Publicizing the army

Publicizing the army

Dr. Jassim Taqui

Having failed to hold accountability of corrupt PML (N) members outlined in the Panama Leaks, the ruling party and the Opposition combined to divert the attention from the real issue. Suddenly, attention was diverted to debate who would be the next COAS.

Stories were published on the senior four generals and among whom the prime minister would select to head the military establishment. 

Simultaneously, it was leaked that the prime minister offered Gen. Raheel Sharif the extension of his tenure by one year by appointing him as Field Marshall. This was rumored despite the fact that Gen. Raheel Sharif had announced that he would retire and that there is no indispensable person in the democratic system. All civilian and military personalities should respect the laws and retire on time or when to become a threat to the survival of the ruling regime.

Ostensibly, Nawaz Sharif is giving the wrong impression that the power struggle between the ruling party and the Military Establishment was because of the extension issue. Essentially, this means the Federal and Provincial Governments are concealing their failure to implementing the National Action Plan (NAP). They also used a blackout the lack of transparency in running the democratic dispensation.

Keeping in mind the nature of the rumors, it is very clear that the Government has decided to sabotage the NAP, which was agreed upon by all political parties in December 2014 following the massacre of Army Public School.

For the Government, it can kill the NAP by the same parliament, which legislated it and gave it a legal cover through the 21^st Amendment in the Constitution.

Suddenly, both the Government and Opposition found that NAP is “hard to digest,” since its implantation would expose the corruption of prominent MNAs and MPAs and establish their misrule and violation of the Constitution.