Army takes over executive control

PATRON Lt Gen (Retd) SARDAR FS LODI writes about the Pakistan Army's counter-coup on Oct 12, 1999

The worst is that the former prime minister chose to affect this change in a clandestine manner, as a secret plot against the Army Chief while he was sent to Colombo on an official mission. The announcement of his dismissal over the television and radio was timed to coincide with the General's take-off from Colombo on his return journey home. When he would be out of communication with GHQ at Rawalpindi for over four hours. But the Army reacted swiftly to counter this disgraceful conduct and saved the Armed Forces and the country from disintegration.

The relationship between the Army and the former prime minister had soured to some extent after the fighting on the Kargil heights came to an end and the government tried to shift responsibility entirely to the Army. This forced the Army Chief to comment that 'all were on board'. As a consequence there were some rumblings within the Army which the Army Chief put at rest by touring the various garrisons and addressing the officers and troops.

Just as things were settling down, Niaz A. Naik, a retired civilian officer and close to Nawaz Sharif came out with a statement blaming the army and practically insulting it. The former prime minister Nawaz Sharif made no attempt whatsoever to contradict the statement of his friend. This was resented to by the Army, as many officers and men had sacrificed their lives fighting for the country, on the Line of Control near Kargil. The former prime minister's attitude was becoming increasingly conspiratorial to say the least.

When he took office in 1997 Nawaz Sharif came in with a heavy mandate to rule the country and was supported by a two-third majority in parliament. But within two and a half years he squandered all the goodwill he came in with, owing entirely to his blind pursuit of personal power. He amended the constitution to prevent the President from dissolving the National Assembly and his partymen from voting against him. He had a confrontation with the President and forced him out of office and replaced him by a Senator of his party. He had the Supreme Court stormed by his partymen and the Chief Justice of Pakistan hounded out of office. He got away with all his illegal acts and became the most powerful prime minister in Pakistan's history.

Having acquired enormous power through the ballot-box and by manipulating the constitution and the rules of procedure backed by his storm troops who attacked the Supreme Court building, Nawaz Sharif was not content. He made an attempt to bridle the Army and apparently succeeded. The former Chief of the Army Staff, General Jehangir Karamat was forced to leave in an undignified manner. The abrupt departure of the former Army Chief, made Nawaz Sharif omnipotent in his own perception and flawed estimation. He battered the press in an effort to control it and took away the last remnant of dignity from the person of the President by depriving him of the formality of signing state documents.

By March next year after gaining a majority in the Senate, (the upper house) Nawaz Sharif would have passed another Constitutional amendment giving the country a 'Taliban-type' of government under the garb of Shariat or religious law. He would thus have given himself complete authority by overriding the Constitution and the law. This action would have destroyed the country completely. We would have been a failed state over again, these actions were known to the people - the silent majority who could stand and watch, but were unable to change the course of events. Only the army could act to stop the rapid descent into the abyss. It had to do this before its own planned destruction by the former prime minister, could take place.

It is due to the destruction of the institutions in the country, rampant corruption in higher places, sectarian violence, high rate of inflation and increase in prices of essential items coupled with the unsatiated thirst for personal power at the cost of everything else, that a vast majority of the people applauded the dismissal of an elected prime minister by the Army high command. It is certainly a sad reflection on the quality and conduct of our public representatives elected by the people over the last 11 years, since the previous military rule ended in 1988.

The people of Pakistan have supported the army action of dismissing the prime minister and taking over the government. They are not demanding an election in three months as some discredited politicians are. The public is demanding accountability of the political leaders and others who have plundered the financial wealth of the nation and brought the country to the point of bankruptcy. They want all the loans taken from government banks and other financial institutions to be returned. These to include those unpaid loans that have been written off by successive elected governments. This money belongs to the people and must be returned. Latest figures show that the unpaid loans of the defaulters is around Rs. 320 billion (Thirty two thousand crore). This includes Rs. 88 billion (Eight thousand eight hundred crore) taken away during the Nawaz Sharif government in the last two and a half years.

The public wants law and order and an end to sectarian strife that has engulfed the country. They want political pressure and coercion removed from the civil service, the police and the judiciary, so that justice is provided to all under the rule of law. These institutions have been weakened over the years and distorted to support the personal whims and ambitions of individuals in power. The trend must be reversed without any loss of time for the benefit of all.

Land reforms is another subject that must be taken in hand immediately. Landlords and democracy don't go together and must be separated and transformed by land reforms. The large landowners are not paying any taxes and only enjoying their privileges. They are turning democracy into a hereditary business owing to their economic clout over their poor tenants and cultivators.

The job of the army at present is a difficult one and can only be accomplished by acting with determination and impartiality, without fear or favour. The Army cannot go wrong if their aims and objectives are clear and constantly kept in mind. These should be the well-being of the people and the safety and solidarity of the country. At present the people are in support of the Army but this support will inevitably start to decline and fade, as time goes by. It would therefore be incumbent on the Army Chief Executive and his military colleagues to show some tangible results in fulfilment of the peoples desires and wishes in the next six months or so, otherwise their credibility is likely to suffer.

In the end it must be stated that a military take-over cannot be justified legally or constitutionally. It has been tried in the past by bending the law temporarily but abrogated later under civilian rule. A successful military coup is a law by itself and has its own dynamics and rules of conduct. Their legitimacy is their own code of conduct and the tangible results they achieve entirely for the benefit of the people and the country.