Daily Times

It was delayed, but it couldn’t be forever. The briefing had to be. It was inevitable.

A lot was said by the DG, ISPR, but there was some that was left unsaid: “Silence is also an expression”. Well, it certainly is, and a compelling one at that.

He also said that the army only obeyed the orders which were conveyed in the Panama Papers issue and termed the role of the intelligence agencies in the probe conducted by the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) as strictly ‘constitutional’.

DG, ISPR conceded that there may be ‘links’ between the ISI and the militants, but, these ‘links’ should not be confused with ‘support’ for them.

But, when he chartered into unfamiliar territory and pinpointed the unsatisfactory nature of the current economic indicators, it raised eyebrows: “Instability, be it political, economic or developmental in nature, is not in the country’s interest and the matter needs to be resolved”.

He applauded the conduct of the Rangers personnel who had stopped the interior minister from entering the courtroom: “We need to appreciate them for their commitment to duty”. They would do the same even if the COAS were the person concerned.

Now, this bit about discipline and duty is something which the political demagogues will be unable to understand. For them, duty is duty to their whims and fancies alone. This patent abomination was put on public display when the interior minister went berserk on not being allowed entry into the courtroom where he wanted to show his allegiance to a disgraced, former prime minister as an affront to the apex court of the country. After all, the two share a common legacy of despotism running through their veins ala General Ziaul Haq!

On the lighter side, I would recommend to the interior minister to give serious thought to his prospects in the theatre. May be he should get in touch with the people at Shakespeare’s Globe in London who generally stage the celebrated playwright’s tragedies — a sampler of which was enacted so masterfully by Ahsan Iqbal in broad daylight. Did you see him going through the acts of fuming, frothing and yelling after failing to gatecrash the court’s premises? Indeed, a great performance!

But, what is really contained in the military’s ploy of silence? Going beyond the veneer of niceties that the statement may be embellished with, it reflects serious disequilibrium of relations between the civil and the military arms of the state.

But, what is really contained in the military’s ploy of silence? Going beyond the veneer of niceties that the statement may be embellished with, it reflects serious disequilibrium of relations between the civil and the military arms of the state

The paramount question that arises is why does the military have to engage so extensively on so many matters which, strictly speaking, may not fall within their ambit? Is this so because it is interventionist by nature, or are there serious issues plaguing the body politic of the state which require immediate attention with the government incapable or unwilling to do so? This over-arching, larger-than-life personification of an institution — what are the inherent messages it carries and how does it presage a future which, by all rational and dispassionate accounts, appears to be alarmingly bleak?

And why is it that whenever one or the other political oligarchy comes under pressure because of their own misdoings and incapacities, multiple scenarios are triggered through paid cronies to cultivate an impression that the military wants to take over?

Understandably, the rapidly deteriorating internal situation in the country, verging on strife and chaos, was discussed in detail at the Corps Commanders’ huddle. Instead of commenting directly on the political shenanigans, the military opted to critique the deteriorating economic state. Therein may be contained the military’s serious reservations about the deplorable political games being played and additional fault lines being created in the process.

There is no escaping the reality that a horrible mess is piled up around us which has to be cleared. There are gaping holes in virtually all aspects of governance with dominant stress on crass optics rather than substance.

Some of the high-profile projects of the ruling party have already hit the dust while others are crumbling. What, however, will not be retrieved is tons of investment made on these hastily-designed, non-sustainable projects.

This dereliction of duty — doesn’t this fall within the ambit of an abominable form of intellectual and financial corruption? And which is the institution that will hold these criminals to account?

On the foreign policy front — a critical subject in times of fast shifting regional and international dynamics — the country survived without a full-time foreign minister for over four years. When one was appointed, he moved from one paradigm to the other, miming one narrative after another in quick succession leaving friends and foes dumbfounded. In the process, more damage was done than good, rendering Pakistan the laughing stock of the world.

Instead of concentrating on remedying the increasing woes the country is enduring, the stratagem the ruling party has adopted to remain relevant will complicate matters further. Enacting patently undemocratic and person-specific changes, or delivering painful and self-righteous harangues accusing the judiciary and the military of conspiring to throw the democratic government out hardly provide a remedy to steer the country out of the existent crisis. On the contrary, this is like pushing it hard into a long, dark tunnel with not a trickle of light filtering through.

There is a dire need for forging consensus among institutions, most notably the executive, the judiciary and the military. It is only when these institutions gel together and start delivering in accordance with the charter of duties and responsibilities assigned to them that the state will function as an organized and disciplined unit and the looming threat of chaos could be averted.

My word of caution for the pernicious political actors: it is time for you to put your act together. It is also time for you to come out clean. Stop this mala fide assault against the military and the judiciary. These institutions have the strength and resilience to bounce back. But, the battering the state may take in the event of a prolonged confrontation will be difficult to salvage.

Pay heed to the sound of silence. It says much more than words may.

The writer is a political and security strategist, and heads the Regional Peace Institute — an Islamabad-based think tank. Email: raoofhasan@hotmail.com. Twitter: @RaoofHasan

Published in Daily Times, October 10^th 2017.