Cautious criticism: Army chief’s speech takes centre stage in Senate

Senators say institutions should stay within domain.

ISLAMABAD:

The Senate was supposed to discuss the law and order situation in the country on Tuesday – but instead, Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani’s unusual warning against undermining the armed forces took the centre stage.

While several senators expressed their views on Gen Kayani’s speech on the first day of the Senate session, they remained cautious in their choice of words and the magnitude of their criticism.

Soon after Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri urged the state institutions to remain within their domain, and National Party’s Mir Hasil Khan Bizenjo demanded the institutions stop patronising groups to do their job, Col (retd) Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi came to the army’s defence.

“People in the world do not speak against their armies whether they win or lose a war,” said Mashhadi, who belongs to the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM). “The entire nation should stand behind the army.”

Senator Haideri, more explicit in his remarks, mentioned statements issued by Gen Kayani and Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry and said sanctity of the institutions cannot be compromised.

Referring to the Asghar Khan case and the role of the army during the past in making and breaking governments, Senator Haideri said “It has become crystal clear what our institutions had been doing in the past.”

“It is your (institutions) own duty not to indulge in activities which earn you criticism,” he said, while lamenting that politicians were an easy target to be ridiculed and held accountable.

He said that every institution should have to work within the limits defined by the Constitution and only then would there be stability in the country. “What has happened in the past should not happen in future,” he added.

Touching on Balochistan, Haideri said, “The people of Balochistan need no special package (Aghaz-e-haqooq-e-Balochistan) but peace before it is too late and there is a situation like (former) East Pakistan.”

Bizenjo said the time has come for the state to take a decision on whether it would stop promoting anonymous groups in order to keep a check on law and order.

In Balochistan, groups are being asked to kill those who do not want to live in Pakistan and that such patronisation has shaken the entire province. “It is your (army’s) duty (not of those groups),” he added. “Almost all criminals are on the payroll of one or the other institution.”

Senator Shahi Syed from the Awami National Party (ANP) stayed the most diplomatic while concluding his speech: “General Sahib has delivered a political speech asking all to look into their past deeds.”

He said extortionists have started minting money in the name of Taliban and it seems the government has no intention to maintain law and order in Karachi.

The ANP senator suggested that legislation with regard to laws of evidence would help in restoring peace to Karachi, as well as holding free elections and implementing the Supreme Court’s order on delimitation in Karachi.

Senator Faisal Raza Abidi made an unusual move when he tried to force Deputy Chairman Sabir Baloch not to expunge from the proceedings his remarks against the judiciary.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2012.