LAHORE: Kudos to the Pakistani Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani for honouring his repeated pledge, unlike his four predecessors, to keep the Army out of politics despite having been persuaded by a section of the establishment to pack up the present political dispensation and take over the reins of power at the time of a grave political crisis, which seems to be over with the restoration of the deposed judges.
Being someone who has made conscious efforts since assuming the office of the Army chief on Nov 28, 2007, to keep the institution away from politics, Kayani is learnt to have rebuffed all sorts of political temptations and acted as a true professional when Pakistan’s fragile democracy was once again under a grave threat. The role of the Army in politics has always been significant.
As the political crisis deepened in Pakistan in the last few days and literally started threatening the survival of the democratic set-up, it was Gen Kayani who stepped in as a sobering influence to mediate between Asif Zardari and Nawaz Sharif besides encouraging Prime Minister Gilani to play his role as chief executive of the country in resolving the crisis. As a matter of fact, while taking over the command of the Army from Musharraf, Kayani knew full well that having tasted political power time and again due to repeated military interventions since independence, this vital national institution has ceased to be apolitical.
Therefore, reversing Musharraf’s eight-year long policies hardly a month after becoming the COAS, Kayani first withdrew all the serving Army officers from civilian departments, sending a clear message to the men in civvies.He had then directed all the Army officers, including the commanding officers, before the 2008 elections, not to indulge in politics and refrain from meeting politicians. He had made it clear to his men through an official letter that they had no role to play in politics and they should pay heed to their professional responsibilities — safeguarding the geographical frontiers of Pakistan. In a way, he had reminded his subordinates of their oath that each one of them was bound to observe.
According to well-placed military circles, Gen Kayani actually wanted to stay away from the political chessboard when Zardari and Nawaz led the nation to the dead end. He, however, was persuaded by key international players, having stakes in the war on terror, to act as a rescuer to defuse the growing rift between the two key leaders from Sindh and the Punjab. The confrontation could have led to a catastrophe had the long march not been abandoned at the eleventh hour.
Gen Kayani, therefore, used his sway pretty positively by leaning on the warring leaders — Zardari and Nawaz Sharif — to back down from a confrontation that was literally threatening the stability of the country. Gen Kayani’s intervention came a day after US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband spoke to the Pakistani military and political leadership on phone and asked them to defuse the rising political tension.
Well-informed circles said that as soon as Gen Kayani returned from his Washington tour, he was asked by international players to play his role and broker a truce between the residents of the presidency and Raiwind. The COAS convened a meeting of the corps commanders to share the international concern over the state of affairs in Pakistan, especially the ouster of the Punjab government in the wake of the Supreme Court verdict against the Sharif brothers, and the subsequent anti-government agitation launched by the PML-N.
Although there are analysts, who believe that the role played by the Army chief does not sit right from a constitutional point of view, the million-dollar question remains: was there any alternative left?
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