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Will there be another coup in
Pakistan?
-DR. ABDUL RUFF
COLACHAL
_______________________
Lieutenant-General Raheel
Sharif, brother of a war hero, will take charge of the world's sixth-largest
army, with a formal handover from General Ashfaq Kayani on 29th
November Friday. General Kayani announced last month he planned to step
down after six years in the post, presenting Pakistan's new leader with his
toughest choice since coming to power in May. The new army chief is not related
to the prime minister or president.
Pakistan government’s
choice of a career infantry officer considered a moderate as army chief is
viewed as a milestone in the political charter of Pakistan as the country
fights an arrogant American military occupying and attacking Pakistan within by
using drone arms. Pakistan seeks accord with the USA on how to stabilise
neighbouring Afghanistan. But Washington is still focused on Taliban insurgency
only to prolong the over stay in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,
struggling to deal with both USA and Taliban, announced that he wanted to
disentangle the military from politics but the military is unlikely to
relinquish its hold at such a sensitive time.
The appointment of Sharif as
the powerful military chief comes as tension with arch-nuke-rival India over
its occupied Jammu Kashmir is rising and as the USA seeks Pakistan's help in
bringing peace to Afghanistan ahead of the withdrawal of most Western forces
there next year.
The army chief is arguably the
most powerful person in Pakistan, with the military having ruled the country
for more than half its 66-year history since independence from Britain. Sharif,
57, received his military commission in 1976 and studied military leadership in
Germany, Canada and Britain. He commanded several infantry units, including the
Sixth Frontier Force Regiment along the disputed LOC-Line of Control in
Kashmir. Perhaps his most important contribution has been his role in the
reshaping the country's strategic policy.
Sharif was one of the
architects of the new doctrine. In 2007, the military undertook an
ambitious programme of re-thinking its strategic doctrine, following the
appointment of Kayani as army chief. The new approach was seen as a move away
from a focus on the rivalry with India to a more nuanced policy which
considered the internal threat from militants equally as pressing. His brother,
Major Shabbir Sharif, received two of the country's highest military awards for
his action during the 1971 India-Pakistan war in which he was killed.
World views the change of guard
in Pakistani military with keen interest as it always played a determined role
in Pakistani system and establishment. Military have staged and still can
stage coup to remove the elected primers. In 1999 and only a year after
appointing him, Nawaz Sharif was ousted from power by his army chief, General
Pervez Musharraf. He will be keen to ensure history does not repeat itself. The
prime minister also named water and power minister Khawja Muhammad Asif as
defence minister. The prime minister had held the portfolio since being elected
in May.
Pakistani security analysts say
that Nawaz should know that whether it is Raheel Sharif or someone else as army
chief, he won't do the PM's bidding - he will be driven by the institution
first and last.
The obvious question: Will
there be another coup in Pakistan? may look funny but cannot be that funny
though…
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