It will take many decades before we can claim to be stable across all government systems.
SYDNEY: This is apropos Saroop Ijaz’s article “Low Expectations” (December 1). I believe taking into account Pakistan’s political circumstances, which are nothing but unstable, General (retd) Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s resistance to the temptation of launching a coup is commendable. But I also believe there is more to it. We need to remember that General (retd) Pervez Musharraf’s popularity nosedived during his last few years in power. The military’s public image was very much linked to it. It was a wise decision and not that difficult for General (retd) Kayani to stay away from politics and thus, restoring the military’s brand in the eyes of the public. If we remember, the PPP government in 1989 gave even General (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg a democracy award for the same reason, a ridiculous reward for not taking over the government after General Ziaul Haq’s death.
As we all know, major Pakistani institutions, other than the military, are unstable and immature in their operational working thus, giving opportunity to the military to play hard ball for being the only disciplined and operationally stable institution. It will take many decades before we can claim to be stable across all government systems. The talk of adherence to the Constitution is only academic in the current Pakistani lawless environment where everything operates under the notion of ‘might is right’, rather than ‘right is might’.
Imran Ahsan Mirza
Published in The Express Tribune, December 4th, 2013.
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