Military goes bang, bang

With apologies to the munchkins from the Wizard of Oz, it’s astonishing to see the extent to which civilians will go to defame the armed forces and paramilitary units. First they blame the army for Abbottabad, then the navy for PNS Mehran. Then the accusations of ISI support for our strategic ally, the Taliban, Raymond Davis’s exit, and a host of other problems. Don’t they realise that khaki knows best?

The brouhaha over the shooting of a civilian in Karachi is an embarrassment. Can they not see that the dangerous civilian was about to overpower the five Rangers men? Can they not see the threat he posed to the security of Karachi, a city that our military has made free of all crime? Terrorism after all, is a result of civilian government policies.

The manner in which civilians keep questioning the military for killing potential terrorists is ridiculous. All that this boy needed to go from potential to actual terrorist was a gun and some training, because cowering for his life and begging for help showed that he wasn’t up to the mark yet. Even if he wasn’t a terrorist, one less civilian does not merit all this protesting in the streets. It’s just too hot.

Just last week, Ejaz Haider used this newspaper to claim in his open letter to General Ahmed Shuja Pasha that:

“You sir, are a servant twice over, as are your officers and other personnel. You are answerable to our representatives and those representatives are answerable to us.”

Don’t Haider and others of his ilk realise that it is an honour to be protected by the armed forces? That tax paid to them is money well spent? That the military needs more perks and privileges because that is the reward for winning wars. They also need more protection from dangerous civilians, and Prados to go through difficult terrain, such as the Karakoram Mountains or the streets of Rawalpindi.

If we want what’s best for Pakistan, we should do what the military wants us to or else we could see a breakdown of law and order and society descending into anarchy, with people killing each other based on religion or ethnicity, and murderous and corrupt civilians trying to run the country.