ISLAMABAD: The most significant event of June was the impassioned speech made by the PPP co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari in which he indirectly criticised some steps of the armed forces in Sindh.

This was stated in the monthly Monitor of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) on the civil-military relations in Pakistan released on Thursday.

It said the renewed vigour observed in the Karachi operation during the past few months created several ruptures in the civil-military seams, especially in Sindh.

“Perhaps displaying the ‘twice shy’ syndrome in the aftermath of its posture following the assassination attempt on Hamid Mir, the federal government’s quick criticism of Mr Zardari’s speech provides yet another window into the complex nature of our present-day equation of civil-military relations.”

It said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif cancelled his pre-scheduled meeting with Mr Zardari after the latter’s outburst. This could have been enough of a signal of him distancing himself from Mr Zardari’s views. However, in a very curious fashion, Mr Sharif especially called the chief of army staff, who was on a visit to Russia at the time, to reportedly convey personally to the army chief his distancing from Mr Zardari’s ‘criticism of the armed forces’.

Another significant development, from the prism of civil-military relations, was the appearance of a banner on The Mall in Lahore pinning hopes of combating crime on the army chief and openly asking him, ‘Qadam baraho, Ham tumharey saath hein.’ This, Pildat noted, was a part of the emerging trend in which the COAS was presented as the ‘saviour’ and the elected government, including the prime minister and the chief ministers, are almost marginalised.

The text of the banner indicated that it was probably motivated by the reaction to Mr Zardari’s speech of June 16. However, the banner’s appearance was extraordinary as it was placed by the businessmen (the core constituency of the PML-N) in a city that is the hometown and power base of the prime minister and Chief Minister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif.

With regards to the letter written by Chief Minister of Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah to the director general of Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) Maj Gen Bilal Akbar accusing the paramilitary force of ‘acting beyond its mandate’, the Pildat monitor noted that the development raised two questions: what are the powers available to the Rangers in the law enforcement dynamics of the province and where exactly did the Rangers break the protocol, prompting the chief minister to write the letter?

The press release issued by the Rangers about the alleged Rs230 billion collected through illegal means in Karachi manifested the frustration on the part of the military leadership with regards to the Sindh government. This appears to be the case since the latter had apparently stalled the formation of a committee to investigate the allegations.

Though the committee was finally formed on June 12, its independence is questionable on account of its very composition that consists of two former members of the judiciary and the home secretary Sindh, who reports to the home minister and the chief minister). Adequate internal mechanisms already exist within the Sindh government to hold those accountable and carry out an effective prosecution.

This should be the course adopted by the Sindh government rather than forming a committee to apparently give a false sense of comfort not only to the various institutions involved but also the populace, leading to a critical waste of the government’s time and resources.

The COAS’ three-day visit to Sri Lanka in June was yet another milestone in the developing trend of growing international role of the army chief. According to media reports, Pakistan’s envoy in Sri Lanka was not present in the COAS’s interaction with the civilian leadership of that country, said the monitor.

The two meetings between the prime minister and the COAS during June were held again without Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2015

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