Pakistan Leadership Challenges

Columnist EAS BOKHARI reviews the book by Lt Gen Jahan Dad Khan

Pakistan has been through a great many political convulsions and imbalanced governments. The latest one is rampant these days which ensued on 12 October 1999 - and may well continue into the coming century. There is no shortage of material on this woeful tale and turbulence - and at times the dimensions of security were so grave that only God saved this country which came into existence on the name of Islam. Much is expected from the present leadership to clear the muck around it - and pull the country out of the quagmire of misrule extreme corruption and loot of national wealth. It is too early to say much with incision.

I would just like to mention one presentation by Ms Mahnaz Ispahani - Director of Research National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) - Washington DC in this regard which paints a terribly dismal picture. The presentation is contained in the IISS (International Institute of Strategic Studies) - London's Adelphi Papers - 246 of Winter 1989/90. This should be an eye opener to readers - and the performance of a democratic rule has never been better than that during all the stints of the rule by the elected members.

Gen Jahan Dad is gunner officer and is highly regarded both as an artillery officer and a general officer at the senior rungs of the army. He in fact had never looked back once he had graduated from the Command and Staff College Quetta in 1960.

In this somewhat lean - otherwise pregnant book - the general goes on to tell the story of his life. The book cannot be really labelled as an autobiography - but faithful as he is to the details - he has preferred to be precise, upto the point and succinct. He has been very clear in what he wants to say and has covered the events (and there are large number of these) in the most economical way.

He has had a brush with the gubernatorial assignment in Sindh and before that he had the opportunity of serving the Nawab of Kalabagh - and Gen Zia. Thus he had seen the problems of governance and leadership from very close quarters - and had exercised these too himself.

I have known Gen Jahan Dad (JD) since the time of our selection for the PMA - and the General may not have cared to mention it in his book. I am certain that I was in the same batch at West Ridge - Rawalpindi in which JD was selected for PMA. (I think it was Col Shahbaz who was the President of the Selection Board - if my memory is not failing me.). But at the PMA I was posted to the hurriedly selected and collected. 'Graduate' Course - and passed out much earlier than JD on 24 November 1948. He joined the 'regular course' and about this he has talked a lot in the earlier part of his book. I do not know how he missed to even mention the 'Graduate' courses. So for a short time we were together in PMA - and I had known him as a robust and sturdy man which he still is.

It is ironical that we never served together or came into contact with each other after that time. He did not even do his YO's (Young Officer's Gunnery) Course with me. However as he was the member of the Regiment of Artillery I was always able to trace his location as long as I was in service (till 1974).

A deeply religious and forthright person - the author got all the right jobs that an artillery officer could get - except perhaps an IG (Instructor Gunnery) - and DS at the Staff College. He was a Mountain Gunner (Now - SP) and later a Brigade Major Artillery. He went on to command a regiment - and later became Deputy Director Artillery at GHQ. He was Divisional Artillery Commander - then an infantry brigade commander and a divisional commander. He took over the key 10 Corps Command from Gen FA Chishti. His last stint was the gubernatorial stint in Sindh from where he retired.

After his retirement - he has not kept idle and launched a number of social welfare projects - and the most renowned of these is the present NGO - Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital which is considered perhaps the best in this field in the country - and is comparable to the very best anywhere in the world as far as work on eye treatment and research is concerned. It is indeed a tremendous NGO.

JD has an expansive military and civilian leadership canvas before him in the book - and he has tried in his own inimitable style to put forward his considered opinion about events and personalities in the most economical fashion. He does not care to explain - and leaves to the sagacity and the wisdom of the reader to draw his own conclusions. Occasionally he has been harsh on certain aspects of certain military leaders - but on the whole he is judicious and pragmatic in his assessment - and has never lost balance.

The Nawab of Kalabagh emerges out with sterling qualities of leadership - his tragic end at the hands of his son notwithstanding. We apparently have missed such civilian leadership ever since then. He was upright, straight, honest and a very strict disciplinarian.

JD seems to have been extremely impressed by the Nawab's methodology of collecting accurate information. And he tells us with great relish how the Nawab had collected information about JD before employing him on his staff. JD was almost startled to know about this at the time of his starting work in the Governor's House. The Nawab even knew about his grandparents.

FM Ayub Khan seems to have started well with consolidation - but he ended up somewhat derelict, and with loss of his charismatic touch.

Yahya may have been a brilliant tactician - but he was sorely and seriously exposed as a commander of troops in Chamb when the command of Op 'Grand Slam' devolved on him. Yet after the 1965 War - he was chosen for the top slot in the Army - and for sure it was tragic for Pakistan as East Pakistan was lost during his tenure. It was a leadership fiasco.

JD has not dwelt long on the 'Gibralter' and Op 'Grand Slam' and the machinations of ZA Bhutto - but he has rightly dealt with Bhutto in a chapter captioned as 'Bhutto - Genius with a Tragic End.'

JD, served Zia well - and was in fact on the same Court Martial where some rather 'bright' officers were tried at the Attock Fort. He was the Deputy President of the Court Martial - and ironically - a large number of officers to be tried were gunner officers of a very high calibre - though comparatively of junior ranks or I should say of the middle rank in the military leadership. These officers were however pseudo intellectuals and ambitious with a bright background.

It is never easy to judge your mentors or the clogs of your own infrastructure - and it would have been most difficult for Gen Jahan Dad to evaluate Gen Zia-ul-Haq and Mr ZA Bhutto. But I must say he has made a good job of it - by towing the most detached and objective line. Bhutto indeed was mercurial enigmatic and a genius. He was a pastmaster in rhetoric and words play and could keep the audience spell bound for hours - and some-times he had very little to say.

Zia's sticking on to his job for an unnecessarily long period produced an effect of procrastination and at times as JD has rightly pointed out - a long era of contradictions. He held all the military and political apex jobs himself.

What is ironical is the selection of Gen Zia-ul-Haq for the top Army slot by Bhutto when there were at least seven Lt Generals senior to him and this was the Bhutto's way of doing things as he had thought that Zia would be rather meekish and would thus suit his requirements in running the country. And what happened to Bhutto at the hands of Zia - and the rest is all history.

Perhaps the most important events of the Zia'a period to which space has been given by JD are the Soviet Afghan War - and the process of Islamisation, and a lot of insight can be gained by reading this account of an insider.

Perhaps one of the most important event and on which the general has for a change allotted quite a few pages i.e. Chapters 7, 10 and 11 is Sindh. In his assessment Sindh - as it is today it had been a very complex issue and there are many reasons for it. Karachi had been the capital of Pakistan - and naturally it is populated with a polyglot population which never wishes to migrate from there, but cannot also live in peace with one another. The Mohajir factor had further aggravated the situation. Some of the more urgent problems of Sindh are the discrimination in sharing the government - and the overpopulation of Karachi. Some of the major problems mainly in Karachi. are:

a. The problems of arms and narcotics.

b. Lack of city census and survey of properties.

c. Ethnic and sectarian divide.

d. The Indian subversive activities and help.

e. Other political factors which had grieved the Mohajirs.

The general points out in his presentation that the Sindhi point of view of rather discriminatory treatment was never really fully realised at the centre.

It is instructive to go through the various measures suggested by Gen. Jahan Dad for the amelioration of the Sindhis - but it appears that these were not fully implemented which forced the general to quit the gubernatorial slot in Sindh in 1987. This I thought was unfortunate.

The end part of this scintillating and crisp book is the inception of the social works programmes - especially the burgeoning Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital in Rawalpindi - and its satellite hospitals in Sukkur, DI Khan and Khuzdar. I recently had an opportunity of seeing the Eye Hospital and its ancillary specialist and research branches - and I have no hesitation to say that this is one of the finest specimen of an NGO to be found anywhere in the world.

Nearly 15 years of hardwork has gone into the eye project and I have no hesitation in saying that its vision is most humanistic including entering in the 21st Century to realize a world.

• That is human centred and genuinely demo- cratic.
• Where the driving force is justice, equity, digni- ty, and the human rights of all people.
• Where peace and human security replaces arma- ments, conflicts and wars.
• Where the strength of nations is judged not by their military might or GNP - but their willing- ness to guarantee free- dom, human security and a decent standard of living, education and health services for all the citizens.
• In which science and technology are at the service of ethical and moral values, and lastly.
• In which the voices of indigenous people, older persons, youth, people with disabili- ties, rural folk and other excluded and invisible groups are heard and heeded/looked after.
• Having seen the work of Al-Shifa I agree that most of the above basic human require- ments are being met by this NGO.
• Finally - I found that the book which was tem- porarily loaned to me graciously by the gener- al had a few blank pages right in the middle of the book - which broke the continium which I have not been able to understand. Of course there are not many of these any way.

The book is hardbound - and it has a very good get up and a very extensive Index for the researchers and the writers who want to do more work on this book. It is thoroughly readable - and in spite of being totally apolitical I have thoroughly enjoyed reading it. The book has brought out the various facets of Pakistani leadership in the most commendable way as seen by JD himself in his long meritorious career in the Army.

I must thank the General for giving me the look for a short period of loan.