by Amitabh Matt

MURREE HILLS (Pakistan): One of the characters in a recent, Critically acclaimed Pakistani film, The Immaculate Conception, suggests perceptively that Pakistan is dependent on the goodwill of a troika of ’A’s: Allah, America and the Army, While questioning the Spiritual predilections of Allah would be blasphemous in this Islamic state, it is the behavior of the latter two which, in the confused political climate, is a source of popular speculation and debate. For a nation state that has been governed for most of its life by generals, surpassingly few seem to have grasped the mindset of the armed forces well enough to be able to confidently predict whose side General Abdul Waheed Kakkar, the chief of the army staff, is likely to take in the excruciatingly long political duel between president Ghulam Ishaq Khan and prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

A journalist from the antiestablishment Frontier Post hesitatingly suggests that since Kakkar was appointed by Ishaq Khan after superseding a number of generals, he is likely to side with the president. “Unless there was some secret understanding between the two, it is unlikely that the president could continue to act so confidently even after the Supreme Court’s restoration of the Sharif government. Ishaq Khan would have resigned that very day had Kakkar not given him an assurance of support,” she adds,

But she also agrees with a re porter from The Dawn  the largest selling English daily  who asserts a little more confidently, “Remember Gen Zia? He was appointed by Bhutto after similarly superseding more than half a dozen generals but did he hesitate to send him to) Sn A sense of gratitude has rarely prevented generals from acting independently.”

It is clear even to a casual observer that the armed forces occupy a Special role in Pakistani politics. The top brass are almost like film stars, with their pictures splashed across the front pages of newspapers and, often, their macho good looks inspiring hero worship. A random study of a week’s newspapers reveals that there were pictures of Air Marshal Feroze Khan or Gen Kakkar or Admiral Saeed Mohammad Khan on practically everyday in one national daily or the other. Even innocuous statements by former army chief Gen Mirza Aslam Beg make front page news.

Nor is there any unanimity about the need to keep the army con fined to the barracks only recently Malik Qasim, the railway minister in the caretaker government of Balkh Sher Masari, wanted the army to assume powers under Article 245 of the constitution. “My country has gone to the dogs,” he said, and added “It has become corrupt. Who is responsible for this? I do not demand martial law but the army should fulfil its responsibility by invoking Article 245 of the constitution and pressurize for more powers.” A columnist for The Nation justified the continuation of the Bight Amendment because it gave the army a proper role in the running of the government. “The amendment was a safety valve against martial law. It allows the army chief to lay problems being created by the government at the president’s feet as happened more than once during the army’s operation in Sind. I would rather live with a misused Eighth Amendment than with & prime minister who becomes an ogre and cannot be stopped by means other than a military coup”, in reality, the army has been sending mixed signals during the past eventual Week. On May 24, a few days before the Supreme Court Judgment, the Inter Services Public Relations apparently issued a Statement which said that in order to ensure transparent arrangements for holding of fair and free elections on July 14, the army has agreed to do this national service. It added that “the army has accordingly prepared a comprehensive plan for the supervision and assistance of the conduct of elections.” This was interpreted in various sections of the media as indicating the army’s preference for fresh elections and as being a ploy w influence the judgment. But within hours of the issue of the statement, ISPR clarified that the press release was issued not by the army leadership but by the minis try of defense and that the army’s decision 10 conduct elections would be contingent upon the decision of the Supreme Court. No One seems to be quite sure of what transpired in between but it is clear that the army leadership wanted to distance themselves from the president. Since then, the army leadership has reaffirmed its faith in the democratic process more overtly. One possible explanation for the army’s reluctance to directly intervene is being attributed to Gen Kakkar’s personal belief in an apolitical army. His hesitation may also be an expression of a lack of firm control over the army, as also of his roots outside Punjab and Sind ~the two hotbeds of Pakistani politics. Be that as it may, the general’s uncommitted political stance has meant that all the political parties, including Benazir Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party, are desperately trying to woo him, Perhapsa leader in The Nation was right when it said: “It goes to the credit Of the army that after such a long Spell of politicization at the hands of Cen Zia, it has successfully been able to redeem its image to Sucks an extent that all political Parties now have complete faith in its lack of bias and youth for its neutrality,” Courtesy New York Times.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 9, 1993