Soothing words

Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the army General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi was obviously intended both to soothe ruffled military feathers following Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Munawwar Hassan’s assertion that soldiers killed fighting the Taliban were not martyrs and the party’s subsequent turning down of the military demand for an apology. Making his own views known, PM Sharif visited the Martyr’s Monument in a gesture which, of course, also sent out a clear message to the JI. He spoke emotionally of the sacrifices made by the Pakistan Army personnel for the ‘future’ of their nation, underscoring his admiration for these men, both living and dead.



The comments by Mr Hassan have added several strange twists to our political reality. For a very long time indeed, the military, the PML-N and the JI had stood on the same side of the ideological divide, and often acted as allies on various occasions. The gulf we now see between the army and the JI is unprecedented in our history. Indeed, the JI has been an influential force in promoting within the military the idea of ‘shahadat’ or ‘martyrdom’, which has now sharply divided the two groups. The longer term impact of this will be watched with much interest. Meanwhile, PM Sharif, brought into power by one military dictator and pushed out by another, seems to have patched over the rift that arose between him and the military following the 1999 overthrow of his government by General Pervez Musharraf, with his comments at the GHQ demonstrating solidarity with the military. This cooperation could also spill over into other areas. We are told the issue of talks with the Taliban, now led by Mullah Fazlullah, were also discussed at the GHQ meeting between the prime minister and the army chief. This matter will, of course, be a central one over the coming days, while the JI’s unexpected verdict on soldiers killed while fighting an anti-state militia has simply added to the controversy that has been brewing for years in the country, with much confusion hanging over the question of who are the ‘good’ guys and who the ‘bad’ in the battle that continues to be waged across our tribal belt.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 14^th, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.