by Nilesh Kunwar

The best part of being Pakistan’s army chief is that while the lucky incumbent wields unlimited authority and power, he virtually has no accountability. Gen (later Field Marshal) Ayub Khan’s unprovoked aggression to annex J&K (Operation Gibraltar) in 1965 was a monumental failure that pushed the country into a full blown war with India that cost Pakistan dearly in terms of human lives and money, but no one ever questioned his ill-considered decision.

In the summer of 1971, Gen Yahya Khan sought to use brute military force (Operation Searchlight) for suppressing a genuine nationwide peaceful public movement in erstwhile East Pakistan and the unspeakable atrocities committed by the Pakistan army and its sponsored vigilante squads sowed the seeds of discontent and culminate in the creation of Bangladesh.

In the late seventies, Gen Zia ul Haq made a Faustian bargain to pocket US aid by covertly supporting Uncle Sam’s proxy war against the then USSR in Afghanistan . Allowing unrestricted use of its soil for indoctrinating and training radicalised Islamists that it invited from across the globe, Rawalpindi turned the areas bordering Afghanistan into a veritable breeding ground for religious fundamentalism. Even today, the hapless people of Pakistan continue to pay for this unpardonable decision made more than four decades ago by Gen Zia.

In 2004, Gen Pervez Musharraf brazenly compromised Pakistan’s sovereignty by allowing the US use of its airspace for drone strikes against terrorists. That more innocent civilians than terrorists were killed in the drone attacks that followed remains just a statistic.

That no one in Pakistan has seriously sought an explanation for these humongous blunders or demanded accountability may surprise greenhorns but not Pakistan watchers who are well aware that questioning Rawalpindi is tantamount to sacrilege. In fact, by reiterating that “Any effort to weaken our armed forces is akin to weakening the state," Gen Munir has once again made it clear that in Pakistan, the army continues to reign supreme and remain a holy cow.

Furthermore, upsetting Rawalpindi can prove dangerous and even prime ministers aren’t spared. Asking awkward questions or asserting constitutional rights can enrage Rawalpindi and the 'delinquent' could well become a victim of “judicial murder” (Like Zulfikar Alli Bhutto), get assassinated (Like Benazir Bhutto), face incarceration (Like Imran Khan), or even exile (like Nawaz Sharif). Conversely, those who play ball with Rawalpindi may be lucky recipients of Rawalpindi’s largesse and end up as Pakistan’s “selected” Prime Minister like PTI chief Imran Khan or get rehabilitated à la PML (N) chief Nawaz Sharif.

Rawalpindi has a congenital affliction of passing the buck by placing the onus of adverse developments on others. Remember ex Pakistan President and former army chief Gen Musharraf’s pompous claim that "Military rule (in Pakistan) has always brought the country back on track, whereas civilian governments have always derailed it." And more recently, didn’t erstwhile army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa regale us with his “the fall of East Pakistan was not a military but a political failure” howler?

So, Gen Syed Asim Munir's assertion that "Every day, we are addressing the shortcomings in governance through the sacrifices of our martyrs," (Emphasis added), is along expected lines. While it’s no secret that the fissiparous forces within are hindering Pakistan's progress and disturbing peace, to hold politicians solely responsible for the unstoppable scourge of terrorism is stretching things a bit too far. This serious insinuation also raises several questions.

In December 2022, while refuting the then Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah’s claim that the parliament had authorised the military to hold talks with proscribed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist group, former Senate chairman and PPP leader Mian Raza Rabbani told Dawn that “No permission was sought by the military from parliament for holding parleys with the TTP” (Emphasis added) and that the army had merely informed the parliamentary committee on national security that negotiations with TTP were taking place. The moot point here is that when the National Assembly didn’t authorise these talks, is it the politicians or Rawalpindi that is responsible for cosying up to TTP, which has the blood of thousands of Pakistani soldiers and civilians on their hands?

Secondly, in August 2022, people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) took to the streets protesting against TTP presence and this issue even came up for discussion in the National Assembly. The question for Rawalpindi is, why did Pakistan army’s media wing Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) outrightly deny this claim? Why did it state that “misperception about alleged presence of (a) large number of proscribed organisation TTP’s armed members in Swat Valley has been created on social media,” while adding that “After confirmation on ground, these reports have been found as grossly exaggerated and misleading.”

ISPR’s simultaneous assurance that "Presence of militants anywhere will not be tolerated and they will be dealt with full use of force, if required" would have been reassuring had the ISPR statement not gone on to say that “small number of armed men on few mountain-tops between Swat and Dir has been observed, located far away from population.” (Emphasis added). The question Rawalpindi needs to answer is whether presence of armed men on Pakistani soil is acceptable to the Pakistan army as long as they are in a “small number” and “located far away from population”?

Similarly, even if Gen Munir’s unproven allegation about terrorist groups working “at the behest of hostile external powers” is true, can the Pakistan army cite this as an excuse for its abject failure to curb terrorist activities? Is it not a fact that the Pakistani delegation involved in peace negotiations with TTP was led not by a politician or bureaucrat but a three-star General of the Pakistan army who took decisions without even consulting the government?

As such, Rawalpindi needs to explain why more than 100 TTP fighters convicted for perpetrating terrorist acts (including murder) of Pakistani army personnel, members of other security forces and law enforcement agencies as well as civilians were unconditionally set free as a confidence building measure? Even if the government had approved this release, wasn’t it Rawalpindi’s constitutional responsibility towards the country and its citizens to nix this outrageous move to free remorseless killers held in army custody?

With Rawalpindi deciding who to make Prime minister, for Gen Munir to blame “shortcomings in governance” for the sorry state of affairs in Pakistan is rather unfortunate. Passing the buck when faced with failure is the forte of politicians not soldiers. It would therefore do Gen Munir a lot of good to accord more attention to the army’s primary role and take terrorism by its horns rather than remain over obsessed with issues like ‘digital terrorism’ and social media spreading "anarchy" in the country leading to “degradation of moral values.”

Gen Munir needs to realise that while waxing eloquent on Pakistan army's resolve to end terrorism may provide the terrorism-weary people of Pakistan temporary psychological relief, it's walking this talk that matters- after all, isn’t proof of the pudding is the eating?

Nilesh Kunwar is a retired Indian Army Officer who has served in Jammu & Kashmir, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. He is a keen ‘Kashmir-Watcher,’ and after retirement is pursuing his favourite hobby of writing for newspapers, journals and think-tanks. Views expressed above are the author's own