With govt fixated on Panamagate, state business suffers
Evolving security challenges require increased civil-military interaction, but govt machinery busy defending PM
PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
While the country waits with a bated breath for the Supreme Court judgment on the Panamagate case, the ongoing political turmoil has virtually halted the ‘business of the state’ on key foreign policy and national security issues, according to officials and observers.
At a time when all attention is focused on the apex court and whether it will disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for ‘concealing his assets’, Pakistan has to take crucial foreign policy decisions in the wake of the tough stance the Donald Trump administration is considering against Islamabad in its policy review for South Asia.
Indications are that Pakistan may have to deal with increased pressure from the United States to do more against groups such as Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network.
Washington has already withheld $50 million military reimbursements after the US defence secretary refused to certify that Pakistan was taking enough measures against militant groups, including Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Hearing concludes: Judgment reserved in Panamagate case
This evolving situation warrants increased interaction among all stakeholders, said a senior official, who wished to remain anonymous. But the government’s entire machinery is busy in defending the beleaguered prime minister, leaving little time for consultations on these matters, added the official.
Since the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) were made public, not a single official meeting between civil and military leadership has taken place.
The last time all the stakeholders sat together was on July 7 when the prime minister presided over the National Security Committee meeting attended by the three services chiefs to discuss the rising tensions with India and uprising in Kashmir.
There has been no meeting between the prime minister and the army chief before the start of military’s crucial and difficult campaign in Rajgal Valley of Khyber Agency. In fact, the announcement of the start of Operation Khyber-IV was made just a day before the Supreme Court was to take up the JIT report on the Sharif family’s offshore business dealings.
“Have you seen a single statement from the government on Khyber-IV,” asked one military official.
According to the official, the army chief is maintaining a low profile to avoid any controversy as the Panama case reaches its decisive phase. There is also unease within the military over attempts by certain government figures to implicate the security establishment in the controversy.
The army has already publicly rebutted such claims insisting it played no direct role in the Panama controversy. The ISI and MI members in the JIT were working under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, it said.
The military’s media wing would not comment as to why there was no official meeting held between the army chief and the prime minister in recent weeks. But officials privately told The Express Tribune that the army chief would meet the prime minister whenever he was called for any interaction.
There was no reaction from the Prime Minister’s Office till the filing of this report when contacted to confirm if there is any meeting scheduled between Nawaz Sharif and Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in coming days.
“There is certainly a stalemate at the moment,” said defence analyst Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib. “How can the prime minister focus on more pressing issues when he is fighting for his own survival,” he told The Express Tribune.
Panamagate: Step down today with integrity, Khurshid Shah tells Nawaz
But for political analyst Ahmad Bilal Mehboob, the current crisis has made no difference as “there is already a well-defined system within the state that functions any way.”
“I don’t think this Panama controversy should have any impact on key policy decisions on foreign policy,” he said.
Mehboob went on to add that the prime minister had no or little ‘personal input’ on foreign policy matters even before this controversy, implying that such decisions were being already taken somewhere else.
The larger issue, he believes, is the lack of strong leadership who can ‘shake up the status quo.’ “But this is not possible when the current leadership is embroiled in controversies such as the one we have seen in Panama papers case,” he said.
While the country waits with a bated breath for the Supreme Court judgment on the Panamagate case, the ongoing political turmoil has virtually halted the ‘business of the state’ on key foreign policy and national security issues, according to officials and observers.
At a time when all attention is focused on the apex court and whether it will disqualify Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for ‘concealing his assets’, Pakistan has to take crucial foreign policy decisions in the wake of the tough stance the Donald Trump administration is considering against Islamabad in its policy review for South Asia.
Indications are that Pakistan may have to deal with increased pressure from the United States to do more against groups such as Afghan Taliban and Haqqani Network.
Washington has already withheld $50 million military reimbursements after the US defence secretary refused to certify that Pakistan was taking enough measures against militant groups, including Haqqani Network, Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
Hearing concludes: Judgment reserved in Panamagate case
This evolving situation warrants increased interaction among all stakeholders, said a senior official, who wished to remain anonymous. But the government’s entire machinery is busy in defending the beleaguered prime minister, leaving little time for consultations on these matters, added the official.
Since the findings of the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) were made public, not a single official meeting between civil and military leadership has taken place.
The last time all the stakeholders sat together was on July 7 when the prime minister presided over the National Security Committee meeting attended by the three services chiefs to discuss the rising tensions with India and uprising in Kashmir.
There has been no meeting between the prime minister and the army chief before the start of military’s crucial and difficult campaign in Rajgal Valley of Khyber Agency. In fact, the announcement of the start of Operation Khyber-IV was made just a day before the Supreme Court was to take up the JIT report on the Sharif family’s offshore business dealings.
“Have you seen a single statement from the government on Khyber-IV,” asked one military official.
According to the official, the army chief is maintaining a low profile to avoid any controversy as the Panama case reaches its decisive phase. There is also unease within the military over attempts by certain government figures to implicate the security establishment in the controversy.
The army has already publicly rebutted such claims insisting it played no direct role in the Panama controversy. The ISI and MI members in the JIT were working under the direct supervision of the Supreme Court, it said.
The military’s media wing would not comment as to why there was no official meeting held between the army chief and the prime minister in recent weeks. But officials privately told The Express Tribune that the army chief would meet the prime minister whenever he was called for any interaction.
There was no reaction from the Prime Minister’s Office till the filing of this report when contacted to confirm if there is any meeting scheduled between Nawaz Sharif and Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa in coming days.
“There is certainly a stalemate at the moment,” said defence analyst Lt Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib. “How can the prime minister focus on more pressing issues when he is fighting for his own survival,” he told The Express Tribune.
Panamagate: Step down today with integrity, Khurshid Shah tells Nawaz
But for political analyst Ahmad Bilal Mehboob, the current crisis has made no difference as “there is already a well-defined system within the state that functions any way.”
“I don’t think this Panama controversy should have any impact on key policy decisions on foreign policy,” he said.
Mehboob went on to add that the prime minister had no or little ‘personal input’ on foreign policy matters even before this controversy, implying that such decisions were being already taken somewhere else.
The larger issue, he believes, is the lack of strong leadership who can ‘shake up the status quo.’ “But this is not possible when the current leadership is embroiled in controversies such as the one we have seen in Panama papers case,” he said.