The Pokhran nuclear explosions by India on 11 and 13 May 1998 plunged Pakistan into a “damned if you will, damned if you don’t” crisis. The gloating rhetoric and venom flowing out of the BJP leadership than governing India was startling, if not altogether shocking. Clearly intent on rubbing our noses in the dirt, their rhetoric pushed us into a corner. As a knee-jerk reaction an immediate tit-for-tat nuclear blast was a non-starter, however the morale of both the military and civilians across the board nose-dived within days to an all-time low. It was Hobson ’s Choice, unless we reacted we would not have any credible deterrent, if we did international approbation (and sanctions thereof) would swiftly follow.
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s single-minded obsession was to get a nuclear deterrent to equal India’s Bomb even if we “had to eat grass”, to Nawaz Sharif’s undying credit he took the brave decision to carry out the nuclear blast in the face of international pressure. In a perverse way one must be thankful to the Indians, the Pokhran blasts let us come out of the nuclear closet, without that cast-iron “casus belli” we would have had to face the full weight of international retribution. We soon messed up our nuclear “coming out” party, the freezing of all foreign currency (FC) accounts within hours of the Chagai blast destroyed our credibility as a financial safe-haven, probably for good.
Nawaz Sharif’s economic-oriented vision envisaging rapid development of the socio-economic infra-structure was symbolized by the Islamabad-Lahore Motorway. However he could not quite reconcile to his businessmen colleagues (and himself) paying the taxes that make up the revenues for running any country. At his urging Moinuddin Khan had abandoned a seven figure salary with Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong to become Chairman CBR (now FBR), he died of a broken heart at this rank duplicity. Sharif talked the good talk about the Sartaj Aziz-crafted economic reforms but failed to implement them because of political and personal compulsions. Musharraf’s economic golden years of the early 2000s was possible only because of (1) Nawaz Sharif policies being implemented and (2) hard cash in US military aid to Pakistan post 9/11 being diverted for budgetary support. The ultimate tragedy is the perception of our Armed Forces gobbling up US $ 10 billon plus for military hardware from the US, actual figures show they got less than 15%, 85% went to support the consumer-friendly budget sustaining the “feel good” economic environment prevalent. Musharraf allowed master of PR, Finance Minister Shaukat Aziz, to short-change the Defence Services so that he could look good as the leader of an upwardly mobile “economically prosperous” country.
Both Mian Nawaz Sharif and Musharraf have a lot in common. Counting on the notoriously short memories of the Pakistani public, they conveniently gloss over their repeated faux pas, in Sharif’s case not excluding the infamous “yellow cab” scheme, in Musharraf’s, Kargil. Neither Sharif nor Musharraf belong to the landed gentry or had any background of politics, both are Army products. While berating the military, Mian Sahib conveniently forgets he came into politics because of the direct patronage of Zia’s Martial Law.
It is not unusual in South Asia to turn on your benefactors and bite the hand that has fed you. As PM, Sharif fell out with five successive Army Chiefs, General Mirza Aslam Beg, General Asif Nawaz (died in office) and General Wahid Kakar in his first tenure. In his second stint as PM, General Karamat was retired early for advocating the National Security Council (NSC) concept, Sharif interpreted this as a conspiracy by the military for a more active role in Pakistani politics. Superceding the far more deserving (and nominally senior) Lt Gen Ali Kuli Khan, he appointed Musharraf as COAS. Attempting to remove Musharraf on Oct 12, 1999, Sharif’s action backfired. While he does have a genuine grouse against Musharraf for the counter-coup that ousted him as PM, and certainly Mahmood had no business handcuffing him, why is he persisting in attacking the whole Army? Given deep pockets to sustain a battery of lawyers, why doesn’t he go legally after Musharraf? He may like to add Muzzafar Usmani, Mahmood and Aziz to that list. The rest of the generals had no idea about Musharraf’s ambitions, they just did not take kindly to Sharif throwing out one Army Chief after another at his own sweet will.
The Sharifs are blatantly hypocritical about their holier-than-thou stance about the rule of law. In November 1997 PML (N) rank and file, duly bussed in by Shahbaz Sharif from Lahore, physically attacked the Supreme Court (SC), even entering the Courtrooms and performing “Bhangra” live on CCTV. “Wikileaks” has significantly revealed Shahbaz Sharif telling US Consul General, Bryan Hunt in confidence that “even if he was restored, Iftikhar Chaudhry would soon be replaced”. Give credit to Zardari, at least he is not a hypocrite, he is open about his antipathy for the Chief Justice.
Abbottabad embarrassed and humiliated Pakistan, voices were raised across the world to ‘punish’ Pakistan for ‘harbouring’ Osama Bin Laden for a decade. How come no one asks questions about how brutal Serb General Ratko Mladic, responsible for the genocide of over 8000 muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, evaded the dragnet of all western govts and their intelligence agencies for over 15 years while living in the center of Europe in his cousin’s house in a village in Serbia? And what about his boss Karadzic doing the same for 12 years, even running a medical clinic in the center of Belgrade? The US should reveal the contents of the computer discs and hard discs the SEALS unit removed from the Bin Laden compound, that clearly is the “smoking gun” about the purported “official” or “unofficial” support for Bin Laden in Pakistan. Accessories to murder of over 40000 Pakistanis, we need the names of these despicable characters!
With Imran Khan’s appeal spreading far and wide, particularly among newly registered young voters, Mian Nawaz Sharif’s latest political forays represent a rather belated change of heart (nothing to do with the recent heart procedure he had in London). By clambering onto the bandwagon of the causes Imran Khan has been espousing, Mian Sahib is vainly attempting to steal Imran Khan’s thunder.
The Indian deployment on our eastern borders constitutes more than four times our total strength, further depleted by the moving of some of our operational reserves to fight Counter-Insurgency (COIN) operations. Does Nawaz Sharif understand the dangerous implications of India operationalizing its Cold Start Doctrine (CSD)? Are the Indian troops deployed on our borders out on a picnic? The same man who stood tall on May 28, 1998 now says that India “is not our enemy”. There is a limit to appeasement, Mian Sahib needs to read up about Munich.
Pakistan should be thankful for the deterrent value of the nuclear bomb. While May 28, 1998 was certainly his finest hour, barring the “breakout” from Raiwind on Mar 16, 2009 that led to the restoration of the CJ, it has been downhill since. Will the real Mian Nawaz Sharif please stand up and be counted for what he really stands for?
Courtesy: The News
