A state of flux
Re-paraphrasing Mark Twain, “The rumours of the demise of Jam Sadiq Ali have NOT been greatly exaggerated.” Months of speculation, positive and negative about the state of Jam’s liver, ended at 0105 hrs on Thursday March 5, 1992. Some newspapers gleefully reported that no tears were shed for the Jam, this was not the representative truth among his friends or his constituency. It may be true that he had possibly an equal number of enemies, his dominant personality may have evoked diverse emotions, those who admired him mourned his passing away with great grief. Those who had reason to hate him should have had the grace to respect Death as a great equaliser. Jam Sadiq Ali was one of the two real politicians in Pakistan, now only the Great Survivor remains.
While it is not easy to silence the Jam’s detractors, they being shrill and in some numbers, he did bring about a political miracle of sorts in restoring urban peace in the Province. This may have been at the cost of rural peace, in retrospect the priority had to be given to the cities and towns so that the machinery of commerce and industry did not come to a stop, particularly in the city of Karachi. He forged a disparate coalition of such diverse groupings that it was mind-boggling that he could manage to get them together in a single Cabinet Room without a shouting match ending in a shooting fracas. The enduring image that comes to mind is that they seemed to be willing participants, he did not drag them there, their unity may have been out of expediency and a little frail perhaps, but effective nevertheless politically. What better legacy can the late Jam have than that his hand-chosen person, Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, has been elected Chief Minister, not only by the support of his crafted Parliamentary Group but by complete unanimity in the House? There may be an element of self-interest insofar as an open display of disunity may have resulted in the dissolution of the Provincial Assembly! Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah has now obtained an unambiguous mandate from Sindh’s Parliamentarians to build upon, as the incumbent it will be his to lose.
Thomas Mann has said, “A man’s dying is more the survivor’s affair than his own.” To that end, Shah has been thrust into a situation much earlier that he would probably have preferred because of his mentor’s untimely demise. Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah is a relatively youthful and urbane, educated, practicing city lawyer with a rural political background. He is an affable intellectual, even-tempered and not given to histrionics. As a Minister in previous cabinets he built up a reputation of honesty, integrity and hard work. As the Speaker of the Sindh Assembly, he remained meticulously fair and respectful to his peers. As the Jam’s Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs, he was logical and articulate in defence of the Government without being vituperative and thus did not arouse the ire of the Opposition. Shah inherits the mantle of his predecessor at a crucial moment in the history of Sindh and Pakistan. The selection of Muzaffar Shah by the late Jam has been totally out of character, diverse from the Jam’s own image, whether Shah can be the political maestro that his late predecessor was remains to be seen. While the powers of incumbency will certainly allow him to build upon his political strength, it is almost certain that he will not have the same predilection in distributing State largesse in the monarchical manner of the late Jam. This can be a disadvantage in such a Province of Sindh where the elected representatives and their cohorts are used to receiving favours in cash and kind, on the other hand the youthful Shah has been given a tremendous opportunity to restore morality to politics in Sindh. One is reasonably confident he would have taken lessons from his late leader’s failings. Given the track record of our leaders, this may take some doing but at least Shah starts off as being “Mr Clean”.
There was a faux pas of sorts in the working relationship between the Federal Government, the Sindh Government and the Army when the Rangers were put under civilian control with great fanfare rather than their earlier chain of command in being directly used by the Corps Commander 5 Corps in the maintenance of law and order in Sindh, particularly in Karachi. There was much orchestrated drum-beating about the PM asserting civilian control over the military’s wishes in Sindh, this manhood rite lasted 48 hours in the face of the Army’s own game plan. Sindh remains an armed camp, a tinderbox waiting to be ignited, it is too early for Shah to be able to pull miracles or to exercise the deft political touch of his late predecessor. The present flashpoint is the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM) where the Rangers are deployed in the face of the MQM’s hostility, one hopes better sense will prevail and no one will have a Death Wish by taking on the Army, the threat of force being much less bloody than the application of force itself.
Much has been bandied in the media about the posting of Maj Gen Asad Durrani from the ISI and his replacement by Lt Gen Javed Nasir, an Engineer Officer who was previously Chairman Pakistan Ordnance Factories (POF), Wah. Asad Durrani was the Director General Military Intelligence (DGMI) before being moved to the post of DG ISI after the fall of Ms Benazir’s Government. A soft spoken intellectual, it is fair to assume that he must have carried his professionalism into the ISI. Durrani was not given to the usual intelligence goals we are familiar with in this country, the hunt for those stealing chicken and eggs, thus diverting to the mundane the resources available to accomplish more strategic goals. The intelligence community is used more often than not in playing “Dirty Tricks” on perceived personal foes, labelling them adversely as per vested requirement, sometimes for purposes of blackmail. Professionals will always resist the temptation of using official machinery in private vendettas and Durrani was known to strictly adhere to the route of professionalism. Asad Durrani had been overdue in returning to the mainstream of his profession and his posting on promotion as Inspector General Training & Evaluation (IGT & E) is routine. He has been replaced by the PM’s hand-picked choice, Lt Gen Javed Nasir. As the democratic head of Government the PM has every right to choose the DG ISI, in this case a God-fearing professional soldier known to have a clean reputation. Speculation about rough-shodding over the Army’s dissent is a canard spread by interested quarters.
All such postings of sensitive nature outside the Army are done by consultation and consensus, it is safe to assume that the COAS, Gen Asif Nawaz, was consulted by the PM on Javed Nasir’s posting to ISI and must have given his assent willingly, after all it is he who had recommended him for promotion earlier when he had been passed over. Without the concurrence of the COAS, such things do not take place, these are the unwritten rules in Pakistan and the spreading of false rumours is born out of ill-motivation to try and spread dissension within the ruling troika.
After the Army’s selection Boards, a number of routine postings do take place, when officers are promoted they move to take on field commands, this is true up the line, from Lt Cols upto the rank of Lt Gens. Those near retirement and without hope of further advancement are moved to staff positions, preferably closer to their homes. This is not a new ritual to anybody familiar with the routine working of the Army.
The motivated articles appearing in the Press seem to suggest some fine hand is trying desperately to discredit the COAS and thus the Army. The portents implied have been rather wild and fanciful, laced with elements of truth they tend to cause confusion. Contrary to certain minority opinion, the Army respects merit and professionalism, in a large preponderance of cases that is enough to warrant advancement. Where a set number of vacancies exist for senior appointments, some are considered more prestigious than others but one must not read too much into the posting process. In any case it is always the prerogative of the leader to select his own team, putting his faith to accomplish the task in those in whom he has reason to have more confidence for a particular post. Confusion emanates because of the rumours spread by those frustrated in achieving their own ambitions. One would suggest that whatever one’s frustrations or reservations, the institution of the Armed Forces, particularly the Army, is what keeps the country going and it behooves us to exercise restraint on our selfish and base motivations. As it is, Pakistan is internally in a state of flux on the social, economic and political planes, unfortunately in a world which is itself in a state of total transition. We are going through a sustained phase of geo-political changes. On a much higher plane than jealousy and personal ambition is the factor of loyalty to the institution of the Army. The enemies of Pakistan will always find it expedient to mount a concerted campaign to cut the Army down to size, they will invariably attempt controversy with respect to the Office and person of the COAS. Those who have worn the uniform with pride must never become party to this calumny.
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment