Articles of the year 2014
Published on April 27th 2014
With a victory in the last election the Nawaz Sharif came into the Prime Ministership with a thumping majority, and we the public were ecstatic, for, we believed that the hour for the economic miracle had arrived, and it was now the turn of Pakistan. With a business-savvy Prime Minister who was well versed in the intricacies of politics. The pitfalls on the landscape well known to him, red flagged already, having been the reason for his downfall. We were all expecting a tranquil five years with prosperity for all. This was a victory to be savored, and to be the base to build a new Pakistan.
Suddenly an innocuous statement form a well known TV anchor, that he was being followed, and threatened by unknown persons. Turned ominous when the ISI was named by him, and stated that if anything were to happen to him then the ISI should be blamed. Sure enough there was murderous attack on him and he suffered four bullet wounds to the body. Luckily they were not fatal, and he is recovering from his injuries. The media has erupted in a frenzy, with the TV anchors attacking the ISI and even the Army Chief. However very quickly the tone changed, and many many people started coming out in support of the Army. After many years of Army dictatorship, the methods of the KGB, CIA, and our own services were accepted as the norm, and disappearances, being followed by an unmarked car, or when picked up, by men in white salwar kameez the inference was “the agencies’. So when Hamid Mir stated this, we assumed he was stating the obvious. However Geo launched a vicious campaign after the shooting, this time focused on the ISI and the Army Chief himself. Photographs of the ISI DG, were shown for hours on TV. With a running commentary stating that the ISI was itself behind the shooting, and that the Army was itself a rogue Army, and a law unto itself.
In Pakistan, the dictatorship of Ayub Khan was buttressed by the Army Intelligence to expand their role to include the civilians who needed to be ‘watched.’ And reported on. This role was accepted by the civilians as a fallout of dictatorship, and one learned to live with it. So, the white car, and the white Shalwar Kameez were identified as the uniform of the ‘agencies’.
However, in Pakistan, the political climate had changed. Many of the political parties had their own ‘muscle’ men who were dangerous, with no respect for the law, and kidnapping for ransom became widespread. With unqualified support from political parties. Bhatta collection became a political donation. The ISI and the IB became interlinked and were indistinguishable from each other. So when Hamid Mir saw a white car, it could have been any of the rogues posing as agents. In Pakistan many international agencies are operating, because of the Afghanistan problem, the spillover into Pakistan has attracted many operatives. Blackwater achieved notoriety for their themselves with their ‘Raymond Davis’ affair, and the Pakistani Government acquiescence a new low in international affairs was breached.
All of the above describes the expansion of the powers of the Intelligence agencies and how successive Governments used them to retain their grip on power. Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif as Prime Ministers used their intelligence agencies ruthlessly and frequently. Complaints of a missing person were met with a shrug. In this scenario with the Taliban now at a stage where they are challenging the writ of the State, there are so many players, who find it convenient to use the ‘white’ car, and the ‘body in gunny bag‘ need not be a particular disposal signal.
With so many players in Pakistan, it was foolish to nominate the Pakistan Army as the villain. In no other country can an army be vilified in this manner. Geo has over played its hand, and Nawaz Sharif was too quick to join the Geo bandwagon, showing his longtime desire to bring the Army to heel. His move has brought the whole country solidly behind the Army, and the demonstrations in the streets bear witness to the rise in their popularity, and the drop in the PMLN.
There is no need for this confrontation, while the suffering of the masses continues on such a huge scale. The focus should be on addressing the issues of the masses. And not tilting at windmills.