving a wedge between institutions. General Kayani needs neither recommendation nor reference. His services the state are well recorded and known. General Pasha, who, while serving as a Contingent and Sector Commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone, was reverently known as the “Little General”. His contributions to the war on terror have earned him good repute.
It is unfortunate that the US, which is Pakistan’s ally in the war on terror, has its own myopic agenda, which have been discerned by Generals Kayani and Pasha. The US tried to impose its will on Pakistan at the Istanbul Conference but the duo put impediments in the path of the US agenda, since it did not serve Pakistan. At Bonn Pakistan boycotted the conference on Afghanistan. Now the US has identified that the Pak Army and ISI are going to foil every nefarious plan of theirs. They are trying to malign the Pak Army as well as the ISI and for this they have found wiling partners in the ruling junta at Islamabad. Little do the democrats at Islamabad realize that the pit they dig for others, they may fall in themselves. Hussain Haqqani’s defence counsel is baying for the blood of General Pasha and seeks his resignation without taking cognizance of the fact that the General had rendered his resignation after the Osama Bin Laden episode but was requested by the parliamentarians themselves to stay on and carry forward the good work. Driving a wedge between institutions now would be counterproductive.