The fear of shadows
India is facing the portents of a full-fledged revolt in the occupied territory of Kashmir while the insurrection in Khalistan has moved into a widespread separatist movement. The Muslim uprising coupled with the Sikh revolt spells danger to the core of its secular existence, the Hindu backlash is apparent in the spectacular rise in the fortunes of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), not known for its tolerance of other religions. Having set Sri Lanka aflame and put Nepal in an economic quandary, India has been badly stung by failure to browbeat Pakistan. With a weak government in power, made weaker by public squabbles among its leadership about trifling matters, India has opted for the time-honoured formula for taking the public’s mind away from domestic strife, cross-border adventure.
Having come to grief at the hands of its own proteges in Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Indians decided to bring home the badly mauled Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF). No doubt they were aided in this decision by Pakistan Army’s Exercise Zarb-i-Momin II coupled with Pakistan Air Force’s joint Exercise Highmark in close support to the Army. Borrowing a leaf from a suggestion given to the US during the Vietnam war, “just declare victory, remove all forces and come home”, the IPKF Commander Lt. Gen Kalkat did just that, declaring the IPKF adventure a success while taking his demoralized troops back to India, some of them headed straight for battlefield areas in Punjab and Kashmir instead of their peacetime locations in Assam.
The bulk of India’s striking force is encamped between Jaisalmer and Suchetgarh within 90 Kms of our borders in the heat of the summer months, it is a wonder they have not shot at each other, reports in the media about suicides are not a surprise, combination of sun, heat and boredom has got many others in the past. To cap it all, they have been inundated in the desert by incessant rains and flash floods, from sand to virtual quicksand, it is a dog’s life in the Rajasthan desert.
While bombs in major urban cities of Pakistan have generally tended to create terror, India’s Research and Analytical Wing (RAW) has also been successfully active by exacerbating the Sindh situation, bringing it to the point of civil war conditions. In a par excellence performance they have managed to put various permutations and combinations of ethnic groups and political parties in a violent, bloody confrontation, only the small matter of timing has saved Pakistan from utter catastrophe. With 10-12 weeks of the summer heat to dissuade offensive armoured operations by India, the Pakistan Army swiftly and completely restored peace in the troubled cities. While the immediate operation has been successful, the ambiguity of further exercise has caused a difference in perception. Obviously PPP is reluctant to surrender authority in its stronghold in Sindh, under Article 245 of the Constitution, the Army could conceivably use its powers to take anyone suspected of terrorism into custody, can the PPP take the risk that along with many disparate creatures of the night some of its own hierarchy in Sindh lands up in the jug, what if the Army considers no one, repeat no one, to be above the law and proceed to incarcerate the “untouchables”.
There are no quick solutions to the Sindh problem, but if somebody thinks that the various relevant groups, ethnic, political, fifth columnists or professional dacoits are going to roll over and play dead on the strength of rhetoric they are miserably misinformed. With the increase in proliferation of weapons. There is bound to be (1) hard core militants who will use their armaments to foster their own point of view and (2) paid saboteurs whose motivated interest is self-explanatory. Cutting across the broad spectrum of political divide, recalcitrants of various ilk can understand the rule of law by force, unfortunately for Pakistan the constitutional force has become a farce in the interpretation thereof for the past few months. There is no use escaping the truth or shoving it temporarily under the rug, democracy enforces upon us the need to take unpalatable decisions, not in self-interest but for the good of the country. Whatever may be one’s position in the hierarchy of decision making today, there should be a measure of self-accountability that must be guided by a combustion of conscience and the supreme national interest.
Part of the problem stems from the confusion in government today. Despite many hurdles, inclusive of the inexperience on the part of Ms. Benazir and that of her fledgling Ministers and compounded by the revenge motive among her many advisors, holdouts of her late father’s era, the PM has still performed much better than expected almost for a year. Her real troubles started with the attempt by the Opposition to oust her in October 1989 by a Vote of No Confidence. Since then we are cast dangerously adrift in a complex sea of troubles, some have even gone so far as to suggest that this can be controlled but that it is deliberate, contrived drift. While Ms. Benazir continues to come across confidently as a Parliamentary leader, the erosion of her power base in Sindh has been swift and total. On the surface she enjoys a substantial domination of her colleagues, in actual fact she is now more or less a prisoner of the extremist elements in her own party in Sindh, with the result that a person steeped in liberal education, ready to combat the world for righteous causes, is now speaking a language of ethnic confrontation, increasing the divide between Sindhi and Mohajir, in her defence there is no doubt she is uncomfortable in this role.
To keep her majority intact she has been forced to keep on Ministers she should have jettisoned a long time ago, at least we had been led to believe that Ms. Benazir would come on strongly to dump incompetents or the corrupt. As it is, she is virtually on the defensive with lack of cohesion in Government, her numbers intact in the National Assembly because of (1) the power of money and patronage and (2) the deathly fear of the MNAs that they may have to face another election soon.
Compounding all this is the blizzard of rumours of corruption surrounding her immediate family. This is a constant barrage, most of it may well be because of the high handedness by lower minions who do not know when to stop pushing their weight around. After all it was not necessary for Fahim Mughal to threaten a senior respectable citizen like Mr. Ardeshir Cowasjee or the new owners of Hussain D ‘Silva flats in Clifton to use strong arm methods, ostensibly with official patronage, to throw out the recalcitrant tenants. Now the media is picking up case after case, authenticity not really verifiable but the hearsay important enough to justify a closer inspection. Mr Mujib Perzada has issued notices to newspapers and individuals on behalf of his client, the matter needs to be resolved fairly soon, the libel case must be pressed home for the sake of the good name of our fair Princess. The hint of frogs in one’s life muddies the ambience of Camelot.
In essence, by following the policy of a deliberate drift in government, it is they themselves who are creating the shadows that the COAS figuratively mentioned. The Army’s request for constitutional powers under Article 245 should not be treated with the suspicion it is now generating, in fact the Army should be commended that in the face of great provocation, it has kept its cool and instead of resorting to extra-constitutional means that everyone seems to be exhorting them to take it has been patiently bringing to the notice of the Federal Government the dangers of one-sided action which any move will tend to become if the accused from all the militant factions are not simultaneously brought to book. The last thing the PPP should do would be to get into a running controversy with the Army for many reasons, the present military hierarchy is the bulwark between a lot of young Turks and the due process of democracy. PPP has the amazing recurring ability to shoot itself in the foot without taking the consequences into cognisance, a sort of a Masada complex.
Unfortunately we are beset by such problems externally and internally that we cannot afford the legacy of deliberate drift into anarchy any longer. While civilian authority must remain paramount, there are special circumstances in the third world countries not to provoke the Armed Forces. One of the ways to ensure constitutional authority is to set examples, if the example is that of looting the public coffers at will, no one is going to respect authority, to expect a disciplined force like the Armed Forces to turn a blind eye to controlled anarchy and widespread corruption is to ask for too much, on the contrary there is the image of waving a red flag before a bull (without being a bullfighter).
The PPP must first set its Sindh house in order. Aftab Shahban Mirani is a gentleman, as the events in Sindh have shown, his basic gentlemanliness is not in consonant with the post of Chief Minister in the present circumstances. The PPP requires a democratically elected person to come to that post, not someone who is a puppet on the hand of a Federal string or that of a shadowy ruler. In this respect either Makhdoom Amin Fahim or someone who commands the confidence the Hala family, Jam Sadiq Ali, can do the needful. Obviously the PM has confidence in her Minister for Communications, she carries him for all important visits, she should now give him the job of bringing Sindh back into shape; the rapid disintegration of social and economic life at the slight hint of trouble only proves that we are in an environment of advanced anarchy.
At the Federal level the PM must make a National Government, alternative is that people will start to think the unthinkable and even a segment of her own party may opt to dump her. The only way to end internal confrontation is to have all the democratic participants on one side of the platform, united in their belief about democracy, divided only in their approach to it. This is not a particularly good time to play politics with the Army, trying to create dissension is childish, can only boomerang. After all how many Generals can you change, less than two years after the ill-fated C-130 crash took almost the complete military hierarchy down with it, a fresh crop of senior officers are there to contend with. While the Sirohey affair can be put down to inexperience, any further ploy will be ill-taken, if such an unfortunate event comes to pass, democracy will irretrievably suffer and it will only prove that PPP is its worst enemy.
The Armed Forces of Pakistan may shortly be involved in a life and death struggle with India, those who tend to shackle them will only be treated with the contempt they deserve. The national duty is to give full support to our servicemen, dubious action based on selfish interest can only boomerang. Is the individual greater than the nation or is the nation greater than the office? One cannot answer such questions by politically chasing shadows or being afraid of them. We still believe that Ms. Benazir, the Person, holds well over Ms. Benazir, the Politician. One cannot believe that in either incarnation in her own self there is the shadow of a third personality in which Ms. Benazir can be associated with corruption. Events will uncover facts showing her innocence or guilt, in the meantime let us forget our inherent fear of shadows and come to terms with unpalatable decisions.
In the end one must remember that no one can be above the law, whatever one’s station in life, whether out of one’s own abilities and/or inherent relationship thereof. No one is indispensable, as someone once said, the graveyard is full of indispensable people.
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