Who Rules Pakistan?
Why the military, of course, aided and abetted by the Inter-Services Intelligence agency. The government is their shield from scrutiny, responsible for passing laws that the military will permit them to pass and the ISI finds itself agreeable with. The judiciary is said to be independent, but who knows? This is not a mutually agreeable situation, but it does represent reality.
The military has at its disposal a quite formidable cudgel in its sole possession of the country's nuclear arsenal which the government enjoys claiming the fiction that it has complete control of, and the military does its bidding. The military and the ISI are committed to Islamism and wrenching Kashmir from Indian hands; indeed inflicting any kind of mischief that would harm India.
That commitment to control of the geography extends to Afghanistan - and the military and the ISI have both formal and informal connections to violent Islamists, guarding and guiding them to a tangent of mutual interests. It will never do for a Prime Minister or President of Pakistan to consider himself to be independent and having authority over the military.
For one thing, the Chief of Army Staff and his high-ranking cohorts will not have it other than as an acknowledged facade of very thin dimensions. There is no organization within Pakistan with the power of the military and/or the ISI. While the government would dearly love to delude itself that power lies ultimately with the elected lawmakers, they know otherwise.
The government of Yousuf Raza Gilani also knows how threatened it is should it seek peace with India and should it become too close with the interests of the United States and the West in battling Islamist terrorism. Nowhere is Islamism and jihad as carefully nurtured as it is in Pakistan in its countless madrassas and terror training camps, supported by the military.
Nothing is forever, it is true, as has been amply testified to by the Turkish military which once proudly maintained its oath in honour of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, founder of modern 'secular' Turkey. It has now seen itself in complete rout, subjected to humiliation and arrest of its top generals and high-ranking officers, retired and currently-serving for purported coup attempts targeting the Freedom and Justice Party of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.
In Pakistan General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, chief of Army Staff, has furiously denied talk of a military coup; for the Pakistani military will continue to serve democracy and the elected officials of Pakistan. "The army is fully cognizant of its constitutional obligations and responsibilities", he huffed indignantly.
President Asif Ali Zardari is said to have pleaded with the United States to help prevent a military coup which threatened in the wake of the rage manifested by the Pakistani military in the unspeakable adventure of the U.S. Navy SEALS raid that dispatched Osama bin Laden, where he lived for years in peace and security, co-located with an elite military training facility.
Presumably, to entice the United States to enter into a covert alliance with the elected government of Pakistan to protect it from its own military, the U.S. was offered the capture of the al-Qaeda principals still in circulation in Pakistan. As well, entry to Pakistan soil by the U.S. military would be assured to enable capture of terrorists.
Perhaps most enticing of all, the agreement would also permit the United States to work with Islamabad in securing safeguards for the country's nuclear weapons, ensuring they would never fall into hostile hands. News of this missive and its offers spread in Pakistan after it appeared in the Financial Times, and the level of xenophobic anti-Americanism has skyrocketed.
The government has been accused of treason and the ISI has launched a national security investigation. They may investigate whether there is any truth in the claim that Lieutenant-General Ahmad Pasha, head of the ISI, had visited Arab countries to curry their favour for the commission of a coup in Pakistan.
And, good gracious, look at this, former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, who fell out of favour and was replaced with a genuine democratic election, is preparing to return from exile in London to launch a new political party...
The military has at its disposal a quite formidable cudgel in its sole possession of the country's nuclear arsenal which the government enjoys claiming the fiction that it has complete control of, and the military does its bidding. The military and the ISI are committed to Islamism and wrenching Kashmir from Indian hands; indeed inflicting any kind of mischief that would harm India.
That commitment to control of the geography extends to Afghanistan - and the military and the ISI have both formal and informal connections to violent Islamists, guarding and guiding them to a tangent of mutual interests. It will never do for a Prime Minister or President of Pakistan to consider himself to be independent and having authority over the military.
For one thing, the Chief of Army Staff and his high-ranking cohorts will not have it other than as an acknowledged facade of very thin dimensions. There is no organization within Pakistan with the power of the military and/or the ISI. While the government would dearly love to delude itself that power lies ultimately with the elected lawmakers, they know otherwise.
The government of Yousuf Raza Gilani also knows how threatened it is should it seek peace with India and should it become too close with the interests of the United States and the West in battling Islamist terrorism. Nowhere is Islamism and jihad as carefully nurtured as it is in Pakistan in its countless madrassas and terror training camps, supported by the military.
Nothing is forever, it is true, as has been amply testified to by the Turkish military which once proudly maintained its oath in honour of Mustafa Kamal Ataturk, founder of modern 'secular' Turkey. It has now seen itself in complete rout, subjected to humiliation and arrest of its top generals and high-ranking officers, retired and currently-serving for purported coup attempts targeting the Freedom and Justice Party of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan.
In Pakistan General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, chief of Army Staff, has furiously denied talk of a military coup; for the Pakistani military will continue to serve democracy and the elected officials of Pakistan. "The army is fully cognizant of its constitutional obligations and responsibilities", he huffed indignantly.
President Asif Ali Zardari is said to have pleaded with the United States to help prevent a military coup which threatened in the wake of the rage manifested by the Pakistani military in the unspeakable adventure of the U.S. Navy SEALS raid that dispatched Osama bin Laden, where he lived for years in peace and security, co-located with an elite military training facility.
Presumably, to entice the United States to enter into a covert alliance with the elected government of Pakistan to protect it from its own military, the U.S. was offered the capture of the al-Qaeda principals still in circulation in Pakistan. As well, entry to Pakistan soil by the U.S. military would be assured to enable capture of terrorists.
Perhaps most enticing of all, the agreement would also permit the United States to work with Islamabad in securing safeguards for the country's nuclear weapons, ensuring they would never fall into hostile hands. News of this missive and its offers spread in Pakistan after it appeared in the Financial Times, and the level of xenophobic anti-Americanism has skyrocketed.
The government has been accused of treason and the ISI has launched a national security investigation. They may investigate whether there is any truth in the claim that Lieutenant-General Ahmad Pasha, head of the ISI, had visited Arab countries to curry their favour for the commission of a coup in Pakistan.
And, good gracious, look at this, former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, who fell out of favour and was replaced with a genuine democratic election, is preparing to return from exile in London to launch a new political party...
Labels: Conflict, Crisis Politics, Culture, Pakistan, Terrorism
posted by Pieface | 8:03 PM
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