Gen Asif Nawaz, Chief of Army Staff, has been better than his word. For the first time in living memory, army heads have rolled for an anti-public act — a Major-General, two Brigadiers and one colonel were sent packing and a major will most certainly face a court-martial for the Tando Bahawal tragedy. The COAS has now moved into second gear and demonstrated his resolve to be ruthlessly fair. The dreaded terrorist wing of the MQM was defanged in the blinking of a fearful dusk in Karachi last Friday.
A fortnight ago it seemed that Tando Bahawal would scar the Sindhi landscape for all times to come. Last week it was all but forgotten and forgiven. Ask ordinary Sindhis about their current sentiments and their eyes brim with grudging respect. Yes, they admit, their worst fears about the army appear to be unfounded. This doesn’t look like the Punjabi army battering a province as in East Pakistan in 1971 or Balochistan in 1974 or Sindh in 1983. It’s more like the Pakistan army finally doing its duty in Sindh.
Turn to the citizens of Karachi. Suddenly, there is a mood of hope rekindled after a decade of despair. yes, maybe now we can breathe again, say Karachi-ites rich and poor, Mohajirs, Punjabis, Pathans, Baloch and Sindhis alike. The press too has heaved a sigh of relief. The MQM monster, which Karachi had foolishly begotten and which had tragically turned to devour it, is now on the run, its deadly tail between its usurperous feet. This is certainly the Pakistan army doing its duty in Karachi.
Here is the army chief’s philosophy: Violence is not the way for political parties or groups to settle political differences; ordinary citizens are tired of being coerced, intimidated and surrounded by fear; political factions are a fact of life, they should live amicably with one another; the army will not take sides.
Spoken like a true politician, this is surely music to many ears. But tread softly, softly. It must sound like a dirge to those who have lost the confidence of the people. And there’s the rub. With every passing day, the politicians’ noses are being rubbed in the dust and the army chief is beginning to sound and look infallible. What will the politicians do when there is a clamour for him to sweep away all pests and do “his duty” to people and country?
The way out is all to obvious. To all intents and purposes, the army is primed to march forward with nary a look over its shoulder. Yet Mr Muzaffar Shah pathetically clings to office when power has already seeped from his grasp. This is an untenable position. President Ghulam Ishaq’s bloody-mindedness, which is what is propping u Mr Shah, must come to an end. What the province clearly needs today is a temporary suspension of politics to clean up the mess and heal the human wounds. It needs a Governor who is backed by the army and who is able to bring all the warring parties and factions to the negotiating table as soon as possible. Dialogue and compromise, without fear or favour, should become the watch-words of a new order for Sindh, in which a chastened MQM and a sober PPP jointly inherit the mantle of power and responsibility. There is no other way. Not all the Zia ul Haqs and Ghulam Ishaqs and Jam Sadiqs and Muzaffar Shahs and Altaf Hussains of this world can deny the bankruptcy of their misguided solutions for Sindh.
Now revert to Islamabad. With the departure of Mr Jatoi and Qazi Hussain from the IJI, Mian Nawaz Sharif’s vote bank has diminished and levelled out with that of Benazir Bhutto. Yet the prime minister is unable to accord even the status of an ‘honourable’ opposition to the Peoples Party. What sort of a democracy is this in which, as the army chief of all people is forced to remind us, live and let live is not possible? Even the Jamaat-i-Islami, the PPP’s oldest and most implacable foe, has now declared that Bhutto’s party is “a national political party which strongly believes in the integrity and solidarity of Pakistan”. Will Mian Sahib dispense with the pathological PPP-haters around him and strike a workable deal with Bhutto?
As for President Ishaq, he has already usurped too many powers for the good of his office and taken too many decisions to the detriment of this country. He has in truth stepped into Zia ul Haq’s boots. This is unacceptable. If he cannot bring himself to call it a day, the might at least consider the grave error of his ways and try to redeem his pledge of neutrality to the nation.
The chief of army staff has given his first interview to the BBC. As expected, he hasn’t minced his words. However, it is not a practice which should be encouraged. If the politicians don’t want him to hog the news, they might knuckle down and reckon with the moment of truth. It is still not too late for them to put Pakistan first. A couple of months down the line, the people of this country will settle for nothing less than that. But by then it might be too late for them to deliver.