Pakistan Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has urged the Supreme Court to set up a commission to investigate the allegations made by Imran Khan regarding the attack on him. Imran Khan has supported his request. Contradictions of Pakistani power are coming to the fore. But the big question is about the role of the army. How will it be checked? Another question is related to the appointment of a new army chief. This appointment is to be done this month.
Will there ever be answers to all the complex questions of Pakistani army, society and politics? What is the power behind Imran Khan? A section of the public or the military? It was the army that raised Imran, so why did it turn against him? Why does the army, which has become synonymous with the system, now want to distance itself from politics?
Apart from the three organs of governance in Pakistan, there are two more important organs – the army and the US. Army Mane Establishment. Is it possible to investigate how Imran came to power? In the last 75 years, the army has been occupying power time and again and the Supreme Court has never outlawed this work. What guarantees that there will never be military rule again?
Not much light has fallen on the US aspect either. Imran is insisting on opening both these secrets. Do they have any information that will turn them around? But it is clear that they are taking a big risk and they are getting public support.
Long March will start again
The Long March, which stopped at Wazirabad after the attack, would leave again in the next day or two from the same place where the bullet was fired. Imran has been discharged from the hospital, but he will not attend the march, but will get his wounds treated in Lahore. During this, he will continue to address the people involved in the march through video conference. It is expected that March will reach Rawalpindi in the next 10 to 14 days.
The most powerful instrument of the Pakistani regime is the army there. Three times the power in the country has gone to the hands of the army. Out of the last 75, 33 years were under the rule of the army, apart from the remaining years also the army played some form or the other in the operation of the Pakistani system.
Democratic Confusion
Like India, a Constituent Assembly was formed in Pakistan, which, on 12 March 1949, passed the resolution of the objectives and goals of the constitution, but the constitution could not be made. After nine years of exercise, in 1956, Pakistan was able to make its own constitution.
Iskandar Mirza was made the President on 23 March 1956. He was elected democratically, but on 7 October 1958 he dismissed his democratic government and imposed martial law. In his opinion, democracy is not suitable for Pakistan.
The political parties of the country are engaged in pulling each other’s skin. His interest is only in taking the name of democracy. It is also true that corruption prevailed there in the name of democracy, but there was also a well-planned conspiracy to defame democracy. No one has the courage to mention the corruption of the army.
PPP’s ‘Memo-gate’
The Pakistani army considers itself to be the most important part of the system, on the other, gives it an important status till the Pakistani society and constitution. It is also a great economic power. In a sense, the country’s largest business company is also the army. The 2008 election is an important milestone in the current politics of the country. After the formation of the government of the Pakistan People’s Party in that election, conflicts over rights started between the army and the government. One of the important issues was that of ‘Memo-gate’.
On 17 November 2011, the American website ‘Foreign Policy’, quoting Pakistani businessman Manzoor Ijaz, published information that Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, Husain Haqqani, wanted to deliver a paper to former US Joint Chief of Staff Michael Mullen, in which he prayed. It was that the Obama government should help in preventing Pakistan from being handed over to the army again.
The knowledge of this spare part without signature caused an earthquake in the Pakistani system. Ambassador Haqqani had to withdraw immediately and the matter reached the Supreme Court. During its hearing in the Supreme Court, the Pakistan Army presented its stand in front of the court without the approval of the government.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani tried to protect the rights of the civilian government at that time. He sacked his Defense Secretary Lieutenant General (Retd) Khalid Naeem Lodhi and handed over his charge to Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi. The army publicly condemned the Prime Minister on this matter. In this case, the court also supported the army. Due to these controversies finally Yusuf Geelani had to leave the chair.
Project Imran
Pakistani sources tell that the army’s project to make Imran Khan a future puppet Prime Minister was formed around 2010 itself. The conflict continued even after Nawaz Sharif became the Prime Minister in 2013 and in 2015 attempts to start talks with India backfired. Although many generals played a role in raising Imran, but finally in 2018, when Qamar Javed Bajwa was the army chief, Imran Khan won the elections with the help of the army.
General Bajwa first made his junior Major General Faiz the head of the ISI Directorate (C). He started digging the roots of Nawaz Sharif’s then government and made Imran win the 2018 election. The army not only helped Imran Khan in the election, but also arranged for MPs when he was in minority. General Faiz became Imran Khan’s friend because of this.
Imran started a program to put his rivals in jail, which the country’s army accepted as cleanliness. In the eyes of some experts, his government was actually a ‘hybrid’ government of the military and politicians.
A former ISI chief Lt. people. Asad Durrani recently told an Indian journalist that not only Imran, Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif were also helped by the army to become the Prime Minister and both of them had messed with the army. Now Imran has also adopted an anti-military and anti-American stance, but it also seems that he has maintained back-channel contact with the military.
The question is why then the relationship between the army and Imran deteriorated? And why is the army saying today that we will not interfere in politics? We do not have the answers to these questions. Will have to wait for this.
ISI’s role
Army has been interfering in Pakistan’s politics through ISI. ISI was established in 1948. Legally this organization is accountable to the Ministry of Defense and the Prime Minister, but in practice it is subordinate to the Chief of Army Staff. It has nominal accountability to the civil government.
Both Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif tried to control it and failed. The tussle between Imran Khan and Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa escalated last year over the appointment of the ISI chief.
Soon after the formation of the first constitutional government in the country, military rule came into force. In 1958, ISI reporting came to him during the tenure of Field Marshal Ayub Khan. He prepared the political role of this institution. Today the Directorate (C) of ISI does the same thing, whose chief Imran is accusing of attempt to murder.
In addition to the three-star lieutenant general in the ISI, there are six two-star major generals, who look after the work of different branches of the ISI. In terms of organization, it is a bigger organization than an army corps. The position of Corps Commanders in Pakistan is very big.
Army Under Pressure
The army also appears to be under pressure. No other Prime Minister had criticized him so openly before this. Is Imran Khan taking a risk or is there a force behind him? Recently, the DG of ISPR along with the DG of ISI appeared before the press to explain the mysterious death of a Pakistani journalist in Kenya.
This has never happened before in the country. The Pakistani people have been committing violence in all public places, but stay away from military installations. This time there was a protest, a crowd of thousands surrounded the residence of the Corps Commander of Peshawar. The crowd was shouting-‘This is the terror, behind it is the uniform!’
Sharif government
Is the army with the government of Shahbaz Sharif? This cannot be said with certainty, but it certainly seems that even the army is not in favor of holding elections immediately. The army wants that there should be some kind of stability in the country. Last year, it was said by the army many times that economic security is the biggest security.
The economic condition of the country is bad. To fix it, the help of the International Monetary Fund and the support of America are needed, but Imran turned his cannons towards America. The army feels that the new administration will act wisely. Recently it got rid of the ‘Grey List’ of FATF. The balance of payments is also improving.