Page 53 - 31DEC2018E

INTERNATIONAL

• Together they are Pakistan PM Imran Khan number of Punjabi Muslims during the
says government and military are on same page World War-II years, continued in the
force till the country was partitioned
ISI operatives, and they were silenced. in 1947. It was a much larger force than
Apart from this technique, a number the new country needed, but its politi-
of electronic channels with highly paid cal clout enabled it to the main ruling
journalists and anchors came into be- elite. Since there were no land reforms
ing in recent years to project Army as and the rich and powerful retained their
the only saviour of the country. These huge properties, both urban and rural,
channels malign India and openly un- they became the key supporters of the
dermine the political leaders. In case successive military coups in the coun-
of Sharif and his family, these channels try. It all began in 1954, when the Ghu-
painted him a rogue leader undermin- lam Mohammed government dissolved
Pakistan is ruled through ing Pakistani interests. The third chal- the Constituent Assembly. Its members
were elected during the united India
lenge, the GHQ could have faced from
days under British, and had formed a
judiciary, too is now being fully ma -
a façade of democracy nipulated. Earlier, during the regime of constituent assembly, a counter-part
of the Indian legislature, which drafted
General Zia-ul-Haq, an elected prime
minister was first deposed and then
the Constitution and got it promulgated
hanged through a sham judicial process. on January 26, 1950. The dissolution was
Emboldened by the past experiences, challenged, but the Pakistani Supreme
Court upheld the dissolution under the
pretext of Law of Necessity. The then
The executive, the prime minister and his cabinet seem to be subservient to the generals, stan, Pakistan with its new collabora- Earlier, Pakistani chief justice of Pakistan, Muhammed
both overtly and covertly, as the country’s main supporters, US and China, directly deal with tor, China, will play the key-role in the Army not only Muneer, who had justified the dissolu-
the latter, writes GOPAL MISRA region. The new prime minister, who rejected peace bid of tion by inventing this logic, has regret-
is known for his innocence, could be
ted his decision in his book, Jinnah to
used by Qureshi and GHQ without any Zia. However, it is now too late.
he Pakistani establishment, government. Sharif was dismissed. party, which came into being in 1996. hurdle in the political system. the two PMs — Atal In its effort to challenge the Benga-
a softer expression for its During the recent tenure of Sharif, The Army generals knew that Sharif To ensure its absolute control on Behari Vajpayee and lis of East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, in
Army-led ruling clique, has he did not have a foreign minister, in- is keen for a genuine peace with India. the political executive, the GHQ op- 1954, the then Pakistani prime minister,
succeeded in manoeuvring stead this crucial ministry was handled He would oppose any encouragement erating through the ISI had ensured Nawaz Sharif — but Muhammed Ali Bogra merged the prov-
T the main pillars of the demo- by Sartaj Aziz, an expert in foreign af- to the Canada based Khalistanis and election victory to Imran Khan, the dared engage India inces of the West Pakistan in one unit.
cratic polity, the legislature, media and fairs directly reporting to the General favoured action against those who most popular face of Pakistan and his The Pakistani Constitution enacted dur-
the judiciary. The executive, the prime Army Headquarters (GHQ). In the stra- mastermind of the Mumbai terror- party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. It also in a war ignoring the ing the regime of Martial Law Adminis-
minister and his cabinet is subservi- tegic affairs, if the civilian leaders found ist attack and other mischievous ensured Khan divorces his journalist saner advice of its trator General Ayub Khan too endorsed
ent to the generals, both overtly and inconvenient, they are sacked, exiled, activities of the Army and ISI. There wife, Reham, a follower of pure Islam this merger of all the provinces. How-
covertly. The country is presently being jailed or hanged. Sharif was fortunate were reports that for the past two years of the Deobandi school. His new wife, civilian government ever, it later years, the provinces were
ruled through a façade of democracy. to be spared being sent to gallows, but the new conspiracy against India was Bushra Maneka, is reportedly having restored their old identities, but the
Initially, those who control the country he is put behind bars under various being hatched. Now an inconvenient close ties with the establishment. Her political clout increased manifold. In
appeared to be successful in projecting charges, with hardly any substance. For prime minister sacked and implicated control on Khan’s personal life is quite and the new organization, National spite of committing genocide, the Army
and then installing a popular figure as GHQ, he was increasingly becoming in corruption cases, the new Pakistani known that he could not invite his Accountability Bureau (NAB), GHQ continued to assert in the Western Paki-
its prime minister, but now it stands inconvenient, because he had exposed game is now exposed. London-based sons in the swearing- ensured removal of a sitting Prime Min- stan. Pakistan, perhaps, is only country,
exposed. Pakistan’s main support - the generals’ power games and their Sharif’s another crime was his re- in ceremony. Bushra asserted and ister, Nawaz Sharif, under the pretext where the democratically elected prime
ers, USA and China, directly deal with key role in promoting the so-called luctance to the handing over of Balu- Khan conceded. It all happened a few of corruption charges that too under a minister is summoned the General
the generals. They get the decisions or non-state players. With a planning or chistan to China under the pretext of months before the polls, when all pos- democratic regime! Sharif lost his wife Headquarters, to explain his conduct
agreements reached with the political conspiracies hatched by the GHQ and CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Cor- sible tricks, money and threats were during the present jail term. His daugh- before the generals. The present strat-
government get endorsed by the gen- its secret service outfit, Inter-services ridor), which is much more than an unleashed to ensure Khan’s majority. ter, Mariam, who now symbolizes the egy of the establishment is to ensure a
erals. India too has learned this reality, Intelligence (ISI), Imran Khan and his economic cooperation between the The GHQ has succeeded in manipu- woman power of the country, too is un- pliable government using all possible
but only after the Kargil aggression. The political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-In- two countries with the setting up of a lating media too. Earlier, the press was dergoing prison term. tricks, which included pressurizing the
Pakistani Army not only rejected the saf (PTI) emerged on the centre-stage naval base at Gwador and providing quite assertive and could even dare the Within a few years of its existence local leaders to join the political outfit
peace initiative of the two prime min- of the politics. Shah Mehmood Qureshi, strong optical fibre connectivity of the military rulers. Many journalists were as a country only for Muslims, Paki - being patronised by the forces.
isters, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Nawaz a favorite of generals, who also had GHQ with the PLA (People’s Liberation imprisoned and suffered personal vio- stani Army started functioning as the This practice was not so much ex-
Sharif, but dared engage India in a war served in the Musharraf’s government, Army) of China. The GHQ is convinced lence too. During the elections, a num- supreme authority. The British Indian posed during the regimes of military
ignoring the saner advice of its civilian became the vice-president of this new that with the exit of USA from Afghani- ber of journalists were picked up by Army, which had recruited a large junta under Ayub Khan, Iskander Mirza,

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