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The GHQ has got it wrong!
Violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty includes foreign elements which the army and government continues to ignore.
The writer is a director at the South Asia Free Media Association, Lahore [email protected]
The Pakistan Army has turned Pakistan isolationist on the principle of ghairat (honour). Everyone knows it runs the country’s foreign and security policies. Look closely enough and you will find that it runs practically everything.
The TV channels emphasising ghairat, back the army. Last week, when outspoken journalist Rauf Klasra began spelling out the dominance of the army on a TV talk show, the lady anchor cut him off, not willing to go into the Abbottabad fiasco from that angle.
The Foreign Office which is the closest state institution to the army, because of the latter’s monopoly over foreign policy, used an interesting formulation in its post-Abbottabad statement:“The government of Pakistan and its armed forces consider the support of the people of Pakistan to be its (sic!) mainstay and actual strength. Any actions contrary to their aspirations, therefore, run against the very basis on which the edifice of national defence and security is based (sic!)’.
The Supreme Court, too, took this line when it went activist after its restoration, and it has not been good for Pakistan. Why is ‘going with the people’ not good? Why is ghairat not a good principle to follow in foreign policy?
Democracy is often mistaken with ‘direct democracy’ and today its legal manifestation is only in referendum. Why do referendums — direct consultation with the masses — lead to trouble? We know the case in Pakistan when General Zia and General Musharraf resorted to them. In the US, the state of California alone resorts to them and has bankrupted itself in the process.
Athens was directly ruled by the people, not by a government of their representatives. Plato and Aristotle ended up condemning it. Why? Because they discovered that popular opinion was mostly emotion-based and extreme. It was this lack of moderation of ‘direct democracy’ that made it unpopular in the West, where its ‘representative’ variant finally evolved as the ‘best available’ mode of governance.
What the Foreign Office should have referred to was the government, not the government and the army as institutions subservient to the people and their passions as expressed on the TV channels.
It is folly to adopt ‘state sovereignty’ as the flag of revolt against the world. First of all, it is a myth and secondly, it is used incorrectly. It is used against the US alone, while those who violate Pakistan’s sovereignty include foreign elements that Pakistan ignores.
All things being relative, it is not the CIA which is dangerous for Pakistan’s existence but al Qaeda and its local affiliates. The truth is that the people of Pakistan are with al Qaeda, and al Qaeda has a blueprint for the country’s takeover. If the people and the army don’t mind al Qaeda then Pakistan can become dangerous for the world.
The danger comes from Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The CIA is said to be after Pakistan’s bomb, but there is no evidence for that. There is evidence, however, that Pakistani nuclear scientists had made early contact with Osama bin Laden after 2001.
Left in the hands of the PPP or the PML-N — both were ousted in the 1990s for dabbling in foreign policy — Pakistan can get out of trouble. They represent the people, yet they know that international affairs demand realistic adjustment to the exigencies of power relationships in the world.
The GHQ is wrong in embracing ghairat as expressed in ‘sovereignty’. It has gone wrong in the past — remember Kargil? — and it is wrong again. And this time the masses need ‘welfare’ even if it comes with a little bit of tweaking of ‘honour’.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 15th, 2011.
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Reader Comments (25)
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Its time we should try to find out the real “Enemy Within” and stop pointing fingers at others for our own mistakes and negligence.Recommend
GHQ needs US patronage for its survival. The economic managers are waiting for the next IMF tranche. Politicans know that elections will be lost over issues of inflation and not national honour. Things wont change much, the rhetoric over sovereignty is meant for public consumption. The right wing media deliberately ignored some realistic arguments made by ISI and air chief, that the army cant challenge the technological superiority of US. Recommend
The truth is that the people of Pakistan are with al Qaeda
After 30,000 of us dead, shame on us for even saying that. The opinions of a minority DO NOT represent the views of the entire nation as you have implied! Recommend
I THINK THIS TIME THE FISICAL BUDGET 2011-12 SHOULD MORE CONCENTRATE ON THE SOCIOECONOMIC REFORMS AND INTERNAL SECURITY COUNTERING FORCES BECAUSE WE ARE A ATOMIC POWER AND NOW INDIA WILL NEVER EVER REPEAT A SUICIDAL MISTAKA TO HAVE ANY MISADVENTURE DUE TO BALANCE OF POWERS PLUS INTERNAlly india has got graveious hurdles and problems from which they are not comfortable enought to defend them easily and they are not enjoying good relations with all of their attached neighbours.Recommend
Wrong! The referendum process has nothing to do with the fact that the State of California has amassed huge public debts. The debts were accrued due to undisciplined overspending by the state and the huge unfunded pension and healthcare entitlements granted to city and state employees.Recommend
The country should be magnanimous enough to accept Shuja Pasha’s resignation. And yes, Salman Bashir, should also be taken to task for his shameless efforts to cover up for his ISI bosses. The honour of Pakistan comes first. Recommend
Thanks Ahmed sahib for an excellent analysis. Recommend
I like the authors words when he say that Pakistan Army should be accountable to the representatives of Pakistan and they should not utters words like they are accountable to the people of Pakistan directly. That make them parallel to our chosen representatives which they are NOT.Recommend
Nicely written and your suggestions make abundant sense.Recommend
States and Foreign Policies are always run by BEST BRAINS available.
If out best politicians are busy in minting money then who else then Army is available to run the show ?
Instead of condemning Army there is need to see who is NOT doing his job and he is to be blamed and that is our worthy politicians.
Army did not push anyone away for supervising foreign policy… they filled the gap just to secure safety and honor of Pakistan.Recommend
The resolution passed in joit session shows that’all representatives were accountabale to security establishment and the resolution contents were seemed to be written by security establishment.’pakistan first should understand and reach to conclusion who is actual enemy of pakistan.Al-Queda or United state’, i think after mature and retional brain storming the conclusion would be ‘Al-Queda is United stae enemy and pakistan is siding with Al-Queda will bring worse results for the country’let Al-Queda and US fight and be neutrtral as state it would be benificial for common pakistanis.Recommend
Boss is always right!!!!!!!!!!!!Recommend
@jahagir, India is in a much better shape , economically and militarily, than ever before. But India will never attack you as we want to enhance our economy and usher more reforms. We did not attact you on kargil, we didnot attack you when Laskar e toiba attacked our parliment , we did not attacked you when mumbai massacre happened. Your government acknowledged later that LeT was behind mumbai attacks. peace is only solution for welfare of people, on both sides.Recommend
Excellent analysis Khalid Sahib, Pakistan runs the risk of being declared a terrorist state and all we can conjure is “ghairat”, Recommend
Its about time, the Govt thought about having a non military head for the ISI directly appointed by Ministry of defense. Once you get someone (and few other top officers) loyal to the Govt., go about controlling the purse strings and actual allocations to projects etc.., will there be acountability in the ISI and may be GHQ.
The OBL episode is a huge opportunity for the Civilian government to get the GHQ and ISI under control. But it looks like it will be squandered away…. Zardari and Gilani are running down the Bhuttos legacy….Recommend
brilliant as always….we need beghairat analysis…!Recommend
@Khalid Masood: Do you work for the ISIRecommend
@Khalid Masood:
Recommend
@bs: And it happened only in California > the answer is elementary.Recommend
@Javed:
Click my name and you can access my FB account.
Try to figure our for whom I work.
To tell you the truth………….
Due to the habit of reading and extensive travelling I have gathered some knowledge and same I share with you people/
I only work for my beloved motherland……….. That is Pakistan.Recommend
even for a single day Pakistani missiles, capable of loading nuclear war heads, are faced towards oil fields located in Arabian peninsula, US will apologized for his betrayal..Recommend
If Americans Don’t have any name, of individual or group of officers, of Pakistan Army or it’s intelligence Agency I.S.I. for hiding osama in Pakistan THAN U.S back stabbed Pakistan viz unilateral action in abbottabad.Recommend
@White Russian
Military establishment of Pakistan do have best brains availableRecommend
@Khalid Masood
States and Foreign Policies are always run by BEST BRAINS available.
So shall we say ZAB and NS had the BEST BRAINS till the BEST BRAINS got transplanted in Zia and Musharraf respectively.I am sure that makes Pakistan the only country to have BEST BRAINS transplant technology.Congratulations.
If out best politicians are busy in minting money then who else then Army is available to run the show ?
Whatever happened to the permanent civil bureaucracy,specilly the Foreign Office? In how many countries during your travel or in how many polities in the course of your readings have you found the military in charge of running the show?
Instead of condemning Army there is need to see who is NOT doing his job and he is to be blamed and that is our worthy politicians.
But didn’t you just say that the Army was running the show? In how many countries that you have travelled through have you found politicians manning non-functional radars? Make another attempt at finding those NOT doing their job.
Army did not push anyone away for supervising foreign policy… they filled the gap just to secure safety and honor of Pakistan.
An elected PM invites PM of another country and both of them profess friendly relations, the Army Chief thinks otherwise and launches agression against the other country. Pushing or filling? The President of country X eschews ‘first use of nuclear arms’ , the Army Chief openly overturns the stated policy. Pushing or Filling? And where else such people will survive, let alone prosper.
Looks like all your travelling and reading was like a rolling stone that gathers no moss.Recommend
In normal countries respect and “ghairiat” comes on the basis of economic development while in Pakistan, thanks to the “ghairiat brigade” we believe we would achieve respect by shuning economic development and eating grass, literally!!! What more proof of collective national psychosis does anybody need!!Recommend