Daily Times

In the modern democratic state structure, the army is one of those four institutions that lay the foundation of a country. Pakistan is also a modern democratic state where the army is playing an important role from day one. The blood of the martyrs of army soldiers flows in the foundation of Pakistan. It is only due to the bravery of our army that we are living peacefully in this country. The Pakistan Army crushed the monster of terrorism on this soil and won the war on one of the most difficult battlefields in the world.

It is not an easy task to take the command of Pakistan Army as this post brings many hidden challenges with it. Only a man with strong nerves can take this daunting task of handling immense pressure. General Qamar Javed Bajwa is successfully leading the Pakistan Army for the last six years. All the institutions of our armed forces including the Pakistan Army, Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy are fulfilling their duties efficiently. The army has the major responsibilities keeping in view the situation of our region and therefore it has to take a lead. Unfortunately, it has become a fashion in Pakistan to criticise the army without any reason.

It has been seen just recently that some so-called journalists and Youtubers are criticising the army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa for their hollow fame. They are only helping the nefarious designs of enemies by doing so. He is leading the largest army in the Muslim world and the ninth biggest army in the whole world. First, the critics of Gen Bajwa must have a look at themselves. What have they achieved so far that they started criticising the most successful army chief? The critics don’t have any worth and they just want to get fake fame through this propaganda campaign of the enemy forces.

Only a man with strong nerves can take up the daunting task of handling immense pressure.

It should be noted here that Gen Bajwa is a man with really strong nerves. He is mature enough that he isn’t bothering to respond to his critics. In this country, even a councillor of the Union Council doesn’t listen to criticism but the Chief of Army Staff is tolerating all this rubbish with an open heart. It shows the class of the chief who is leading our army bravely. Hailing from the Baloch Regiment, Gen Bajwa was commissioned in the Pakistan Army in 1978 and he is wearing the uniform for last more than four decades. He got the command of the largest army in the Muslim World on November 29, 2016, and became the 10th Chief of Army Staff to further lead a sacred mission. Operation Rad-ul-Fasad was launched against the terrorist organisations right after he took the command of Pakistan Army. Successful operations were conducted across the country against the terrorists and their facilitators. The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was started just due to the success of this military-led operation. Pakistan was made a peaceful country by crushing the terrorists from Gawadar to Karachi. The operation is continued for the last six years and hundreds of safe havens for terrorists have been destroyed.

It is just due to the vision of Gen Bajwa that America had to take the help of Pakistan for its exit from Afghanistan. Gen Bajwa played his cards so smartly that the world superpower was forced to accept the significance of Pakistan and the US sought our support in this Afghan game. Similarly, we cannot find any previous example when the Kashmir issue was highlighted as vociferously as we saw during the tenure of Gen Bajwa. He united the whole nation on one platform and today even a Pakistani child is very well aware of the Kashmir issue. It can be rightly said that Gen Bajwa reinvigorated the Kashmir issue once again.

From visiting the families of martyrs to the success of operation Rad-ul-Fasad, from highlighting the Kashmir issue to oust the US from Afghanistan and from reviving cricket in Pakistan to spending Eid days with his soldiers on the frontline, the list of Gen Bajwa’s achievements is quite long. Due to the unique personality of Gen Bajwa, the enemy has started a nefarious propaganda campaign against him only to make our army controversial. We should also not forget that it is just because of Gen Bajwa that Pakistan is close to coming out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF). He was the man who convinced the political leaders to implement the clauses of FATF that ultimately helped us and Pakistan will be out of the grey list soon. He must be credited for taking Pakistan out of diplomatic isolation through his vision. He visited China, the US, Saudi Arabia, UK, Germany and many other countries which helped Pakistan in maintaining ties with the foreign world.

Gen Bajwa has set high standards for his successors due to his brilliance and greater vision. He has become an epitome of glory and his successors will feel pride in taking his path that has already set examples.

The writer is an old Aitchisonian who believes in freedom of expression, a freelance columnist, entrepreneur and social activist.