While the Osama Bin Laden (OBL) raid was indeed disastrous for the Army’s image, to condemn the ISI outright without hard evidence for the horrific Saleem Shahzad kidnapping and murder is terribly unfair. Casting aspersions and accusations on flimsy basis without evidence is normal in a society where defamation laws are neither strong enough nor enforceable. The govt knew well that unilaterally naming SC Judges to head the Enquiry Commissions without the permission of the Chief Justice (CJ) of the Supreme Court (SC) would be a non-starter. This manipulated delay gave a false perception that the Army was attempting to thwart the two enquiries and thus had to face more approbation in the media while the govt’s top officials shed crocodile tears.
One finds it impossible to morally reconcile the strident criticism directed against those in uniform to the casualties being suffered by the Pakistan Army on a daily basis. Those unleashing unrelenting venom and hatred on the electronic and print media may certainly have very justifiable grievances because of excesses against them during Martial Laws (and even afterwards), the unfortunate fact is that even those with motivated bias and/or even a paid agenda cannot justify the scathing denunciation of the entire Army’s rank and file even as they are fighting and dying for what is essentially the sins of the few. The unfortunate irony, clubbing those individuals responsible for misdemeanors with the vast mass of the innocent in uniform will allow the culpable to escape accountability. Why are those individuals accused of alleged crimes not being named and singled out to be charged individually in a court of law instead of the whole Army being maligned unless the real motivation is different, to defame the Army as an institution?
To quote from my article on May 23, 1988, “Leave the Army Alone” at about the time the Afghan War was winding down, “the Civil War will intensify and ebb in Afghanistan but the pressures on Pakistan will increase, both physical and psychological. Needless to say, it will test all of Pakistan’s patience not to be drawn into the vortex or allow the war to spill into Pakistan, particularly into the urban areas of Pakistan which will be the prime enemy target. The single most positive factor in Pakistan for peace and tranquility is the strong, stable Pakistan Army, the finest fighting machine in the world, a reputation that particularly wards off adventurism from our loving neighbour, India. It is in our self-interest to sustain and motivate this fine Army and not resort to self-flagellation. Criticism, if any, should be well conceived and objectively targetted without slurring the reputation of the Army as a whole”, unquote.
Unfortunately even those representatives of the people that one truly had faith and trust in have joined the “criticism” bandwagon without thinking the consequences to the country through. This was not so two decades ago, to quote my article “Keeping One’s Cool” on August 16, 1988, “one of the prime ploys since centuries is that if you cannot beat somebody on the battlefield, use psychological and other forms of subterfuge to undercut the base of support and gain victory. The atmosphere in the media is being methodically polluted and vitiated against the Army, complicated by the fact that the long benign martial law had demilitarized the military mind to an extent. Martial laws, unless absolutely necessary, do not do any country any good, and when imposed must be short and effective, without debilitating the capabilities of the Army as an institution”. Was I wrong when I wrote in the same article, “An intricate smear campaign has been particularly mounted against our Armed Forces as an institution, both internally and externally, with certain voluble and immature neophytes in political circles being used as puppets on a string by those vested interests who would rather do without a strong and credible Pakistan Army. Our major political leaders of all shades have, however, shown great maturity by not indulging in similar muck-raking”, unquote? Unlike than, Mian Nawaz Sharif has a justifiable grouse against Musharraf but why go after the whole Army as an institution? Despite what Mian Sahib thinks, the rank and file of the Army thought highly of him (and grudgingly still do), why is he bent on turning them against him? No wonder Asif Ali Zardari, claiming to be holier-than-thou, is laughing all the way to the bank!
While imposing Martial Law amounts to subverting of the Constitution, if the conditions in the country require that intervention to save the country from descending into anarchy, than those in uniform have a moral obligation to risk their lives in doing so, for a limited time and with certain conditions paramount. Without the know-how or expertise of governance, they must never try to rule the country themselves, instead they must support the civilian bureaucracy who are already engaged in and have experience in governance set up a caretaker govt. If ever forced into subverting the Constitution, the leaders of the military coup must go before the SC and explain their reasons for extra-constitutional intervention and the period that the Caretaker set-up would possibly require to put things right, particularly in ensuring a credible electoral exercise. The SC can set up an Accountability Commission under their aegis (with the Army’s role limited to logistics support) to ensure the bureaucracy does not go berserk in their governance. Once a new elected democratic govt is in place, the leaders of the military coup should voluntarily surrender themselves before the SC for falling afoul of Article 6 of the Constitution. They are soldiers and if the SC decides they had acted in bad faith than (or during the Caretaker set-up) they must be so charge-sheeted and be prepared to face the consequences of their action, including the extreme penalty of death if necessary. Are not their soldiers dying everyday for the country in FATA, Swat and other places for what they believe in?
The Army has no reason to be defensive about the vagaries of a few individuals, it has nothing to be ashamed of as an institution. The soldier’s patriotism begins with a deeply imbued courage of conviction, with the embodiment of sacrifice for what one really believes in, the totality of love and devotion to duty and responsibility and the lack of fear in facing upto the consequences of one’s actions in good faith, not just the ability to run off at the mouth. People who have no concept of nationhood or heard a bullet fired in anger cannot begin to understand the rudiments of patriotism. A soldier has not much to offer except his life for his country and a deep conviction that in the sacrificing of his life he will be saving that of countless others. No one in the country except a soldier (a sailor and an airman) is expected to give up his life for his country when required to do so, his life is forfeit to the nation.
One has to hand it to Asif Zardari, he has turned the tables on those who wanted to hold him accountable for corruption. Does anyone remember what the initials NRO stand for?
Courtesy: The News
