ISLAMABAD: In the backdrop of the WikiLeaks revelations which have shaken Pakistan’s political set-up, Nawaz Sharif’s warning to an apparently over-confident Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani seems to have been right on target. In a meeting in Raiwind a year back, Sharif told Gilani “never trust your military commanders.”
What becomes clear is the farsightedness of Sharif as he was able to correctly read the military mindset, despite the fact that he was out of the country for six years. But the man who was dealing with the top brass on an almost daily basis sitting in the PM House did not have any clue what his top military commander was up to.
Top inside sources have now confirmed to The Express Tribune that a smiling Nawaz had clearly warned an over-confident PM Gilani without mincing words that he should not put blind trust in his military commanders after he heard him making a tall claim that his government enjoyed the “full confidence” of the army led by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Giving the inside story of this unusual warning given in a closed-door meeting, the sources said at one stage in a bid to impress his host, Gilani sounded over-confident when he told Nawaz that the military was “fully on board” and supported his government.
Nawaz told Gilani that when he was prime minster before the military coup of October 12, 1999, a top official of his government had brought a secret file for his approval. This file contained an allotment order for prime agricultural land in Faisalabad to a serving corps commander of that time. When Nawaz showed reluctance to approve allotment of the land to the said officer, he was told by an aide to approve the allotment on the grounds that the military commander would be an ally in the long term. He argued before Nawaz that such a favour to a sitting general would be useful for his political government, which in those days was facing threats from military commanders after a standoff on the Kargil operation.
After listening to this argument, Nawaz put his signatures on the file to allot the agricultural land in Faisalabad, thinking he had won over one serving top army official who might be of some help in case of a serious threat to the political government. But, Nawaz said, he was shocked to see the same military general, whom he had allotted agricultural land in Faisalabad, carrying arms and leading his uniformed soldiers to arrest him.
As this was not enough for a stunned Nawaz, the same general started putting him under pressure to make him fall in line. The general told Nawaz rudely to either withdraw the sacking orders of General Musharraf or resign from his office. When a determined Nawaz refused to oblige the general, the officer got furious. To punish Nawaz, the uniformed general took the prime minister along with him and then detained him at a military mess. Later, Nawaz was handcuffed by the same general and put on a plane to Karachi, where he was lodged in Landhi jail.
In light of his personal experience of dealing with military generals, Nawaz had warned Gilani that the politicians should not trust military leaders as they were always loyal to their serving commanders and not to civilian leaders.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 3rd, 2010.
COMMENTS (16)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ