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Thursday March 28, 2024

‘Operation Failure’

Capital suggestionCOAS General Raheel Sharif claims that he is fighting to end militancy in politics. PM Nawaz Sharif, Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain view General Raheel’s ‘fight’ as a turf war – a ‘dispute in which the GHQ is seeking to obtain increased political space and/or influence’.This

By Dr Farrukh Saleem
May 10, 2015
Capital suggestion
COAS General Raheel Sharif claims that he is fighting to end militancy in politics. PM Nawaz Sharif, Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain view General Raheel’s ‘fight’ as a turf war – a ‘dispute in which the GHQ is seeking to obtain increased political space and/or influence’.
This indeed is Pakistan’s current civil-military predicament. A turf war is why PM Nawaz Sharif was resisting Operation Zarb-e-Azb. A turf war is why Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain is resisting the ongoing V-Corps led operation in Karachi. And a turf war is why Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari is an integral part of the civilian leadership’s resistance to the GHQ’s manoeuvres (in Karachi and elsewhere).
PM Nawaz Sharif, Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain, by virtue of being leaders of elected political entities, consider themselves trustors of popular will. General Raheel Sharif, by virtue of being the commander of Pak Army, considers himself to be the trustee under obligation to protect Pakistan’s ‘ideological and physical frontiers’.
To be certain, there is a severe trust deficit between the trustors and the trustee – the trustee claims to be fighting to ‘end militancy in politics’ while the trustors view it as ‘turf war’. PM Nawaz Sharif, Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain, the trustors, feel that COAS General Raheel Sharif, the trustee, is out to capture political space that rightfully belongs to the trustors.
We are a low-trust society; our politicians don’t trust our generals and vice versa. There are three major reasons behind this severe trust deficit in our society: endemic corruption, lack of accountability and false promises by the politicians. PM Nawaz Sharif does not trust anyone outside a narrow circle of relatives and a handful of bureaucrats. The PM’s lack of trust throws out professionals and sector experts – and what is left behind is mediocrity and incompetence.
Trust is directly related to economic development – low trust societies have low levels of investment and high trust societies attract high levels of investment. Trust is an ‘economic lubricant’. Compliance with the law and public trust are also related – compliance with the law ‘depends more on public trust in the motives of the police and courts than on fear of punishment’. Trust and academic achievement are also related.
PM Nawaz Sharif, Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari and Quaid-e-Tehreek Altaf Hussain consider themselves as trustors of ‘Operation Democracy’. COAS General Raheel Sharif considers himself as the trustee of ‘Operation End Militancy in Politics’.
In January, the GHQ sponsored the formation of a civil-military Sindh Provincial Apex Committee to implement ‘Operation End Militancy in Politics’. On April 29, the COAS-chaired Karachi law and order meeting did not invite any civilian. Meaning: within four months the GHQ had to bury the Sindh Provincial Apex Committee because of the civil-military trust deficit. For the record, ‘Operation Sindh Provincial Apex Committee’ turned into ‘Operation Failure’ within four months of its inception.
To be sure, General Raheel Sharif’s ‘Operation End Militancy in Politics’ will turn into ‘Operation Failure’ unless the trustors and the trustee work together. It is, therefore, extremely important for the success of ‘Operation End Militancy in Politics’ that this serious trust deficit between our politicians and our generals be identified – and then resolved.
The writer is a columnist based in Islamabad.
Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com. Twitter: @saleemfarrukh