news details |
|
|
| Pakistan's 'Silent Coup' | | | Nilesh Kunwar | 10/28/2015 12:49:28 AM |
| Could there be some connection between Nawaz Sharif's pedestrian performance at the UN and the sudden decision of replacing of his special adviser on national security and foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz by Lt Gen (Retd) Naseer Khan Janjua? Is the sudden spike in cross-LoC firing immediately after Nawaz Sharif's lackluster US visit a sheer coincidence? These incidents may be unrelated but the common military angle in both is so glaring that it appears to more than just a coincidence.
If the performance of Sartaj Aziz as Pakistan's NSA is evaluated, then he would emerge with flying colours for having handled things quite well. Sharif's present tenure as Prime Minister has not been easy going. Islamabad's external affairs were in disarray with accusations of it fomenting terrorism being made by all its neighbours with the solitary exception of Beijing. However, Beijing too was visibly annoyed by the fact that Uyghur terrorists belonging to its Xinjiang autonomous region were comfortably holed up in sanctuaries in Pakistan's restive Northern areas. Internally, things were no better. Besides his face-off with Imran Khan, there was large scale public resentment against the ever-increasing incidents of terrorism. Having been ousted from power and exiled by his previous protégé Gen Musharraf, when Sharif came to power this time he took a lot of care while selecting his army chief. However, even this time he seems unlucky and Gen Raheel Sharif whom he selected based on his reputation of having no political interests or ambitions, refused to allow any dilution in army's say in the internal and external affairs of Pakistan. Furthermore, though the army has not made its reservations public, it is no secret that Sharif's decision to prosecute ex-President Gen (Retd) Musharraf too has not taken well by the powerful military establishment. Sharif's discomfort with his new army chief was clearly visible when the Prime Minister was invited by New Delhi for attending the swearing-in ceremony of Narender Modi. As this invitation was without any diplomatic agenda and had been extended to all heads of SAARC nations without any exceptions, attending the same would only have been a goodwill gesture. Yet, as per news reports the army chief was not inclined and Sharif had to get his brother to meet the army chief and present before him his case to get permission for Prime Minister Sharif to attend. Since anything like this having taken place has been denied let us also not read too much into it.
However, that a suicide attack on the Indian Consulate at Herat in Afghanistan took place just days before Sharif was to leave for New Delhi to attend Modi's oath taking ceremony cannot be denied. The then Afghan President Hamid Karzai said that he had conclusive proof that this attack was the handiwork of the Pakistan based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) which is directly controlled by the Pakistan army. We could also reject this claim as it is well known that Karzai had an axe to grind with Islamabad whom he blamed for fuelling terrorism in his country. Nevertheless, Washington's subsequent confirmation of what President Karzai had alleged leaves little room for doubt that this was an attempt engineered by the army to infuse hostility into Indo-Pak relations due to which Sharif would himself have had to call off his visit!
It is apparent that the army did not like Sharif's independent style of functioning as also his keen interest to mend fences with India. Normalisation of Indo-Pak relations is not in Pakistan army's interest as this would reduce the power it wields and so anything aimed at achieving this upsets the Generals. As Sharif's security adviser, Sartaj Aziz was handling the show well and even the Ufa declaration which created a lot of unnecessary controversy was by any diplomatic standards a great 'positive' for Islamabad. Sharif knows that there is no other option but to talk with New Delhi and Aziz made sure that a window for this opportunity was always kept open. Sharif with Aziz by his side made the army felt uncomfortable and so Aziz had to go.
It is still too early to speculate as to how well will Lt Gen (Retd) Janjua perform as Pakistan's NSA but since he has been a soldier, getting used to the idea of viewing things form a diplomatic perspective would be a big challenge. Yet, however hard that he may try, it would be near impossible for him to brush aside his military mindset and this is where the danger lies. The announcement of Aziz's removal as NSA came just days before Sharif's US visit and the way Islamabad built up its narrative for the Obama-Sharif meet had no traces of the element of diplomacy. Where was the requirement for Islamabad to suddenly indulge in military posturing by announcing that it had already built up an arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons to counter India?
With a retired army General replacing Sharif's trusted confidant Aziz as the NSA the army's silent coup in Pakistan is now complete. With Generals once again in full control and running the entire show Islamabad's foreign policy would be in the process of being re-crafted and so diplomacy can now go on a very long vacation. Why I am so pessimistic is because the idea of a soldier playing a diplomat does not gel in my mind. I was brought up to believe that for Generals all that matters is 'valour' while for diplomats it is 'discretion' that counts. Since I have also been taught that 'discretion is the better part of valour', how can you expect me to believe that an army man could ever make successful diplomat? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
