The army needs to hold daily briefings and reach out to the public through the media.
KARACHI: This is with reference to a report published in your newspaper, “General Kayani seeks to repair dented army pride” (June 20).
If Pakistan as a country is under multiple threats, how do we expect its most powerful institution to remain unaffected? The Pakistan Army is under criticism today, but is it in our national interest that such criticism continues?
Occasional statements issued by the ISPR are no more the feasible way forward. The army needs to hold daily briefings and reach out to the public through the media. The authority conducting the briefing should be able to answer all the questions that the media poses, except those that pertain to ongoing operations in tribal areas keeping in view their sensitive nature.
This will make the information more credible. Today, it is not the ability or capability of the Pakistan Army that is being doubted, it is its credibility that has taken a dent. If the right measures are taken by the army, it can respond effectively to all criticism.
The army needs to adjust to the changed environment. The authority to do almost anything in the name of ‘national interest’ is not acceptable to the general public.
The army would do well not to get boxed down and view all the criticism coming its way as a means of some grand design to defame and devalue it. In fact, it needs to listen to the voices of logic and reason. The time to remain ‘unaccountable’ is over and we all hope that this is being clearly understood by all those who are involved in designing the future of the Pakistan Army and the methods of its responses.
Lt Col (retd) Muhammad Ali Ehsan
Published in The Express Tribune, June 21st, 2011.
