Sharif, Sharif and us — again

Emerging civil-military equation: Sharif the commander is in driving seat, while Sharif the civilian sits for ride

The MQM is at the receiving end. But who’s yanking the chain? The Rangers report to the interior ministry, which takes orders from the prime minister. But the director general Rangers is a serving general of the Pakistan Army, and thus also reports to the chief of the army staff (COAS). The COAS in turn — technically — reports to the prime minister.

So who really decided it was time to crack the whip, and go after the criminal elements within political parties? We can hazard a guess.

It’s one thing to support a policy, it’s a completely different issue to initiate, motivate and lead it. If there is a singular theme that is defining the emerging civil-military equation now, it is this: Sharif the commander is in the driving seat, while Sharif the civilian sits alongside for the ride.

The signs are unmistakable. Sharif the civilian did not want an operation against the Taliban, and dithered Hamlet-like. Sharif the commander went along respectfully, and then took the decision to barrel ahead. The civilian had no choice but to support it.

Sharif the civilian yet again emerged as the reluctant warrior in the aftermath of the horrendous APS attack, mouthing hollow nothings while the nation mourned. He was cracking jokes at the meeting in the Peshawar Governor House while Sharif the commander was jetting to Kabul to initiate the counter-offensive against the perpetrators of the massacre. The commander then literally forced the Action Plan down the throats of Sharif the civilian and other dodgy politicians. In the end, they all mumbled their support, but it was Sharif the commander who constituted the ‘action’, and the ‘plan’ in the National Action Plan (NAP).

The NAP would have gone napping were it left to Sharif the civilian. Instead of transforming himself into a war-time leader, he left the execution of the plan to a few dozen clueless committees comprising uncommitted, weak-kneed and incapable politicians. Three months later, no one — including the committee members — has any idea what these committees have done except make a mockery of the task handed over to them. In fact, if any committees are actually working, they are the apex committees comprising provincial authorities and the local military commanders.

Which brings us to the raid on the MQM headquarters and the subsequent release of the confessional statement by death row inmate Saulat Mirza. It is clear as day that screws are now being tightened around Altaf Hussain’s outfit, and there’s much more to come. But who made the decision? And why now?

Well, here’s where the civil-military equation becomes even more glaring in its dichotomy. The bloodletting in Karachi and its linkage to the turf war between the MQM, the PPP and the ANP is no secret. So who bells the cat? The federal government? Nawaz Sharif pretended to take the reins in his own hands by initiating an operation in Karachi, all the while trying to tightrope walk between the local stakeholders. The result has been an absolutely glorious failure. Karachi teeters on the brink.

Enter Sharif the commander. Post-APS, he’s big on action, short on tolerance. Militancy across the land is weaved together in an incestuous web, with linkages going deep and wide. If the terror infrastructure has to be smashed, the state sledgehammer has to fall hard on anybody and everybody who comes in its way. And so the Rangers move in, despite knowing the political firestorm that would erupt. Did Sharif the civilian suddenly realise he would have to be bold and go after militants within folds of these political parties?

Yeah right.

And so it transpires that a fresh power imbalance is once again dominating our political landscape. But this time around it is less a result of a deliberate conspiracy and more due to the abdication of responsibility by the politicians in the name of expediency. Sharif the civilian should have initiated and led Operation Zarb-e-Azb as a war-time leader of Pakistan. He did not. Sharif the civilian should have declared total war on militancy and terrorists of all kinds after the APS massacre and galvanised the nation with his words and actions. He did not. Sharif the civilian should have courageously ushered in sweeping reforms in society to cleanse the accumulated filth, and initiated ruthless accountability of friends and foe as part of his war-time resolve. He did not. Sharif the civilian should have thrown the gauntlet to the MQM, the PPP and the ANP and ensured an across-the-board operation against criminals within political parties. He did not. Sharif the civilian should now take charge of an effort to set a new direction for this country by promising radical change that presents itself as a dare to him.

He will not.

Yes he will not do so because time and again he and his fellow politicians have been found wanting just when times demanded courage. Have the military rulers been any better? Not really. But, then, right now we are not living under military rule. The past is long gone. The present demands clarity, conviction and courage.

Who among these men has the courage to crush militancy breeding within political parties? Who has the courage to go after Uzair Baloch and his supporters within the PPP? Who has the courage to shake down the militants inside the ANP in Sindh? Who has the courage to nail the land-grabbers and extortionists who carry membership cards of these political parties? Who has the courage to liquidate sectarian elements thriving in Punjab under semi-official patronage and protection? Who has the courage to disband jihadi groups of all shades and hues? And who indeed has the courage to call this war a war, and not one agenda item on a long list of tasks to be performed by the rulers?

Pakistan will never change if militancy of all types is not crushed once and for all. Can Sharif the civilian do it? Can Zardari, Imran, Fazlur Rahman and Altaf Hussain do it? The real, true, honest answer will in fact not come as a surprise.

But can Sharif the commander do it? His institution made this mess in the first place. Can he actually clean it up, from Karachi to Khyber, and beyond? If he too becomes a prisoner of institutional limitations, then we are in some very serious existential trouble.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2015.

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