Kayani speaks his mind

All these months and years, Chief of Army Staff, General Kayani, has stood calm, unruffled at the centre of the storm as howling winds swirled around him. He kept his cool over incessant debate about the role of military leadership, as it has come under sharper attack following the Raymond Davis saga, clandestine CIA May 2 and the Memogate and Mehrangate scams. The perceived failure of the military-managed Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency in pre-empting the Abbottabad raid has been one of the most talked-about affairs on various public forums that gathered more intensity as the Memogate scam burst on the public scene. As to what the reality in these episodes is, the military leadership had apparently failed to win over the doubting Toms. And when ISI critics bayed for the Director General of ISI Lieutenant General Pasha's blood, it was made available; but no more, General Kayani has now made it clear. Speaking to journalists Wednesday night at the Prime Minister House, he cautioned against unbridled debate and discussions on men in uniform which he said tended to undermine their morale. Nobody seems to be sensitive to the immense harshness of conditions in which our soldiers perform their duty, he pointed out. General Kayani also referred to the immunity the military institutions enjoy in other countries from open criticism in public, reminding his interlocutors that "Even in the United States the role of agencies is not discussed publicly.... It takes very long to build institutions," was his observation. His denial of alleged military role in Balochistan and of reports that the ISI is supporting Imran Khan is equally categorical. Instead of trying to gain political mileage from these happenings he asked the debaters "to learn from the past, live in the present with focus on the future." Of course, General Kayani did not spell out the cost for this free-for-all debate on military institutions in Pakistan, but left no one in doubt about what it can earn in return. That said, and digested, the fact has to be admitted that criticism of the military institutions has a basis and unless and until the grey areas that exist between reality and its public image are taken care of, doubting Toms have a point. No Pakistani in his right mind would like to see the morale and fighting spirit of our jawans undermined - a fact which needs no assertion. There is no gainsaying that Pakistani forces are presently faced with enormous challenges, many of which are as much creation of the strategic anti-Pakistan designs of outsiders as of our own political leaderships. Why do we forget that the appeasement policies of former president General Pervez Musharraf were fully supported by the then civilian leaderships? There is indeed an unsavoury past that refuses to die out. And it would keep chasing us unless we move out of it determinedly and decisively which is possible but only if we succeed in clearing out the grey areas that exist between the elected bodies and military institutions. Accountability and democracy have to coexist. This is an age of openness. The people of Pakistan would like the military institutions to be open to parliamentary oversight, but in due course. Equally important, if not more, is the need that all major foreign policy initiatives must stem from the federal cabinet and floor of national parliament than from behind the high walls of the GHQ. Of course, some progress on that front has been in evidence over the last couple of years with military officers giving detailed briefings to the members in parliament. But the kind of openness required to improving the climate of mutual trust and confidence is still in short supply. If the military leadership feels hurt by the no-hold-barred public debate over the role of the ISI the civilian side too is waiting to know the whole truth about the agency's doings in national politics. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012