Creeping coup?

Let us enjoy the sweet sound of squealing as stiff necks are squeezed, big toes crushed. Time to smoke ‘em all out

On this Defence Day, how do we defend ourselves against muddled thinking, twisted logic and self-serving hypocritical arguments? Got a weapon for that?

For what else would you call the subdued hysteria being deliberately built around fears of a creeping coup? Much ink is being spilt on valuable paper to stoke the embers of latent suspicion among those who are ever ready to sink their teeth into conspiracy theories. “The faujis are coming,” goes the silent scream gurgling inside the larynx of the usual suspects.

Relax guys. No need to blow your top. The creeping coup you smell is more likely a coup against infectious incompetence, contagious corruption and persistent pilferage from public property.

When it comes to military and civilian ties, things veer towards a natural state of complication. Or so it seems when we dip our toes into the muddied waters of the past. But it is exactly because of this inglorious past that fears of a creeping coup now make little sense.

In fact, such fears — wrapped as they are in menacing rumours, subtle insinuations and hushed warnings — yes, such fears betray a certain insecurity pinching those who have the most to lose if the traditional state of affairs is upended. There exists within our shores, a motley crew of fellow citizens that just cannot extricate itself from the simplistic phobia of civil-military relations.

We all know our history. We all know what the generals have done, and not done. We all know how khaki shadows have loomed large over Islamabad’s Constitution Avenue. We all know the ruinous fallout of decisions made by men in uniform. And we all know that military rule is not an option for Pakistan. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever.



If you and I know this, do you think the generals do not? Do you think the army chief and his senior commanders want to abrogate the constitution again and declare martial law? Is it possible that such an outcome is even discussed seriously by the military high command? Is there one reason why the generals would want to engineer a coup at this point in time?

Fine. Let’s assume they do not have the intent. Do they retain the capability? Yes, in the past, all it took was a few truckloads of soldiers from the 111 Brigade and the coup was done. The army doesn’t need to move Al Khalid tanks and JF 17 Thunders to seize power from the civilians. Apparently, conquering one’s own country is a fairly easy job for the military.

Except that it’s not. General Raheel Sharif may be the most popular soldier this side of Suez, but even he knows the limitations that an era clamps down on the ambitions of men (and women). Like his predecessors, the army chief has a lot of brass on his uniform. But somehow, this brass weighs less than it used to in 1958, or 1977, or 1999 — not because of any professional shortcomings but due to the burden of legitimacy. These are different times. The superpower has receded from our shores like a tidal wave in reverse. And, Pakistanis have matured enough in the last decade to know they must not be willing to learn governance through the barrel of the gun.

The brass glitters more in Rawalpindi than in Islamabad.

So why, then, is it shimmering in the Karachi sun? This indeed, is the core of the matter. Not a creeping coup, not ambition wrapped in khaki colours, and certainly not an ambush of parliamentary democracy — no sirs — it is none of these but a pure and simple case of dictum discovering a new twist: nature abhors a vacuum, but apparently so does the military.

And so, we rebound back to the mother of all questions: who’s gonna fix things in this land?

For fixing they need. If the generals created the terror monster, they’re now fixing it. Who messed up the police? Who ruined the education system? Who wrecked the health sector? Who plundered public finances? Who pillaged state lands? Who debased government offices? Who abused accountability? And who let things come to a stage where the entire edifice appeared crumbling?

All this needs fixing. In Karachi, in other parts of Sindh, in Punjab and everywhere else, stuff needs to be done. But those who are mandated to do this stuff, those who have been elected to fix things, are found wanting. This shortcoming manifests itself when stiff necks find a noose around them. The squeal that follows reverberates across the political landscape — and suddenly, there’s talk of a creeping coup.

The sound that you hear may be the breaking down of the elite consensus, as my friend Babar Sattar has pointed out in his column. But it may actually be a bit more than that. While the elite consensus of protecting mutual interests may indeed be cracking, it is being replaced by a new consensus that things cannot remain the way they have remained the last six decades. Enough is enough. It is time to atone for the sins of yesteryear. But this atonement must be done within an institutional framework.

The howls of protest from the MQM and the PPP are signs that something right is finally being done. It signifies a maturing Pakistan, where the military works through powers invested by parliament to kick down the walls of privileges erected around elitist interests shrouded under the cloak of democratic legitimacy. It is not a creeping coup when the military enforces the rule of law through a legitimate process; it is not a creeping coup when accountability is enforced across the board via a legislated mandate; and it is certainly not a creeping coup when the civilian and military leadership agree on key strategic issues both in the domestic and foreign arenas.

Is the civilian side betraying a certain weakness? Absolutely. Is the military driving executive decisions and smashing traditional bureaucratic inertia? Definitely. Is this a good thing? Without a doubt.

So my fellow fear-mongers, here’s what I say to you: zip it. And let us enjoy the sweet sound of squealing as stiff necks are squeezed and big toes crushed. Time to smoke ‘em all out and drain the swamp.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 6^th, 2015.

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