Pakistan Premier Gilani has gone where no Pakistani prime minister has gone before. He has vocalized his concern about the belligerence of the Army and the ISI. Few days earlier Gilani has voiced his concern about the insubordination of these two Domestic Mavericks; their lack
of accountability to the Pakistani Parliament. He was concerened about a coup by the Army.
This is not something new. The specter of a military coup has haunted the subconscious
of successive elected Pakistani premier. Even President Asif Ali Zardari was allegedly haunted by the banshee of an imminent coup. Hence an impassioned plea to the US for intervention in the
post-Laden domestic scenario.
Or that’s what the Memogate purportedly brings to the fore.
The octopus-like grip which the Army has on the state of the nation is a reality
which every government in Pakistan has to live with. It has existed prior to
Gilani. It will exist well after him. So why the hue and cry now??
The reason may well lie with realpolitik pressures from the United States and the world at large. Post-Laden pressure has been building on Pakistan to prove its ‘honest credentials’ vis-à-vis state sponsored terrorism.
The Pakistani ruling elite has been ill-placed between an increasingly aggressive US and a very defensive and sentimental domestic populace. Situation is such that there is almost a cold-war between the two countries and diplomacy is operating inconclusively from such sub-zero milieu.
Before the two nations ‘came to blows,’ so to speak, or attracted punitive sanctions and put into utterly defensive and submissive postion, it was imperative that Pakistan acted.
Hence the masterstroke by Premier Gilani. By condemning the belligerence and insubordination of the Army and the ISI it has washed its hand off any and all misdeeds of the army.
So sanctuary to Laden, sanctuary to Al Qaida and other terror misdeeds springing from a deviant army/ISI has been shrugged off by the Prime Minister as nefarious activities of the Dread Duo… which is not reporting to the elected power elite anyway.
It now remains to be seen how United States takes up this gambit to normalize relationship with one of its most important ally in the region. Pakistan has done its part to give the dialogue cue to
America to act its next scene in the ensuing subcontinental Broadway show.
of accountability to the Pakistani Parliament. He was concerened about a coup by the Army.
This is not something new. The specter of a military coup has haunted the subconscious
of successive elected Pakistani premier. Even President Asif Ali Zardari was allegedly haunted by the banshee of an imminent coup. Hence an impassioned plea to the US for intervention in the
post-Laden domestic scenario.
Or that’s what the Memogate purportedly brings to the fore.
The octopus-like grip which the Army has on the state of the nation is a reality
which every government in Pakistan has to live with. It has existed prior to
Gilani. It will exist well after him. So why the hue and cry now??
The reason may well lie with realpolitik pressures from the United States and the world at large. Post-Laden pressure has been building on Pakistan to prove its ‘honest credentials’ vis-à-vis state sponsored terrorism.
The Pakistani ruling elite has been ill-placed between an increasingly aggressive US and a very defensive and sentimental domestic populace. Situation is such that there is almost a cold-war between the two countries and diplomacy is operating inconclusively from such sub-zero milieu.
Before the two nations ‘came to blows,’ so to speak, or attracted punitive sanctions and put into utterly defensive and submissive postion, it was imperative that Pakistan acted.
Hence the masterstroke by Premier Gilani. By condemning the belligerence and insubordination of the Army and the ISI it has washed its hand off any and all misdeeds of the army.
So sanctuary to Laden, sanctuary to Al Qaida and other terror misdeeds springing from a deviant army/ISI has been shrugged off by the Prime Minister as nefarious activities of the Dread Duo… which is not reporting to the elected power elite anyway.
It now remains to be seen how United States takes up this gambit to normalize relationship with one of its most important ally in the region. Pakistan has done its part to give the dialogue cue to
America to act its next scene in the ensuing subcontinental Broadway show.
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