Daily Times

Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) supremo, Asif Ali Zardari’s speech has opened up Pandora’s Box. In a hard hitting speech, Mr Zardari warned the federal government and armed forces to stop meddling in the political space of Sindh government or be ready to face retaliation. Mr Zardari feels that by targeting political entities and nabbing government officials through raids, the Rangers are exceeding their mandate of eliminating terrorism from Karachi and are challenging the writ of provincial government, leading to an enhanced civil-military imbalance. Mr Zardari has never been a great orator and this speech was not very well-crafted. However, the core message of the speech needs serious deliberation. Rather than focusing on the issues that Mr Zardari raised about the encroachment of civilian territory, the media buzz has been focused on the prevalent corruption of the PPP government in Sindh.
There is no doubt that the PPP has a serious corruption problem to deal with. The perception of rent-seeking, which has gradually evolved since the 1990s, has hurt the PPP a great deal. Since the party’s leadership, especially the current one, is not bothered to counter the allegations or correct them, it has encouraged many in the ranks and files to indulge in rent-seeking themselves. PPP is not the only party that indulges in such rent-seeking but it is the party whose only strength has been its support amongst the masses, unlike those backed by powerful quarters. This perception has gradually eroded the party’s support base, particularly in the urban areas.
Yet, one cannot deny the weight of Mr Zardari’s argument. Zarb-e-Azb and the subsequent Karachi operation were launched to eliminate the Islamic militancy that has engulfed the country for over a year. The operation soon began to target the MQM, at first, and then the Sindh government itself. If there are issues regarding the Sindh government’s corruption, the way to tackle them is not by having masked Rangers raid government buildings. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA) exist for that very purpose. Moreover, targeting Sindh alone, when there are allegations of wrongdoing in many projects in Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, will only turn this drive of accountability into political and regional victimisation. The state cannot afford to take such action because of the troubles we are currently facing here, but more so because of the opportunity that we have.
The establishment’s recent power play has not been successful. After memogate, the PPP government managed to survive. Last year, the PTI protests had all the indications of support from powerful quarters and yet it failed to materialise. Efforts to nab the MQM have only strengthened Altaf Hussain’s hold on his support base. One wonders why those who were once all powerful and are still the most powerful institution of the country are doing things this way. In my opinion, this change from all-powerful to the most powerful is the cause. They fail to realise that because of political evolution, they will need to share power with others, which is something they are finding hard to cope with. Thus, they go full throttle in the political realm, hoping to reclaim the influence they once enjoyed.
The Army needs to realise is that as the Army’s stake in the power equation reduces, increases the regional and global footprint of Pakistan owing to emergence of a multi-polar world, rise of Asia, and decline of traditional European powers. This offers a huge opportunity for the country and creates a vital role for its armed force.
The army’s strategic doctrine needs to move beyond this day to day firefighting and vying for survival, to focus on preparing for the opportunity that awaits. It cannot do so unless it reverts back to its fundamental function of ensuring national security. To achieve this goal, the country needs to be harmonious and a political system that does not discriminate needs to be put in place. Discrimination leads to chaos, which will consume energies that can be better utilised elsewhere.
The desire to bring the businesses of the country under the writ of the state is legitimate but the army cannot achieve it alone. If the army wants to do this, it will need to find partners amongst the political entities who matter in Sindh. If the former supreme commander is having a tiff with the institution, there is something horribly wrong with the design of the national security establishment. Being the architects of the system, the army men know that the system is not about what is right or wrong but about finding a balanced.
When the dust of the media trial settles, we will find out that Zardari’s statement has initiated a chain reaction. It will initiate a debate for accountability and the lens will be on the commercial interests of the army as well. Political parties can afford such controversies and emerge from them but national institutions do not have this luxury when the stakes are this high. How the army manages this will determine its stature in times to come. The rank and file of the military must think about what sort of image and future they want for their institution and what can and does hurt their public perception. No one from the outside can do this for them or even compel them to do it. The army needs to decide whether it wants to be labelled as a Punjabi army (which unfortunately led to the East Pakistan debacle) or as a lynchpin of the emerging regional security order from Suez to Kutch. The latter requires the sharing of power. The army’s choice is tied to the future of Pakistan and can either make it a regional power or a country facing fissures and chaos.

The author can be reached on twitter at @aalimalik