scorecardresearch
Saturday, March 23, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeOpinionNawaz Sharif has spoken. But can he change the Pakistan Army’s game?

Nawaz Sharif has spoken. But can he change the Pakistan Army’s game?

The duo of General Bajwa and ISI DG Faiz Hameed have managed to drag the military deeper into politics, but their hybrid government formula is not working.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

As the crisp autumn sun in London peered through my window, it made me nostalgic for home in Pakistan. Could I and many others like me, for whom home has been made inaccessible by a powerful military leadership ever more eager to punish dissenting voices, hope to return, now that the former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has spoken up? Can Sharif change the political value system so that people don’t have to abandon home to save their lives?

Addressing virtually, at the All-Parties Conference held on 21 September, Nawaz Sharif, himself in exile in London, spoke bravely about the military and its agencies as the “State above the State”. Is he ready to push back a military that is well-entrenched in power politics, today? Sharif’s words voiced the concern of many thinking Pakistanis, or even the average man on the street who is not blinded to the fact that the present Imran Khan government represents civilian rule at its hollowest— the government denotes a hybrid martial law rather than a democracy. But the more important question is that can Nawaz Sharif succeed in his journey? And should this be considered a moment that carries the potential of delivering Pakistan from the clutches of the Army General Headquarters?


Sharif making a comeback

But, what’s for sure is that the months to come will become messier. With his speech, Sharif, who had kept silent for almost a year, has become relevant to Pakistan’s politics yet again. Obviously, Imran Khan and his cabal will try to push back. All the possible tricks from the bag – the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), the Federal Investigation Agency, and media gag – will be used to fight back. Not that the political indecency that we may see will be new to Pakistan’s politics.

The two primary political parties, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N), had a bitter relationship that began to smoothen only after Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto signed the Charter of Democracy in 2007. The charter couldn’t really take off after Bhutto’s assassination – neither leadership was generous towards the other during the decade of 2010. The military, in fact, succeeded in playing one against the other and manipulating their respective leadership’s greed for power to its advantage. While both parties completed their tenures – the PPP from 2008-2013 and PML-N from 2013-2018 — the prime ministers could not complete their terms.

This also makes Sharif the most conscious and experienced in shenanigans and manipulation of Army General Headquarters, or the GHQ. Of all the political players, he seems to be the one with greatest clarity about how the military is deadly for the country’s democracy. He is also conscious of the fact that the GHQ looks a bit more desperate than it was, perhaps, six months ago. Some of the observers of Pakistan’s politics were conscious that some channels were initially able to air most of Nawaz Sharif’s speech, thus, the conclusion that someone in the military’s corridors didn’t want to impose utter silence. Prime Minister Imran Khan and his political groupies later pushed back by stopping any debate on Sharif’s speech in the media and painting it as part of some ‘Indian’ conspiracy. The Army chief, General Qamar Bajwa and his ISI chief Lt. General Faiz Hameed, fired a warning shot against thosedragging the Army into politics as the Army “did not have a role in politics”. Interestingly, Parliament elected in 1988 was told that the Inter-Services Intelligence, or the ISI, did not have a political wing when it had one all along.


Also read: Pakistan’s Saudi marriage not over. But with China on its side, MBS mood swings won’t work


Where the Army’s civilian planning failed

While it’s still early to conclude that the military leadership has reached a consensus regarding Imran Khan’s future, the two facts that must be reckoned with are that the Bajwa-Hameed duo have managed to drag the military even deeper into politics, and that their hybrid government formula (military ruling the State with a civilian façade) has not worked because of inherent incapacity of both the military and civilian leadership.

Imran Khan was brought forward and selected to run the government primarily to deal with civilian (only) corruption and get resources from abroad. His cancer hospital project had given the hope that he could build institutions and attract funding, especially from Pakistani diaspora abroad. Not only has Khan failed to bring in money— his own supporters abroad are not sending huge amounts to Pakistan any more— butwithin two years, external sources, in the form of China and Saudi Arabia, alsoseem to have dried up.

Of course, Khan alone is not to be blamed for the foreign policy faux pas. The Army GHQ is equally responsible for miscalculating Beijing’s patience while Islamabad practically brought the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to a halt so that the military could negotiate its share and take control of the project. Its attempt to carve an alternative alignment with Turkey at its center, in the process exacerbating bitterness with the long-term ally, Saudi Arabia. At this juncture, even playing a central role in negotiating the American peace deal with the Taliban is not likely to deliver more dividends because Washington, now, has its own communication channels with the militants and is likely to be less dependent on Islamabad.

The other important issue pertains to rumors of discomfort within the Army over Bajwa and Faiz’s maneuvering and management of the Service in a manner that makes some within the officer cadre weary and nervous. If anything, the two Generals seem to have pushed the Army in the direction of an increasingly uncomfortable relationship with the society. The Pakistan military, which enjoys a different relationship with the society as compared to militaries in Latin and South America during the 1970s and the 1980s, is gradually moving in a direction from where its oppression has become more visible. From gagging of the media and manipulation of the judiciary to disappearance of people – increasing fear in the name of fighting a 5th generation warfare is likely to increase the military’s vulnerability.


Also read: In Iran-China deal, Pakistan most interested in this clause — Delhi’s alienation from Tehran


For Nawaz, old tactics won’t work

But the million-dollar question is: will the combined opposition or Nawaz Sharif on his own be able to fight those in power? At the minimum, it means pushing the envelope to the degree where the military realises it must abandon Imran Khan and his government. If Sharif plays a game of lesser stakes, he will only be able to remove Khan, perhaps get into power, but then accommodate a lot of what military wants. This would be like yesteryear. The maximum, of course, is changing the course of the country’s politics and ensuring a more stable transition to democracy.

Though Sharif’s speech was forceful and confrontational, it was typical as well. While criticising the current Army leadership and holding it responsible for the political mess, Nawaz Sharif was careful in conveying that he cared about Kashmir and national security. He also talked about corruption— not in his own party but that in the Imran Khan government, which in itself is a reminder of the 1990s when both PPP and the PML-N played the corruption card against each other. For a more substantive shift to democracy, the old tactics will not do.

As the Opposition parties gear up their respective support to agitate against Imran Khan with a plan for a final big get together in January 2021, Sharif will have to deal with the reality of managing his own party from abroad. As he prepares his determined daughter, Maryam, for the role of fighting the political battle on his behalf, he will also have to deal with the fact that the majority of his own party members, who would be involved in the fight, are happy to compromise.

Both, the PPP and PML-N leadership, will have to rise above the constant ‘behind-the-back’ compromise with the military as was demonstrated by passing of the anti-money laundering Bills that have a direct bearing on Pakistan and its position on the FATF list. It seems that the Army and ISI chiefs got together with leaders from both parties to insist upon supporting the Bills. It was afterwards that about 11 members from the PML-N and eight from the PPP absented from voting, which is considered highly controversial and antithetical to civil liberties. You cannot run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.

The two major political parties in Pakistan are showing the same kind of weariness as dynastic parties in the rest of South Asia. Nawaz Sharif and even Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari, have miles to run to recreate their parties and develop the depth which could eventually push back the military into proverbial barracks for good. The PPP and the PML-N have been around long enough to learn that absence of structure to fight back and constant accommodation of the military in power politics may ensure transition but not bring transformation to democracy. The parties will have to negotiate with the military but a substantive conversation will mean not using the old methods and military clients in their parties. Until then, the speech was a good first one but still a long way from the real change that can bring shine to the eyes of those waiting to return home. 

Ayesha Siddiqa is research associate at SOAS, London and author of Military Inc. She tweets: @iamthedrifter. Views are personal.

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

13 COMMENTS

  1. It looks like Ayesha is “for Democracy” but promoting Sharif and Bhutto “Heirs” to come in power. Will it be Democracy or Kingdom? Maybe Ayesha wants Kingdom in Pakistan but pakistanis have had enough of them and their way of ruling. They have FAILED totally. At the moment pakistanis want Imran Khan to succeed and continue New Blood. No Family Hierarchy!
    Ayesha, media talks rubbish in Pakistan openly, so open that I get surprised, point is you can go to Pakistan and do this what you are doing in England. UK put the blame on Pakistan for corruption and then Protect those Corrupts. What will you call this?

  2. I have some Ayesha (author of this topic) pics with 2 page cover story with Salman Shehbaz Nawaz’s nephew The print can publish that.
    Please reply

  3. Nawaz zardari are corrupt, our country can’t afford to have these crooks in power, please offer them to come to India, modi will be happy

  4. The author wrote an amazing piece portraying Nawaz Sharif as another Lenin to bring revolution from London……………Author conveniently forgot to mention that how did Nawaz Sharif reach the safe shores of London?? His party & all family members begged on their feet to military & PM Imran Khan to let him go for treatment because he could die any moment due to a strange disease. First time in Pakistan history a convict was allowed from jail to London to recover from so called deadly disease. Nawaz Sharif after enjoying London for 9 month without ever being admitted to any hospital became Messiah of Freedom, the moment courts in Pakistan declared him an absconder from justice. All his life Nawaz Sharif has been on pay roll of different powers starting from his own agencies that he lectures now & then. It seems after the political demise of Altaf Hussain the vacant position is being filled by Nawaz Sharif……….It seems author will have to wait more many moons if she is banking on this horse !!!

  5. Turkey had similar problems but it managed to limit the role of the military with a strong civilian government. That is a lesson that Pakistan can learn from Turkey.

  6. The Pakistani deep state has been practicing the art of deniability. On the borders as well as within the country.
    The Surgical strike and Balakot seem to have put an end to the cross border deniability
    Unless the the political forces within country are able to do the same, the practices will continue within Pakistan.
    No doubt after clear Indian intent the free run has been harnessed by preventing the cross border issues to be used in domestic manoeuvering

  7. Manish,why don’t You do something rather than shooting the mass enter.
    If India is not doing well then it is your duty to put it right- not the Prints as it has to report all aspects of the world and especially our neighbours.
    Stay calm and enjoy the day

  8. Bottomline: Pakistan is doomed. No friends, no money, corrupt military and politicians, economy in the gutter, no vision and leadership but plenty of delusions, isolated in the world, a religious fundamentalist constitution incompatible with democracy, a permanent seat at bottom of pretty much every economic, social, political ranking in the world. Wow, just wow.

  9. What a pity after every regime change the generals and the politicians are purged and exiled to London/ UAE.
    Like Bhutos, Shariff, Musharaf, list goes on n on.

  10. Print should give main headline about the challenges India face today covid-19, economy, agriculture, business, governance issue, unemployment due to a bizarre economy policies and social inequality. What happening in Pakistan it is there problem and let their people handle it.

    Opposition parties already lost their voice a large number media today just running non-stop govt narrative, if Print and some other accountable media will speak loud about govt policies then don’t know who make accountable to this govt who already a very allergic about the idea and suggestion come from outside.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular