pak hi pak
Citizen
While international attention remained focused on the siege of its army's headquarters in Rawalpindi, Pakistan was engulfed by an unseemly power
struggle between the elected government, headed by President Asif Zardari and its army establishment led by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Zardari has been determined to bring the army under civilian control and clip the ISI's wings. He is known to be opposed to the army's practice of arming and supporting radical Islamic groups seeking to undermine the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan and promoting terrorist violence in India. The army thwarted his efforts to bring the ISI under civilian control. Zardari has also found himself at loggerheads on these issues with his own prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, for long a protege of the army establishment.
These differences became public over the provisions of the Kerry-Lugar Act passed by the US Congress, authorising $7.5 billion of economic assistance to Pakistan. A statement issued last week by the army headquarters, after a meeting of its corps commanders presided over by Kayani, alleged that these provisions violated Pakistani sovereignty. The statement called on the country's parliament to decide whether the Act's provisions should be accepted.
This army intervention was intended to create a rift between Zardari, a supporter of the US legislation, and Pakistan's parliament. It came after an unprecedented meeting in Rawalpindi between Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab chief minister and brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was accompanied by the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhury Nisar Ali Khan, on the one hand, and army chief Kayani, on the other. Chaudhury Nisar is spearheading the opposition to the Kerry-Lugar Act in parliament.
Responding to the army's insubordination, Zardari's spokesman noted that it was inappropriate for the army to comment publicly on such a sensitive issue and that its concerns should have been placed before the cabinet's defence committee. Under pressure from the army and Gilani, Zardari is now reportedly being asked to fire his spokesman. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif remains in London, professing good intentions to the Americans even while inciting opposition to the Kerry-Lugar Bill through his party's parliamentarians.
Pakistan is now returning to the 1990s era, when it was ruled by a 'troika' comprising the president, the prime minister and the army chief. During that period, the army chief, General Mirza Aslam Beg, arranged to oust Benazir Bhutto and bring in an alliance of right-wing parties headed by Sharif to power in 1990. The next army chief, General Abdul Waheed Kakkar, forced both President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Sharif to resign, in 1993. Sharif, who entered politics with General Zia ul-Haq's patronage, was again ousted in a coup staged by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, even though he enjoyed overwhelming parliamentary support.
Recent developments have dismayed the Obama administration. The furore in Pakistan over the Kerry-Lugar Act, fomented by Kayani, is largely contrived, as the Pakistan army was kept informed about its provisions when the Bill was being debated in the US Senate. No one denies that the cash-strapped country desperately needs foreign economic assistance. Like past US aid legislation, the Kerry-Lugar Act reflects American and international concerns about Pakistan. It requires the secretary of state to certify that the Pakistan government has acted to prevent "al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed from operating in the territory of Pakistan, including carrying out cross-border attacks, into neighbouring countries".
There are also provisions seeking certification that entities in Pakistan are not involved in nuclear proliferation, that the Pakistan army is under effective civilian scrutiny and control and that all support for terrorist groups from "elements within the Pakistan military or its intelligence services" has ceased. All these provisions are in consonance with the publicly proclaimed policies of the government of Pakistan.
Pakistan is going through turbulent times. While the Americans remain concerned that the ISI is continuing to support Taliban forces operating in Afghanistan, they nevertheless support the measures the Pakistan army is taking to clamp down on radicals headed by the Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and his Uzbek allies in South Waziristan. The army has no option but to take on these militants in South Waziristan, who together with their allies in southern Punjab, pose a threat to the capital Islamabad and even cities like Lahore. These military operations will be prolonged and bloody and could well create resentment amongst Pashtun soldiers within the army.
Further complicating this situation is the squabbling within the ruling 'troika', with an ambitious Sharif waiting in the wings for developments that could force early general elections. Pakistani politicians appear to have learnt no lessons from past military takeovers.
India and the international community will have to keep a close watch on the emerging scenario within Pakistan. There is already concern on the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, accentuated after its army failed to prevent militants from storming and entering the hallowed precincts of its headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The writer is a former high commissioner to Pakistan.
struggle between the elected government, headed by President Asif Zardari and its army establishment led by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Zardari has been determined to bring the army under civilian control and clip the ISI's wings. He is known to be opposed to the army's practice of arming and supporting radical Islamic groups seeking to undermine the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan and promoting terrorist violence in India. The army thwarted his efforts to bring the ISI under civilian control. Zardari has also found himself at loggerheads on these issues with his own prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, for long a protege of the army establishment.
These differences became public over the provisions of the Kerry-Lugar Act passed by the US Congress, authorising $7.5 billion of economic assistance to Pakistan. A statement issued last week by the army headquarters, after a meeting of its corps commanders presided over by Kayani, alleged that these provisions violated Pakistani sovereignty. The statement called on the country's parliament to decide whether the Act's provisions should be accepted.
This army intervention was intended to create a rift between Zardari, a supporter of the US legislation, and Pakistan's parliament. It came after an unprecedented meeting in Rawalpindi between Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab chief minister and brother of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, who was accompanied by the leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, Chaudhury Nisar Ali Khan, on the one hand, and army chief Kayani, on the other. Chaudhury Nisar is spearheading the opposition to the Kerry-Lugar Act in parliament.
Responding to the army's insubordination, Zardari's spokesman noted that it was inappropriate for the army to comment publicly on such a sensitive issue and that its concerns should have been placed before the cabinet's defence committee. Under pressure from the army and Gilani, Zardari is now reportedly being asked to fire his spokesman. Meanwhile, Nawaz Sharif remains in London, professing good intentions to the Americans even while inciting opposition to the Kerry-Lugar Bill through his party's parliamentarians.
Pakistan is now returning to the 1990s era, when it was ruled by a 'troika' comprising the president, the prime minister and the army chief. During that period, the army chief, General Mirza Aslam Beg, arranged to oust Benazir Bhutto and bring in an alliance of right-wing parties headed by Sharif to power in 1990. The next army chief, General Abdul Waheed Kakkar, forced both President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Sharif to resign, in 1993. Sharif, who entered politics with General Zia ul-Haq's patronage, was again ousted in a coup staged by General Pervez Musharraf in 1999, even though he enjoyed overwhelming parliamentary support.
Recent developments have dismayed the Obama administration. The furore in Pakistan over the Kerry-Lugar Act, fomented by Kayani, is largely contrived, as the Pakistan army was kept informed about its provisions when the Bill was being debated in the US Senate. No one denies that the cash-strapped country desperately needs foreign economic assistance. Like past US aid legislation, the Kerry-Lugar Act reflects American and international concerns about Pakistan. It requires the secretary of state to certify that the Pakistan government has acted to prevent "al-Qaeda, the Taliban and associated terrorist groups like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Jaish-e-Mohammed from operating in the territory of Pakistan, including carrying out cross-border attacks, into neighbouring countries".
There are also provisions seeking certification that entities in Pakistan are not involved in nuclear proliferation, that the Pakistan army is under effective civilian scrutiny and control and that all support for terrorist groups from "elements within the Pakistan military or its intelligence services" has ceased. All these provisions are in consonance with the publicly proclaimed policies of the government of Pakistan.
Pakistan is going through turbulent times. While the Americans remain concerned that the ISI is continuing to support Taliban forces operating in Afghanistan, they nevertheless support the measures the Pakistan army is taking to clamp down on radicals headed by the Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud and his Uzbek allies in South Waziristan. The army has no option but to take on these militants in South Waziristan, who together with their allies in southern Punjab, pose a threat to the capital Islamabad and even cities like Lahore. These military operations will be prolonged and bloody and could well create resentment amongst Pashtun soldiers within the army.
Further complicating this situation is the squabbling within the ruling 'troika', with an ambitious Sharif waiting in the wings for developments that could force early general elections. Pakistani politicians appear to have learnt no lessons from past military takeovers.
India and the international community will have to keep a close watch on the emerging scenario within Pakistan. There is already concern on the safety of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal, accentuated after its army failed to prevent militants from storming and entering the hallowed precincts of its headquarters in Rawalpindi.
The writer is a former high commissioner to Pakistan.
