GC Kayani & the 128th PMA Long Course
History repeated itself because men repeated mistakes.
The writer is Director News, Express News. He tweets @fahdhusain fahd.husain@tribune.com.pk
Introspection was writ deep onto his face. On a balmy Saturday morning, the commander of the Pakistan Army stood at the parade ground of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) and allowed himself a rare — and a fleeting — moment of emotion.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani hangs his spurs November-end after more than four decades of service to the nation. In 1971, he stood right here on this parade ground, in crisp khakis and shiny boots, ready for commission in an army that ruled the country. Then, he faced the rostrum, today, he faced the cadets, and the world. The same crisp khakis, the same shiny boots.
This then was his last address to his alma mater; his last opportunity to share his accumulated wisdom with those who venture forth into an institution whose fate is in many ways intertwined with that of the nation. When Gentleman Cadet (GC) Ashfaq Kayani stood here, the world was a simpler place. India was the enemy and GC Kayani was trained to fight it with all his might. The year that Pakistan was torn asunder, and the army forced to surrender to the enemy, was the year that GC Kayani marched out of the gates of the PMA as an officer of the 45th Long Course.
But as General Kayani stood in the same ground to speak to the 128th Long Course, he never mentioned India. Instead, he talked of two things that GC Kayani’s Pakistan did not have: democracy and terrorism.
One day, one officer from the more than 600 Gentlemen Cadets of the 128th PMA Long Course, may be standing on the rostrum where General Kayani stood today, looking back four decades and remembering the balmy Saturday morning of 2013 when his commander talked not of India, but of democracy and terrorism. This officer will live through transformational times, watching his nation as it overwhelms the odds, or gets overwhelmed by them. He will, in his own individual capacity, shape events and get shaped by them. He will witness momentous decisions, and disastrous ones. He will see a society fracture itself further, or heal its wounds. He will see his course mates pay the ultimate price for the right causes, or the wrong ones. He will face glory, or tragedy; he will taste victory, or defeat. He will flourish in an institution that reforms and revitalises itself with changing times, or sags under the weight of its own anachronisms.
In 1971, GC Kayani’s army was let down by its generals and its politicians. Mistakes were made. Huge mistakes. The price — rooted in history and carved in geography — was paid in blood. Some lessons were learnt, many were not. Institutional convulsions, instead of triggering reform, reinforced the status quo. Many good ideas, and good men, were shunted aside for a return to the comforts of inertia.
History repeated itself because men repeated mistakes.
The men of the 128th Long Course have the opportunity not to repeat mistakes. From GC Kayani to General Kayani, the army has changed, the country has changed, the world has changed. GC Kayani saluted to a military ruler. General Kayani salutes to an elected leader. And so do the men of the 128th Long Course.
Make no mistake. These men march out of the gates of the PMA into a war zone. But this war is being waged on a fractured national canvas, painted in hues of gray and shades of ambivalence. General Kayani has bequeathed, to the 128th Long Course, an army that will fight the fight when asked to fight. This was his message to the Gentleman Cadets in the parade ground. He, perhaps, has drawn the red lines. His boss has not — yet.
The men of the 128th Long Course surely know that the one star of the green and white flag rules the three and four stars on the shoulders. And our leaders must surely know this flag flutters high when held aloft by a battalion — and much higher when held together by 190 million pair of hands.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 13th, 2013.
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani hangs his spurs November-end after more than four decades of service to the nation. In 1971, he stood right here on this parade ground, in crisp khakis and shiny boots, ready for commission in an army that ruled the country. Then, he faced the rostrum, today, he faced the cadets, and the world. The same crisp khakis, the same shiny boots.
This then was his last address to his alma mater; his last opportunity to share his accumulated wisdom with those who venture forth into an institution whose fate is in many ways intertwined with that of the nation. When Gentleman Cadet (GC) Ashfaq Kayani stood here, the world was a simpler place. India was the enemy and GC Kayani was trained to fight it with all his might. The year that Pakistan was torn asunder, and the army forced to surrender to the enemy, was the year that GC Kayani marched out of the gates of the PMA as an officer of the 45th Long Course.
But as General Kayani stood in the same ground to speak to the 128th Long Course, he never mentioned India. Instead, he talked of two things that GC Kayani’s Pakistan did not have: democracy and terrorism.
One day, one officer from the more than 600 Gentlemen Cadets of the 128th PMA Long Course, may be standing on the rostrum where General Kayani stood today, looking back four decades and remembering the balmy Saturday morning of 2013 when his commander talked not of India, but of democracy and terrorism. This officer will live through transformational times, watching his nation as it overwhelms the odds, or gets overwhelmed by them. He will, in his own individual capacity, shape events and get shaped by them. He will witness momentous decisions, and disastrous ones. He will see a society fracture itself further, or heal its wounds. He will see his course mates pay the ultimate price for the right causes, or the wrong ones. He will face glory, or tragedy; he will taste victory, or defeat. He will flourish in an institution that reforms and revitalises itself with changing times, or sags under the weight of its own anachronisms.
In 1971, GC Kayani’s army was let down by its generals and its politicians. Mistakes were made. Huge mistakes. The price — rooted in history and carved in geography — was paid in blood. Some lessons were learnt, many were not. Institutional convulsions, instead of triggering reform, reinforced the status quo. Many good ideas, and good men, were shunted aside for a return to the comforts of inertia.
History repeated itself because men repeated mistakes.
The men of the 128th Long Course have the opportunity not to repeat mistakes. From GC Kayani to General Kayani, the army has changed, the country has changed, the world has changed. GC Kayani saluted to a military ruler. General Kayani salutes to an elected leader. And so do the men of the 128th Long Course.
Make no mistake. These men march out of the gates of the PMA into a war zone. But this war is being waged on a fractured national canvas, painted in hues of gray and shades of ambivalence. General Kayani has bequeathed, to the 128th Long Course, an army that will fight the fight when asked to fight. This was his message to the Gentleman Cadets in the parade ground. He, perhaps, has drawn the red lines. His boss has not — yet.
The men of the 128th Long Course surely know that the one star of the green and white flag rules the three and four stars on the shoulders. And our leaders must surely know this flag flutters high when held aloft by a battalion — and much higher when held together by 190 million pair of hands.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 13th, 2013.