Thursday, March 28, 2024
 
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Pakistan’s New De-facto ‘ Chief Executive‘

By B L Saraf

When General Pervaz Musharraf overthrew the elected government of Nawaz Sharif , in October ,1999 and captured state power , in Pakistan , he asked the Constitutional expert Sharifuddin Pirzada to draft Provisional Constitutional Order .“ Musharrafdesignated himself as Chief Executive a position equivalent to the Prime Minister , ostensibly a humanized substitute for Chief Martial law Administrator and President Tarar was told to remain in office and act in accordance with Chief Executive’s Advice .” Ayesha Jalal in The Struggle For Pakistan - A Muslim homeland andGlobal Politics, page 312 .



Well, one may not necessarily believe it , a strong impression has been coming out that the Pakistan Army , like a business company , holds and manages the country as an asset .After all , the sub – continent has had the ignominy of being owned by a merchant company , subscribed by 125 shareholders , and Chartered by the Queen Elizabeth 1 , in 1599 - under the style and name of East – India Company . Under these circumstances, in perfect commercial terms , it was natural for Musharraf to drop the fig leaf and declare himself the “ Chief Executive .” Given the Organizational strength it has , the power it wields over the instruments of state and the control it has over the non- state actors to create mayhem in the neighborhood , “ Pakistanis and analysts of Pakistan have long remarked , with more truth than hyperbole , that while generally countries have armies , in Pakistan the army has thecountry .” C Christine Fair in Fighting To The End –Pakistan Army’s Way of War , Oxford press , page 27.



What was true of Musharraf, is true of other army chiefs , as well . With the difference that Mushararraf had the audacity to announce himself in open as the dejure and de facto Chief Executive while as his successors , without claiming so , have been the defacto heads of a holding company -- the country of Pakistan .



The appointment of General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the new Pak Army Chief has generated a fresh debate , in this country , as to how Pak army will behave towards India and Afghanistan . His appointment is seen , by the observers , as a hint of supremacy of civilian authority over the military establishment . On the face , it looks so. How far will Pak army surrender its powers and clout to guide the foreign policy of the country and bow to the civil authority, in controlling the non-state actors ,which it has been managing and steering over a long period , only time will tell . For that , a look as to how the Pak army has conceived a role for itself and executed the same in the past , becomes necessary . The assessment of the local and foreign observers , who have had a ring side view of thinking and working of Pak army , should give us a sense how it works vis a vis neighbors of Pakistan – India in particular .


Christine Fair writes in her book , ibid at page 7 “…… the Pakistan Army views its struggle with India in existential terms .For Pakistan’s men on horseback , not winning , even repeatedly , is not the same as losing . By simply giving up and accepting the status quo and India’s supremacy is , by definition , defeat . As a former chief of the Army staff explained to me in 2000 , Pakistan’s generals would always prefer to take a calculated risk and be defeated than to do nothing at all . Pakistan’s Army will insist on action at almost at any cost ,even that of presiding over a hallow state . Afterall ,if Pakistan state were to make such concessions to India , it would no longer be a state worth presiding over . By seeing victory as the ability to continue fighting , Pakistan’s Army is able to seize victory even from the jaws of what other observers would deem defeat .”


Carlotta Gall narrates in her book The Wrong Enemy - America in Afghanistan what retired general Talat Masood told her after a meeting with General Pervaz Musharraf “ A few days after 9/11 , Musharraf invited several policy analysts …. My advice to him was you should completely stop supporting the Talliban and jihadi forces in Pakistan , in the sense that the government , the state , must follow the policy completely stopping support . Masood told me Musharraf agreed that support for Taliban should end but insisted that the governmentwould continue its support for the Pakistani groups in Kashmir . The two would be “ compartmentalized “ he said …… Masood , the senior in age says he warned Musharraf that , from experience, it would not be possible to close one operation down and not the other . Still , Musharraf insisted he could do it ..” This duality in the Pakistan policy has created irreconcilable structural problems for the country , which reflect adversely on its policy towards India .



There is a unbreakable relationship of Pak Army with the religious elements , which Ambassador Husain Haqqani describes as an alliance between Mosque and the Military . While assessing role of new Pak Army chief towards his neighbors this fact has to be factored in .
For Kashmir , there is least likelihood that the new General will deviate , substantially , from the path charted out by his predecessors in office . But given the impression that he has been handpicked by Nawaz Sharif , from 4 steps below the ladder to the top , he may allow some leeway to the PM while dealing with India . It is also true that this doesn’t work the same way in Pakistan . We have seen how handpicked Army Chief , Zia hanged his own benefactor, Z A Bhutto . But then 2016 is not 1977 . That should give some hope to the peace loving multitude of the populace living in the sub – continent .





(The author is a Former Principal District & Sessions Judge.Feedback- [email protected] )





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