General Kayani, the lucky servant!

            I felt the preponderance of General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani when not other but the Prime Minister of Pakistan came on TV screen for the announcement of the good news of granting more three years to him.

            According to Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani granting extension to the army chief was an administrative decision which did not require consultation with political parties but here a question arises that whether it was a Constitutional requirement to come on the TV screen and announce the extension news to the nation. In my opinion, for the nation the news of elimination of the final terrorist might be more significant than the extension in the service tenure of a servant. If the performance of the institutions is attributed to the personalities then all the persons in every institution need to be given extension because all the institutions are run by more qualified and efficient personalities.

            The Prime Minister promoted 54 Civil Officers but did not come on TV then what was the unique factor which prompted the Prime Minister to announce extension before 4 months of the expiry of the tenure? I have no objection and probably no one has any objection to the extension but the same honour should be extended to other institutions as well.

            The promotion of 54 Civil Officers silently aggrieved the other servants to the extent of knocking the doors of the Supreme Court of the Pakistan because they considered the order of the Prime Minister not based on justice and fair play.

            Every day the cases of hundreds and thousands of aggrieved Civil Servants are heard by Service Tribunals, High Courts and Supreme Court. Whether the Prime Minister has ever constituted any Committee for the investigation that why the Civil Servants are instituting cases one after the other in the Courts?

            We have been told by the religious scholars that in the Paradise, the desire of a person shall be fulfilled as soon as the desire arise in the mind of a person but Kayani is so lucky in this World that he has not been reported to have expressed the desire for the extension and the Prime Minister of Pakistan gives him extension before any formal request! This is the actual point which has compelled the analysts to think on the point that why the Prime Minister is extraordinarily gracious to the Army Chief?

            The tremendous powers which he draws from the Constitution due to his position should also be used for the civilians in order to enable them to get rid of their problems in the Service. The blessings of the âPolicy of Reconciliationâ are heavily showering on the Army Chief, as is seen, should also put some drops on the others.

            The Chief Justice is working hard and has cleared the backlog of the cases to a greater extent but he received not a single word of praise, instead he laments the non-cooperation of the Government. If General Kayani is busy in killing the miscreants, the Chief Justice is the symbol of solace to the peopleâs hearts.

            I do not want that the Chief Justice be garlanded because it is his duty to do justice. The respect which he has is in the hearts of the people. Similarly, if Kayani is killing miscreants, it is his duty and he has willing accepted it. The nation has respect for him because of his position but it does not mean that his extension in service be announced on the TV.

            The Prime Minister did against his own words, on one side, he declares it an administrative decision while on other side, comes on TV for the announcement of the administrative decision with sufficient decorum.

            I request the Prime Minister to give such honour to each servant of the State which you have given to General Kayani because in this Country all are the equal citizens of the Country.

Manzoor Ahmad Yousafzai

Monday, 26 July 2010

Was this extension really needed? Perhaps not

Saturday, July 24, 2010
PM offered strange logic; Kayani performed extremely well as Army chief

By Ansar Abbasi

DUBAI : Favourable opinion about General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani apart, Prime Minister Gilaniâs decision to extend his tenure by another three years appears debatable.

Kayani did perform extremely well as the Army chief, he remained apolitical, did not allow the military to intervene in politics, generally believed to have fought well against terrorism, ensured free and fair February 2008 elections and played his role quite sensibly during tense moments but still giving him an extension should have been avoided. It is yet to be seen if Kayani would accept the offer and continue till November 2013. It would, however, be good for the institution of Army if he does not.

In the professional armies like ours, such extensions are not common and officers retire on the completion of their service. For any soldier, it is nothing less than a dream to become the Army chief for a three-year statutory term. Extending this term would mean denying others their right of promotion. The government might have its own reasons to do this but such decisions tend to politicise the military establishment.

Extensions and post-retirement re-employments in services, whether civilian or military, do no good to the institutions unless they are really inevitable because of the unique expertise of the retiring official. The provision of extension should be used exceptionally and only in situations where the person considered for extension is indispensable.

General Kayani is no doubt widely respected both within the Army and outside. But he certainly is not indispensable. We have seen our civil bureaucracy getting from bad to worse and reaching a position where it has simply become ineffective, incompetent and subservient to the dictates of the political masters. It was politicisation of the civil bureaucracy that led to the downfall of this extremely important institution. Unnecessary extensions and re-employment, external influences in the service matters of the members of civilian bureaucracy and political appointments have become an accepted norm, whose results are detrimental to the interests of the people of Pakistan .

The Pakistan Army, whose strength lies in its depoliticised service structure, would have been stronger if different generals had not denied others their right by availing extensions in their services. The long tenures of Ziaul Haq and Prevez Musharraf as chief of Army staff had impacted negatively on the credibility of the Army that is otherwise the most disciplined force. We need role models in the Army, an institution where rule and regulations are followed in letter and spirit. Kayani can become the role model.

In the last 12 years, we have seen only two Army chiefs instead of at least four. This fresh three-year extension given to General Kayani would mean two Army chiefs in 15 years â from 1998 to 2013.

The prime minister, while justifying this extension by the democratic government, argued on Friday that it would ensure continuity in the war on terror, bring further stability in the country and secure the positions of the president, the prime minister, the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Army chief, all of whom would now continue till 2013. Strange logic but then this is how things work in Pakistan .