General Sharif you’ll be missed

It was winter of 2013; the nation was in a political cul de sac entrenched with the menace of terrorism and poor governance. The year saw 3,001 civilian deaths due to terror. Government and the opposition in the country were daggers drawn, with one party making hefty benefits and the other making skewed decisions. One crying over rigged elections while the other squalling over the follies of their predecessors. In such a scenario transition of power in GHQ was neither welcomed nor unwelcome perhaps; the nation was indifferent about it.

Right after the news of General Sharif taking over the military realms in his hands, most believed (as the name suggested) that he might be related to the civilian Sharifs. Therefore saw him with a skeptical and myopic lens. It took another year for the nation to realise that General Sharif was unlike the Sharifs of Raiwind but more like the Sharifs of his family; who sacrificed their lives for this country and were bestowed upon with the highest military award, Nishan-e-Haider.

Then came 2014, civilian government was adamant on dialogue with the militants despite fully knowing Taliban had never kept their vows. Notwithstanding captivation of sons of two political leaders and successive attacks on military installations like Karachi Naval Base, Kamra Air Base, FC Training Camps etc., government initiated futile negotiations. They went for parley because they knew they didn’t want to lose their children to the militants, like those of their predecessors. Nation had to pay a heavy price for this vacillation and appeasement of militants.  After every incident of terrorism there were press releases, sanitised statements, futile promises and resonating commitments.

This was the time when the General proved himself to be a man of actions. He showed that actions speak louder than words. While the government was still contemplating about military action against the terrorists, General launched an all out operation with the name of Zarb-e-Azb. Then came the Black day of December 16th 2014, Peshawar’s Army Public School was attacked as a revenge against the military for initiating the operation in North. It took 144 innocent lives for the political parties to shun their differences and to bury all their doubts, ambiguities and perplexities and to stand united against terrorism. It was the time when all institutions of the state were on the same page against those who carried out the heinous act.

While, the mandated Civilian Government was only vaunting about sitting on the same table as Mr Khan who had been running a political show in Islamabad for over a 100 days to create another fact-finding committee; the leadership mantle of Pakistan quietly glided into the hands of General Sharif. No one felt this suave transition unlike the military coups, which are loud and clear. Even the civilian leadership didn’t realise when and how did the general win hearts of millions in the country. Thereafter what we saw was Godspeed with the General, the moratorium on capital punishments lifted, military courts formed and terrorists hanged, slayed, killed and destroyed. With that came an 80.3 per cent decline in the number of deaths per year due to terrorism in Generals three-year term from 2013 to 2016.

Apart from taking action against the terrorists, General also showed us what it truly meant to start accountability at home. He decided to hold accountable those involved in corruption and started this cleansing process from the military itself. Two Generals were demoted in the NICL case and all their perks and privileges were taken away, which was unprecedented and unheard of. That’s when everyone realised his resolve against corruption and terrorism was unflinching beyond institutional interest and personal vendetta. His resolve was simple, lurch against anyone and everyone harming our motherland. His message was loud and clear; unaccountable mode of governance and unchallenged exercise of power cannot and must not be tolerated.

After that the much-needed Karachi operation took place. Scenes of Rangers picking these cannibals were awesome, they assisted the Karachiites to have a goodnight sleep while those in power might have lost their sleeps. Karachi Operation speaks bouts of its success; the city saw a significant decline in Terrorist Activities. 69 per cent decrease in Target Killings, 85 per cent reduction in extortion and 90 per cent drop in kidnapping activities across the city. For the first time the two larger than life political parties are seen slouching towards their expiration. While one keeps re-launching its chairman the other is debating over which one out of the Karachi chapter and London chapter are authentic.
As we speak of General Sharif’s achievements it’ll be unjust to not mention his efforts in materialising CPEC and providing security and assurances to the Chinese to make CPEC come true. Shanghai Business Review published a special report on the CPEC in which the efforts of Pak Army and FWO have particularly been highlighted. Eastern and Western links of the CPEC are being constructed by the FWO and the work is being carried out at the speed of 1.5 kilometres per day, which is exceptional in the field of road construction by international standards.

It is time that leaders join heads and learn from the exemplary leadership and governance that has been displayed by the chief. It is time for them to realise that something is seriously wrong with the administrative fabric of this country when the security realms of the capital are handed over to the army, when the people of Karachi hand over police officers to Rangers for taking bribe, when army is called in to provide security to police academy and army is called to provide medical aid after terror attacks.

Leaders must realise that the nation doesn’t have short-term memory anymore and has realised that the due credit will only be given to those who deserve it. Having said that we must give Nawaz Sharif his due credit for bringing good luck to the nation in the form of Zarb-e-Azb, Karachi Operation, Global decline in Oil prices and CPEC. With this affirmation, lets hope his decision of appointing General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the new Army Chief will also prove lucky for the nation as General Raheel Sharif has raised the bar of expectations very high for his successor.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2016.

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