False binaries

This refers to the article, ‘Avoiding the allures of false binaries’, (Oct 18) by Mosharraf Zaidi. In the last paragraph of his article, the writer said,, “There is no shame in honouring our soldiers whilst holding our generals to account. And there is no dishonour in demanding more from our elected leaders, whilst defending the democratic infrastructure that sustains them”.

What made the writer think that the soldiers and the generals are the two different entities of the army? One’s at a loss to know as to what prompted him to write this paragraph. He should know that the army as a whole is an amalgamation of the two – the soldiers and the officers. Let’s not put a wedge between the two. Also, what has the existing ‘democratic structure’ given to this country? Had this structure delivered anything, only then one could have demanded more from its ‘elected leaders!’

Air-Cdre (r) Azfar A Khan

Rawalpindi