The Inter Services Pubic Relations has recently announced that the chief of the army staff has endorsed the punishments awarded to three people, including two senior army officers for alleged espionage.
It was announced on Thursday, May 30, that Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa had confirmed the death sentences for Brig Raja Rizwan (retired) and Dr Wasim Akram, a physician employed at a sensitive organization. Lt-Gen Javed Iqbal (retired) was sentenced to a prison term of 14 years. The three people were tried under the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secret Act. The ISPR said the cases were separate and not related in any way.
He said the identification of the guilty and their successful prosecution had been a success story.
Some people may have been greatly alarmed to hear that the officers involved in leaking information to foreign intelligence agencies were found to have held such senior positions. Some might have been saddened at the necessity of harsh punishments. Most people, however, have been impressed by the military’s willingness and ability to trace, identify and prosecute those guilty of treason and to punish them in accordance with law.
According to American English, a traitor is, “a person who gives away or sells secrets of his or her country, or someone who is not loyal to particular beliefs or friends.” The Merriam Webster dictionary says, “one who commits treason” is a traitor.
Most of our civil and military personnel employed on sensitive jobs and sent abroad for training and other assignments, as well as our diplomats, remain targets of hostile intelligence agencies. Such people are regularly briefed, sensitized and made to read and sign the Official Secret Act on a monthly basis. However, given the kind of tactics and the quantum of incentives offered by foreign intelligence agencies, one can never rule out a successful approach.
Acts of treason are punishable be death and rigorous imprisonment for long durations
No army can afford to have double agents working in any of its organs. Therefore, an efficient counterintelligence and military justice system has to be in place. Army has shown no mercy for traitors whose guilt has been established in comprehensive investigation by national intelligence agencies. The army chief has taken a tough decision by upholding exemplary punishment.
The admirable zero tolerance demonstrated by the army is expected to remain intact. It is likely to expand vertically and horizontally.
Pakistan is being subjected to hybrid warfare, which is not visible to the lay people.
It is astonishing to see a large number of people accompanying politicians being investigated for allegations of corruption. In some cases the support has continued even after conviction by courts. In some cases judges have been threatened.
Some of the politicians are seen openly meeting people known to the military to anti-state elements. The Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement is one such example. Pakistani citizens have been instigated to attack army and law enforcement personnel.
There have been attempts to disturb the peace and stability in the country, especially, in the tribal areas where the armed forces have fought hard to defeat the terrorists. There have been almost 80,000 casualties in the war and a cost of about $120 billion.
The pandemonium in the parliament in support of the people who attacked a military post and killed soldiers in Waziristan is an attempt to challenge the writ of the state. Some politicians may be hoping that this might get them reprieve in their own corruption cases. These are acts of treason and punishable as such.
Abraham Lincoln said, “Congressmen, who wilfully take action during wartime that damages morale and undermines the military are saboteurs and should be arrested, exiled, or hung.”
Pakistan is facing unusual challenges from within and from abroad. The government has to seek out of the box solutions. Demonstrating a weak writ can be catastrophic. It has been aptly said that justice delayed is justice denied. Zero tolerance for anti-state elements, irrespective of the masks they wear, is needed.
The prime minister must remember that “A traitor only becomes one if their plot is discovered. The imposition of guilt means nothing to those who feign loyalty. More skilled conspirators wield treason as a clinical tool of regime change and political expediency. Then, writing history with their own hands, such traitors may wear the clothes of patriots.”
The writer is a retired senior Army officer with rich experience in Military & Intelligence Diplomacy