Military under fire: ‘Still masters, not friends'

Mengal says army generals are guilty of ‘murdering the Constitution’.

ISLAMABAD:

Sardar Akhtar Mengal seems to be attracting endorsements from all quarters, but he is in no mood to let empathy overpower his scathing criticism of the army.

“We consider generals our servants, but they are still our masters. And we cannot move forward with this equation,” Mengal told participants of a ceremony organised by the Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) in his honour.

The SCBA has not only endorsed Mengal’s six-point agenda, but its president, Yasin Azad, on Saturday also demanded the government convene a special session of parliament to resolve the Balochistan issue.

Mengal, who presented his proposals in the Supreme Court on Thursday, is now becoming increasingly vocal about his disillusionment with the armed forces.

“They (the army) are against freedom of speech and an independent judiciary. And they don’t believe in the independence of the media either. Had the Constitution the power to speak, it might have asked what we did with its murderers,” said Mengal referring to successive military coups.

He added internal and external policies were chalked out in the General Headquarters (GHQ), which distributes “certificates of loyalty or disloyalty among the country’s citizens.”

Mengal said one could not be made a Pakistani on “gunpoint or on the basis of an identity card, passport, or even the green book known as the Constitution.”

He added that while all successive leaders acknowledged the mistakes made by their predecessors, none were ready to change the mindset. “Bhutto tendered an apology for Ayub Khan’s military operation in Balochistan while Ziaul Haq did the same for Bhutto’s Hyderabad conspiracy. Musharraf tendered an apology for all those who came before him and those who would come after; Zardari too did the same – but no one bothered to change their approach towards the people of the province.”

Referring to the comparisons made between his six-points and those of Mujibur Rehman’s, Mengal said there was nothing wrong with the former East Pakistan leader’s proposals and that the military establishment simply did not analyse the repercussions. “Around 90,000 army officials were imprisoned, while over 10 million Bengalis lost their lives during the military operation. We are facing the same situation in Balochistan. So far, 53 top leaders of the province have been gunned down.”

Unconvinced by the intelligence agencies’ rebuttal regarding the existence of “death squads”, Mengal pondered out loud if Balochistan was like the Bermuda Triangle where one could not find any clues concerning disappearances.

He said documentary evidence existed against uniformed officials who have been caught picking men up on CCTV cameras, yet no action has been taken to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Mengal also accused members of the provincial assembly of Balochistan of not actually being public representatives, but instead pawns of the intelligence and security agencies.

Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain welcomed the return of Baloch leaders, including Mengal and Sanaullah Baloch.In a speech on Saturday, Altaf noted the MQM was the only party that had held a major rally condemning the atrocities in Balochistan.

He said party leaders Haider Abbas Rizvi and Babar Ghauri approached Mengal for a meeting but were told he was leaving Islamabad for Dubai on Saturday. Altaf expressed surprised over how Mengal still chose to meet PTI Chief Imran Khan the same day.

Altaf said he told the party not to be upset, because their support would continue regardless of a meeting, and that Mengal had a “script”, which “the MQM was not part of.”
( with additional reporting by our correspondent in karachi)

Published in The Express Tribune, September 30^th, 2012.