Daily Times

A slew of speeches and interviews from Pakistan’s new civilian and existing military leaders have appeared since the country celebrated its 66th Independence Day a week ago. Given the myriad complex problems the country faces, there was remarkably little in these words that may inspire confidence within Pakistan or outside. Additionally, several terrorist attacks and security breaches in the previous weeks laid bare the abysmal preparedness of the Pakistani state where it should be in a state of preparedness: the thought and processes both leave much to be desired.

Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani made his Independence Day remarks at a nighttime ceremony within the walls of the Pakistan Military Academy, Abbottabad. Some in the media celebrated the under-seven-minutes speech as if it was akin to General Dwight Eisenhower’s plan presented to Winston Churchill and Franklin D Roosevelt for the D-Day invasion. General Kayani talked about domestic terrorism being the principal threat to Pakistan’s security. The army chief made a fair point that there could be a difference of opinion over strategy to counter the terrorist menace but bowing before it was no solution. General Kayani has made it a habit to deliver such speeches on red-letter days with little practical follow up in between. He should also tell how exactly has he put into practice this thought or intends to do just months before his impending retirement.

From being in charge of investigating the assassination attempts on his then boss General Pervez Musharraf in 2003 to his stint as the Director General of the ISI to his extension as the army chief, he had every opportunity to formulate the counterterrorism policy, garner political and public support for it and then put it into practice. After all, he and his associate, General Ahmed Shuja Pasha led the ruckus against the previous civilian government over the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act, the Memogate matter, and to block civilian control of the ISI. He had no qualms about the ISPR issuing public rebukes to an elected prime minister and the superior judiciary on his watch. He has consistently resisted both domestic political pressure and international demands to act against the transnational terrorists holed up in FATA, especially the North Waziristan Agency. What is being sold to the international audience is that the Pakistan army wants to take decisive action against the terrorists in FATA but the bickering politicians cannot build a consensus to back it up.

The fact remains that the Pakistan army gets what it wants. If it had a serious desire to move against jihadists in the frontier regions or in Punjab, there is little the politicians could have done to stop it. General Kayani and his associates have expressed remarkably little concern publicly about the Punjab-based sectarian terrorists roaming free and the anti-India jihadist rabble-rousers leading prayer congregations at government-owned sports stadiums to ratchet up jingoism. These assorted right-wing groups and religious political parties running amok have consistently set the street tone against any counterterrorism operations and bashed the United States. The equally jingoistic Urdu media has amplified these shrill pro-jihadist voices exponentially and consolidated the ‘this is not our war’ narrative. These are the exact same actors that supported the army taking on civilians over the Kerry-Lugar-Berman Act, the Memogate and the ISI matter. This cast of characters springs into action every time the army needs them to.

General Kayani’s speech remains merely lip service and no change will follow in the army’s stance vis-à-vis its jihadist assets oriented towards both Afghanistan and India and its drastically flawed good/bad Taliban policy.

The previous civilian government had capitulated to the media/street pressure and abdicated to the army even the nominal say it had in national security and foreign policies. The outgoing dispensation’s own performance was also a ball and chain around its policy foot. There had been a cautious optimism about the new Prime Minister Mr Nawaz Sharif taking charge with a comfortable parliamentary majority and a battle-ready team. It would be too early to write Mr Sharif off but his words and that of his advisors like Mr Sartaj Aziz and Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan raise serious doubts about both the capacity and will of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to taken on the terrorists.

In about an hour-long address to the nation on August 19, Mr Sharif gave under five minutes to countering terrorism. His roadmap to fight the jihadist violence was fuzzy at best. Mr Sharif went into the specifics of explaining circular debt and cited rupee amounts while highlighting his economic priorities but could not bring himself to name the terrorist groups that he ended up inviting to a dialogue. He spoke like a commerce and finance minister and displayed more oomph when mentioning his big-ticket mega projects, catering predominantly to his mercantile base in Punjab. But not once did Mr Sharif sound like a defence or foreign minister — two portfolios that he holds — let alone a prime minster in the Churchill mode rallying a nation against an existential threat. He could have at least paid a befitting tribute to the civilians and soldiers killed by the terrorists if not pledging that their sacrifice will not go in vain. Mr Sharif conveniently turfed the Balochistan crisis to its provincial government and said nothing about the war-ravaged FATA and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. His words on policy towards India are welcome but were even less than skimpy on Afghanistan.

Mr Sharif’s reticence on counterterrorism and the Pakistani state’s disarray in the face of organised assaults like the Dera Ismail Khan jailbreak are ominous signs. After all, it took one unhinged loner in Islamabad to expose the preparedness of the state. Mr Sharif’s laidback attitude towards national security matters suggests neither the urgency nor the resolve needed to take the terrorism bull by the horns. He is right to say that national security is tied to economic prowess and progress but bullet trains cannot run while bullets are raining. Motorways, power projects, international fiscal obligations and education cannot wait, but neither can safety and security of the population they are intended for. An old Farsi adage goes: dunya pas e marg e maa, cheh darya wa cheh sarab (Would it even matter if the world is a river or a mirage after I die?).

The prime minister must reflect on his lacklustre and non-specific speech. He has the wherewithal to do much better and he must. One can only wish him success.

The writer can be reached at mazdaki@me.com and he tweets @mazdaki