Saturday 04 / May / 2024
The biggest riddle of 2016, especially for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has been solved — and apparently, without his say. Last week, his namesake, Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, unequivocally announced that he would not seek extension and retire at the end of his term in November this year.
In most democracies, the appointment and retirement of a military commander is a routine affair, not some national issue of the scale that would keep a weak-kneed stakeholder or two up at night and, as a result, entail the kind of media circus it does in Pakistan. But then, the country has been ruled directly by the military for nearly half its existence and few, if ever, question the sweeping trajectory of its power even when it stays behind the constitutionally elected chief executive.
General Sharif’s bold decision will be welcomed — as it has been — across the divide, for both its professional mien and integrity. It would have been convenient to enjoy an encore on the basis of current form, and few amongst the critics would probably have even broken a sweat had the army chief followed what is a done deal in this South Asian nation’s peculiar power matrix.
In following his conscience, General Sharif breaks path from two of his immediate predecessors, who didn’t quite cover themselves in glory in securing extended terms that, in effect, brought Pakistan to a sorry pass, especially in the global war on terrorism. The incumbent has not only cleared the messy ground he inherited, but is also credited with turning around Pakistan’s own existential war with great success.
The measure of success is evident not only in how the khakis blitzed militants and their hideouts in the badlands up north, but restored peace to Karachi, the country’s lifeline, which enjoys the kind of normalcy today it has not seen in the last two-and-a-half decades. It gave birth to that famed Twitter hashtag — #ShukriaRaheelSharif (Thank you Raheel Sharif) — that is used by both his indulgent supporters and sarcastic detractors!
While there is still time to analyse his redoubtable contribution until now, and November, the announcement to hang up his boots so early in the day offers several ponderables, none more compelling than the raison d’etre: Did he do it out of conviction premised in a rich family tradition (his brother laid down his life on the war front and is a recipient of Nishan-e-Haider, the highest gallantry award)? Was it a calculated decision after not getting favourable vibes from the civilian Sharif and growing unease that the extension issue may compromise his declared mission of eliminating terrorism this year in Pakistan? May be a bit of both?
Some giveaways can be contextualised on the basis of performance and perception. The image of the army had eroded a great deal in the last years of General Pervez Musharraf — who was forced to resign under immense political pressure — and subsequently, under General Ashfaq Kayani, whose reluctance to launch a military operation in North Waziristan (the hotbed of militancy) and the shocking US raid that snared Osama bin Laden from near a premier military academy had embarrassed the country and brought the institution’s morale to an all-time low.
Musharraf benefitted from two extensions — in all, three successive terms — that he gave himself after ousting the elected government of Nawaz Sharif; and Kayani one — amounting to two full terms.
General Raheel Sharif, on the other hand, arrived with a sense of direction and purpose. Even though reportedly, he took his own decision in pursuing the military operation and its modus operandi —claims of the Sharif government notwithstanding — the rich dividends gave him a certain moral authority that would otherwise have been lacking.
The political downside for the civilian Sharif is that he has been largely walking in the shadows of the khaki Sharif since coming into power a third time in 2013 — an unmissable, if embarrassing, reality that rankles him. It is an open secret that the PM did not fancy giving his namesake the leeway to prolong his own ‘second fiddle’ agony. Perhaps, the General has saved the PM his blushes by default in sticking to a ‘principled decision’!
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, a confidante of the PM, told a prominent TV anchor last week that neither the issue of extension was under consideration nor any such file on the PM’s table. Knowledgeable circles however, contend it has been more than a passing worry for the government, and Asif, sort of gave the game away in swiftly praising the army chief for “introducing a healthy trend in the country”.
That the army chief announced the decision to retire on time — through the Director General Inter-Services Public Relations on Twitter — itself betrays the extent of civil-military imbalance. It demonstrates his desire to go out on his terms, a legacy untouched by a civilian chief executive. Sad, if that is case because, in an ideal system, it would be the chief executive’s call signed by the president.
• The writer is a senior journalist based in Islamabad.
