Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The gap between the civilian government and military in decision making process has hurt the country in the past and the situation remains equal today, said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shrieen Mazari on Friday.

While addressing the launching ceremony of book ‘From Kargil To The Coup’ written by country’s renowned journalist and anchorperson Nasim Zehra, the PTI lawmaker said that the strain in civil-military ties had hampered the pace of development in the country.

“We have not learnt from the past mistakes and blunders. Today, the country needs civil-military unity to move on,” said the PTI lawmaker.

People from various walks of life attended the ceremony, which was held at the Islamabad Club, and appreciated the Nasim Zehra’s work on the unraveled Kargil war that led to a long military coup followed by unfinished war on terror that had been threatening the stability of the country for the past many years.

Present among other keynote speakers were Lt General (r) Amjad Shoaib, former ambassador Riaz Khokar, writer and analyst Ayaz Amir and Opposition Leader in Senate Sherry Rehman.

Ayaz Amir said that no one could ask from GHQ and Foreign Office about the events happened during the Kargil war. “We always make decisions without proper consensus. The Kargil war was a secret at that time and even the corps commanders were unknown of what was going there.”

Lt Gen (r) Amjad Shoaib said that removal of Jehangir Karamat at that time stirred misconception within the country. “When Indian patrolling and later killing of them was observed during the war the Indian newspapers published that they were killed by Kashmiri zealots and we were satisfied here that we were not to be blamed for. But this was not a positive approach.”

He added that the military coup at that time was a blunder by General (r) Pervez Musharraf.

In his address, former ambassador Jehangir Qazi said that when the then Indian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, informed the then Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, about the LoC violations, the latter was not aware about the situation.

Riaz Khokar praised the researched work of Nasim Zehra and called it a mother of all books on the Kargil event. He added that the then prime minister was not aware about the intensity of the situation. “When he smelled a rat he rushed to Washington to inform the US about the possible military coup. But Bill Clinton was not happy with Pakistan and Nawaz Sharif because of the May 28 nuke explosions. “Kargil was nothing but a military misadventure,” he added.

In her concluding remarks, Opposition Leader in Senate Senator Sherry said. We should learn from our mistakes instead of pointing finger at each other. Blaming one another won’t serve the country.”

She continued: “We were not aware what was happening in Kargil at that time. The Indian media was a source of information for us.”

The senator criticised former prime minister Nawaz Sharif for making what she described as anti-establishment speeches and opting to remain mum at that time.

Published in Daily Times, May 26^th 2018.