Daily Times

Coinciding with the latest attempt by PTI and its founding chairman to take the anti-Army campaign – particularly against the person of COAS, General Asim Munir – to a higher level comes a hard-hitting statement by real estate tycoon Malik Riaz Ahmed threatening to unravel things which might create tremors and his assertion that he would never become an approver against Imran Khan and that it could happen only over his dead body.

There is surely a connection between these developments. His statement has created quite a commotion in the already troubled waters of the national landscape. Malik Riaz is a man who has always remained on the right side of any regime and avoided taking sides in the political fight between the parties publicly. However, he has been playing his role behind the scenes on behalf of the ruling parties to settle or influence political events. He has been particularly cautious about uttering anything against the establishment. He is known for his ability to wriggle out of difficult situations by employing his traditional strategy to get the wheel rolling with his ill-gotten money. This latest convulsion by him probably is indicative of the fact that he is trying to give vent to his frustration for having failed to win favours from the present civilian and military leadership. He is probably left with no choice other than to show solidarity with PTI.

A smearing campaign against COAS is tantamount to maligning and denigrating the institution of the Army itself.

His meteoric rise to the status of a tycoon and the power that comes with it is a classic story of rags-to-riches. There is no way in the world one can accumulate such a behemoth fortune through legitimate means of earning, except by hitting a lottery or a gold mine. He is not the only one in this land of the pure. There are hundreds and thousands of them among the politicians, generals, bureaucrats, business community, Judiciary and even in the media industry who have built similar fortunes through illegitimate means. They all have a common cause and would go to any extent to safeguard their collective vested interests. Pakistan enjoys the dubious distinction of being among the most corrupt nations in the world. What makes it possible for these unscrupulous individuals to achieve the status of a tycoon or a billionaire, is the culture of graft and entitlement; a collateral off-shoot of the decadent system of governance.

Malik Riaz accumulated the wealth that he possesses with the help and connivance of people in the corridors of power or connected to the centres of power, obliging them with their due share of the booty. He has connections with the politicians, generals, top bureaucrats, members of the judiciary and some media stalwarts.

He is a certified king of corruption as is corroborated by the offer made by Bahria Town to pay Rs.46o billion and accepted by SC in March 2019 for illegal occupation of land in the Malir district of Karachi and its order to NAB not to file references against Malik Riaz. Yet another ranting example of his corruption and illegal money transactions was the money laundering of 190 million pounds which was detected by the National Crime Agency of the UK and repatriated to Pakistan. It was the same money that was deposited in the SC account by the PTI regime to settle the case in which the SC had given the verdict. Then as compensation for that favour, Riaz Malik is alleged to have provided 260 canals of land to Al Qadir Trust for building a university. Imran Khan and his spouse have been indicted in the Al-Qadir Trust case while Malik Riaz, Shahzad Akbar and Zulfi Bukhari and three others have been declared as proclaimed offenders. The others named in the reference include Farhat Shahzadi a close friend of Bushra Bibi, legal expert for PTI’s Assets Recovery Unit Ziaul Mustafa Nasim. The involvement of Malik Riaz in this scam along with Imran Khan could be another reason for Malik Riaz to stand with the latter after having failed to find a way to get himself out of this scandal. The latest raid on Bahria Town offices in Rawalpindi also indicates that finally Malik Riaz will be made to account for his misdeeds and corruption at all costs.

As for PTI, I am of the firm opinion that it is treading the wrong path by taking on the Army Chief and maligning the Army as an institution allegedly working against the national interests. The information secretary of PTI addressing a press conference after an incident in which the former husband of Bushra Bibi was thrashed outside by the court by lawyers of Imran Khan and supporters of the party categorically stated that their struggle for independence was against only one man i.e. the Army Chief and not the Army.

That is a bizarre suggestion because the Army Chief himself is the institution of the Army. You cannot separate the two from each other. A smearing campaign against COAS is tantamount to maligning and denigrating the institution of the Army itself. The army undoubtedly is a symbol of national unity and custodian of the ideological and physical frontiers of the country whose role in tackling the anti-state forces also deserves unqualified accolades and gratitude of the nation. So anti-Army campaign is actually an anti-Pakistan campaign and any entity indulging in such activity is running the risk of being dubbed as an anti-state party.

The PTI, particularly its founding chairman is well advised to rethink and realize the risks involved in the kind of politics that he is trying to play. Politics needs to be done in conformity with the established norms of democracy and the recognized role of political parties. Confrontational politics can have disastrous consequences for the party itself besides negative fall out on the polity. No patriotic individual or party is supposed to resort to such a course. Politics is the art possible and whatever the issues are they must be resolved through dialogue between the political forces. PTI’s insistence on not engaging in dialogue with other political parties and only talking to the Army Chief is contradictory to its own stance that the Army should have no role in politics. The constitution also does not make any provision for dialogue between the Army and a political party to settle political issues. Therefore, the position taken on dialogue with the Army also negates its much-trumpeted claim that it wants restoration of the constitution in the country.

The writer is a former diplomat and freelance columnist.