Is it tit for tat?

Between Islamabad and Rawalpindi it is shadow-boxing yet, and hopefully doesn't go beyond this - though Khwaja Asif's innuendos-packed statement from the floor of the National Assembly is hardly an effort in that direction. He said parliament is the "most powerful" institution, and not others including the General Headquarters without naming it, exhorting members from across the aisle to rise and guard against attempts at undermining its pre-eminence. Khwaja Asif appeared to be in a tit-for-tat mood voicing his riposte to what Army Chief General Raheel Sharif said the day before at the Ghazi commando base. Rhyming in, though a little bit less passionately, the fellow minister Pervaiz Rashid claimed people do trust parliamentarians otherwise they would not have elected them. What the army chief said while addressing the SSG commandos was not for space in the media - he said what he had to say to address the feeling among the forces, that of late, some PML-N ministers were unduly critical of the army as they tend to suggest that General Pervez Musharraf (Retd) was procrastinating in his court cases in connivance with the army. And what must have moved him to hint at that was his encounter with jawans and officers at the SSG Ghazi Base, near Tarbela, who were upset over the ministers' name-calling of their erstwhile boss, General Musharraf. The two Khwajas calling him traitor, fugitive from justice, without realising that his cases are under trial and he has been only charged but not held guilty. Maybe, it's okay once a while that a minister may pass a comment even when he is not called upon to do so. But to regularly make mouth-frothing comments against a former army chief and head of state makes no sense, as they are expected to somewhat deliver on their averments when they occupy high chairs in the government. And, quite interestingly, if not intriguingly, all this has happened when the armed forces are unreservedly committed to full flourish of democracy in Pakistan - even when the government is hosting talks with the killers of thousands of Pakistanis including generals in uniform. It is not the army high command that is standing in the way of quick disposal of Musharraf's treason case; he has been getting relief from the doctors, as well as at the instance of interior ministry which had indicated security risk to his life during travel to and from the special court in Islamabad. Had these two Khwajas, Defence Minister Asif and Railways Minister Saad Rafique, been that innocuous as they pretend by saying they never meant demeaning the Pak Army their boss, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, would not have snubbed them over their objectionable statements.
But even if General Raheel Sharif felt hurt he hasn't directly commented on the ministers' periodic harangues against Pervez Musharraf. What he said at the Ghazi Base was only: "While our country is faced with multiple internal and external challenges, Pakistan Army upholds the sanctity of all institutions and will resolutely preserve its own dignity and institutional pride". But it resonates from many a heart - because the Khwajas have been unreasonably high-pitched, vicariously conveying that if dialogue with Taliban is heading nowhere, and if opposition is unforgiving in its criticism it is because of the 'hidden hand' in Rawalpindi. There is also a view that they are asking 'the innocent lamb to knock out eyes from the wolf's head'. Will they tell anybody how they serve cause of people by insisting that Musharraf is not brave enough to face the courts? And if they were trying to divert people's attention from the issues like poor law and order and runaway inflation they should think again. Almost a year on, the government is expected to deliver. But has it, from the man in the street there is a big no. Add to this, the gravity of situation on the frontiers, both, east, and west. By the year's end foreign forces would have left Afghanistan, leaving behind a huge vacuum of power. If the presidential election held last week is any guarantee of post-withdrawal peaceful Afghanistan, there is no clear answer. On the eastern frontier, India is going to elect a new government, most likely headed by a staunch anti-Pakistan, Narendra Modi. This is no time to raise doubts about commitment of the armed forces to democratic system which essentially means government of the people and without its active support armies cannot win battles let alone wars. One would be most reluctant to buy the claim that by seeking respect for the institution of army, General Raheel is making a case for safe passage for Pervez Musharraf. Had the GHQ opposed treason trial of their former chief of the army, the government would not have initiated trial proceedings. This is high time the PML-N ministers should re-fix their mental compasses and move out of the old marshes of doubts about the armed forces' commitment to survival and flourishing of democracy in Pakistan.