In rare meeting, military brass seeks president, PM’s support

Armed forces’ delegation includes all three service chiefs, CJCSC and defence secretary.

ISLAMABAD:

Amid increasing domestic and international pressure on the armed forces, Pakistan’s top political and entire military leadership huddled in Islamabad on Monday for a rare, and unannounced, gathering – in which the armed forces are said to have sought the government’s support on a number of issues.

The Presidency only issued a terse one-line statement following the meeting, saying that “the security situation was discussed”, while the Inter-Services Public Relations – the media wing of the armed forces – refrained from commenting on the high-profile meeting.

Given its timing and profile, the meeting was far from routine.

Sources claimed that the political and security implications of a possible North Waziristan military operation, which is being demanded by the US, came under discussion.

According to sources, the chiefs of the armed forces have asked the civilian leadership to take up the North Waziristan operation in parliament, similar to the time they launched a military operation in Swat two years back. They  also discussed the political, monetary and security implications of such an operation, they added.

Some security analysts believe that Pakistan might opt to go for a ‘targeted’ operation in North Waziristan instead of an all-out assault, but only after the armed forces reach general consensus and political backing from the civilian leadership.

In the aftermath of the Abbottabad operation, back to back visits by US civilian and military leaders started to build pressure on Pakistan to launch a decisive operation in North Waziristan Agency, believed to be a bastion of militants hurting the international forces in Afghanistan.

CIA Director Leon Panetta’s brief visit to Pakistan over the weekend followed yet another sharp downturn in US and Pakistan relations when he shared ‘evidence of suspected collusion with pro-Afghan Taliban militants in the tribal areas’ with Pakistan’s senior military leaders, according to Time magazine.

Criticism of armed forces

Also discussed were measures to curtail the growing criticism of the armed forces by different quarters internally.

Political forces, most prominently the Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) and its chief Nawaz Sharif, as well as civil society have launched scathing criticism of the security forces inside and outside parliament.

Monday’s meeting came on the heels of an unusually extensive statement issued after a military commanders meeting last week, calling for an end to a ‘slander campaign’ against the country’s armed forces by ‘unidentified elements’.

The security establishment is also concerned about the growing criticism by some political forces, media and civil society to defame the armed forces and wants the civilian government to come forward to defend them against this criticism.

The Osama bin Laden debacle, the attack on PNS Mehran in Karachi and the killing of some innocent civilians at the hands of paramilitary forces served as a catalyst for criticism against the armed forces internally.

Those attending the meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani included Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Khalid Shameem Wynne, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Noman Bashir, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman and Secretary Defence Lt Gen (retd) Syed Athar Ali.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2011.