Too many in Pakistan who set great store by their Generals, and saw them as being synonymous with probity, honesty, and integrity, stand shattered and stunned today.
The reason for their shock, from which they cannot seem to recover, is that they have been witness to a moral calamity which could not have gained admittance to even their wildest imagination just about three months back.
They have seen their country and the future of their kids being quite literally sold off to a group of pimps certified by every brothel of the land.
And this sale has been conducted by none other than the erstwhile custodians of the trust of the nation.
How smartly they have pirouetted, marched a few steps back, and fused so seamlessly with the pimps, as if they always belonged with them!
For many, it is now clear that the only thing that kept them distinguished from their essence was their uniforms, and defiling it caused them no moral burden, so smooth was the sell off!
The shock among those whose investment of faith was hugely misplaced, will never be overcome.
But they may gain a certain understanding of their dilemma, if they read the following tract from Lidell Hart’s *”Why we don’t learn from History [on generals].
*”. A different habit, with worse effect, was the way that ambitious officers when they came in sight of promotion to the generals’ list, would decide that they would bottle up their thoughts and ideas, as a safety precaution, until they reached the top and could put these ideas into practice. Unfortunately the usual result, after years of such self-repression for the sake of their ambition, was that when the bottle was eventually uncorked the contents had evaporated. “