On June 20, I read that the Lahore High Court had annulled the lease of 45000 acres of land from the Punjab Government to the Pakistan Army. By so doing the court has removed one of the platforms which would have showcased the very close working relationship between the civil and the military.
But all is not lost. Before one could shed tears at the loss of one area of civil military cooperation, another one immediately showed up. On June 21 I read a news item about the plan of the government who, in partnership with the army, had come up with a blueprint to redeem Pakistan through economic prosperity.
These geniuses are so modest that they never let on when they are devising plans for the public good. One only becomes aware of them from the papers or when the police comes for a midnight raid.
What they’ve sprung upon us this time is an “Economic Recovery Plan to capitalize on untapped potential in key sectors”, to attract foreign direct investment. And the same bunch of people are to do this who, for decades, have been looting Pakistan. Only this this time the plan will be put into action with the Pakistan Army’s ” all out support”.
The cast-iron assurance of this support was given by no less a man than Gen Asim Munir himself, who was present to grace the occasion which revealed the miracle that had been jointly planned by our civil and military leadership. There are obvious echoes of the Marshall Plan here.
The arrogance of power frequently brings about with it delusions of all round greatness.
However, there is little doubt that this plan of economic revival must have brought civil- military relations, already at such a high level of cordiality, to an even higher level.
Indeed, our history tells us that when civil-military relations are close, the results this can achieve can be stupendous.
Who can forget when Yahya Khan was leading the military side of this partnership, and Bhutto the other, and together they managed to lead Pakistan into civil war, defeat, surrender, and the destruction of Pakistan?
And then it was Musharraf’s turn. He sat with his political cronies and together they devised the NRO. This not only legitimated and legalized all manner of corruption and sundry other crimes [in which the rich and powerful indulge on a daily basis] but also laid the groundwork for their immunity for times to come. And this hollowed Pakistan out.
With Musharraf, major new benchmarks of acceptable theft were laid, both at the army and the national level.
And then we had the Kiyani-Zardari partnership. This saw Pakistan’s most renowned thug ascend to the Presidency and give an extension of tenure to one of the army’s most venal generals whose pusillanimity was reassuring to Zardari, and whose reticence passed for being an intellectual.
The era of open corruption within the army began with the lesser Kiyani brothers breaching every gate of propriety with total immunity. And then the General himself, for an unreported favour, oversaw the development contracts of DHA sectors gifted to Malik Riaz through his Adjutant General who committed suicide soon after.
And last, when Gen Tariq Majeed, as the Chief of the Joint Staff Committee, repeatedly refused to sign off on visa applications initiated by Hussain Haqqani [our ambassador in Washington] for unprecedented numbers of under-cover American operatives to enter Pakistan, Gen Kiyani annulled the requirement of approval by JCSC for issuance of such visas. This was betrayal. Raymond Davis was a small gift of this facilitation.
It was left to Gen Bajwa to take mutual goodwill in civil military relations to a level without precedent. He reached this mark when he handed the country over to certified thugs and looters, whom he himself had labeled as such many times. But he forgot this when he switched loyalties. He also forgot that most of the rest of the 225 million Pakistanis, who were pushed under the grind of the thugs, were also civilians, who got little else from this civil-military relationship, but blood toil grime and tears.
The ingredients are in place and the general trajectory for a repeat of 1971 has been set. And Bajwa handed over the baton to run the last lap to Gen Asim Munir. And boy, is he running!
Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto introduced gangsterism into our politics. When the wife of MNA Suleman was taken to a police station and charged with some petty theft, it was a “first” in our experience of political gangsterism. Gen Munir, in partnership with Shahbaz Sharif’s government, has taken repression and political gangsterism to a level never before seen in Pakistan.
But Bhutto also had a second record which has yet to be overtaken. Thrice he attempted to have a political opponent bumped off; all three times he got the wrong man; was hanged for incompetence; and has since been remembered as a “shaheed”!
This could only happen in Pakistan!
Whether Gen Asim is in pursuit of this record, and if he will better it, only time will tell. But the rumor is that during private ruminations he is oftentimes seen salivating over this possibility.
But coming back to the subject, one will have to concede that civil-military relations under Gen Asim Munir are proceeding swimmingly.
One of the results of this new economic plan devised by the general with expert advice from Shahbaz Sharif is the formation of the “Special Investment Facilitation Council”. This will surely help Pakistan take off economically. Though where it will land is anybody’s guess.
Because thugs and looters who know all there is to know about “wealth creation” are behind this plan, there should be no reason why it should fail. Basically, this should be a simple case of reverse engineering. All that needs to be known is which way their backsides were pointing when they were sucking out the wealth of the country. Once this is known all you’ve got to do is to make them stand in a straight line facing the opposite direction, have them bend down, and apply the stick to their behinds. This should help money which was sucked out by them to be blown back. Behind each one a neat pile of gold should be expected to be found.
And who better to line them up than Gen Asim Munir. His very close relationship with them and some foaming at the mouth, could only help!