Khaki accountability

This refers to the article, ‘Khaki accountability’ (April 23) by Babar Sattar. While criticising Nawaz Sharif for mishandling the Panama leaks, the writer has not spared the army’s across-the-board accountability either. There is nothing new in the sacking of senior army officers because the army has an inbuilt accountability system. The case was fairly old and had been under investigation since 2015. Since the entire lot of officers belonged to the FC, therefore the punishment has been announced collectively – without any tweets. It is not fair to criticise the khakis every time and blame them for the increased civilian-military imbalance. But the root cause of this imbalance should be determined. At present, the army’s services are being utilised in all civilian affairs, which should have been the exclusive domain of the civilian administration. When you submit authority willingly, there is no point in complaining.

Was it not the failure of civilian governments that paved the way for military interventions? The army is like any other institution of the country and does not function in isolation. If there is something wrong, who is going to put it right? The solution does not lie in blame-game, but in exercising the authority to mend the wrong.

Mukhtar Ahmed

Karachi