WHAT is an explosive revelation? In Pakistan, it is when we hear straight from the horse’s mouth something almost every Pakistani knows, such as the contemptuous disregard of the Constitution by the very high and mighty who take an oath to protect it.

In the latest round of revelations, the much-maligned civilian politician’s role is no more than that of a puppet on a string. Others who usually choose anonymity, at least for form’s sake, whether on national security grounds or by hanging the sword of contempt over the head of anyone who may ask questions, have taken centre stage.

Retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has visibly been provoked by former prime minister Imran Khan’s verbal assaults on his person and, after a number of stories in the media citing sources ‘close’ to the former chief, spoke on record to TV anchor and columnist Javed Chaudhry, whose own brother retired as a three-star. And Mr Chaudhry told all in columns in Urdu daily Express.

In his angry outburst, Gen Bajwa not only implicated himself and his then DG C and later ISI chief, the now retired Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed but also former chief justice of the Supreme Court Saqib Nisar in what would be a blatant violation of the Constitution and the rule of law.

In the latest round, the much-maligned civilian politician’s role is exposed as no more than that of a puppet on a string.

Mr Nisar has vehemently denied Gen Bajwa’s allegations but it is unlikely he will sue the latter for defamation for fear of more such stories floating to the surface. I am sure his honourable brother judges who remain on the bench will also remind him that discretion is the better part of valour, particularly in this era of clandestine audio/video recordings, despicable as that may be.

For his part, President Arif Alvi has reportedly confirmed the general “helped the PTI in the (2018) elections”. Imran Khan is on record as also having detailed how he used ISI, and not the party whip, to pressurise the MNAs during crucial votes such as the budget to maintain his parliamentary majority. In fact, he is open that his anti-Bajwa diatribe is due to the latter abandoning ‘support’ for him.

After stepping back from the accusation that Gen Bajwa was part of the ‘foreign regime change conspiracy’, he still maintains: “Wo rok to saktay thhay” (he could have stopped it), that is, the no-confidence in April this year that put Mr Khan out of office.

The Bajwa-Alvi-Khan statements on top of sacked Islamabad High Court judge Shaukat Siddiqui’s disclosures were an indictment of the sacred cows and an indication of how everything from Nawaz Sharif’s ouster to ‘managing the 2018 elections’ to ushering in the PTI government, to hounding opponents happened.

Another window to how individuals can go rogue when institutions start to disregard the law and Constitution was opened by Islamabad-based investigative journalists Umar Cheema and Azaz Syed in their vlog this week.

They inquired into the leak of audio recordings of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his principal secretary Tauqir Shah a little after the former had assumed office. The recorded conversation suggested that Maryam Nawaz Sharif was asking the PM’s Office to oblige someone but the secretary was telling his boss that it would be unwise to do so and he seemed to agree.

This recording was a bit of a surprise as it was done after the military’s public declaration of opting for an apolitical stance. Azaz Syed says an official inquiry conducted into the incident has found the officer responsible.

According to the journalist, the officer used to be Lt-Gen Faiz Hameed’s ADC and when the latter was posted out of ISI, he suggested to Imran Khan to take the young officer on the PM’s staff. After the vote of no-confidence and the election of Shehbaz Sharif he was retained by the new PM.

The inquiry zeroed in on this officer and he was grilled reportedly by the ISI and admitted he used a burner phone and another device given to him by his former boss to record Mr Sharif’s conversations and send them on to another burner phone.

The second phone was apparently tracked to Bahawalpur where, by then, Faiz Hameed had been posted as corps commander. Neither phone is reported to have been used to call or receive calls from any other number and were only used to communicate with each other.

There can be no denying that a lot of this nasty muck is now emerging because of bruised egos of various erstwhile powerful players so I am tempted to rephrase the original and say ‘hell hath no fury like a general scorned’.

That much is clear. What isn’t is what the current military and judicial leadership plans on doing to hold to account its key figures who participated in wilful violations of the Constitution and the rule of law.

Nothing substantial is going to happen as it never does. Accountability of the high and mighty of some institutions can never become a reality unless real, meaningful democracy is firmly bedded down in Pakistan.

But how will that ever be because as was evidenced from 2016 onwards when democracy started to take root and the economic benefits were finally beginning to reach the shirtless, multiple hands joined to uproot it and replace it with a disastrous hybrid model.

For starters, can we not have a body like South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission so everything is out in the open to serve as a reminder that when a leadership is at fault the blame should only be assigned to it, leaving the martyrs laying down their lives every day on the front lines of national security unsullied by the top brass’s ambitions and failures?

When we agree that the military needs to be apolitical for its own good, why can’t we dust off Air Chief Marshal Zulfikar Ali Khan’s report commissioned by the then prime minister Benazir Bhutto, which sets prudent parameters for ISI to operate within? Yes, yes, I know I am a dreamer. A happy new year to you.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.
abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, January 1st, 2023