Growing significance of ISPR's role - I

General Qamar Javed Bajwa has taken over the command of one of the best and battle-hardened armies of the world as its 16th COAS. He had been the commander 10 corps, besides serving on other important appointments, especially in areas of Kashmir. He also served as Brigade Commander in Congo, under the Command of Indian GOC Maj-General Bikram Singh, who big-heartedly appreciated General Bajwa's capabilities describing his as a "thorough professional" who gave an "outstanding performance." But he also alerted India to be careful as he (General Bajwa) knows LoC affairs well due to his extensive contributions in Northern Areas.
Speculations that formed part of former COAS General Raheel Sharif's reception three years ago today have transformed into two dimensions: one, qualms and acclaims concerning new COAS General Qamar Bajwa; and second, denigration on General Raheel Sharif's tenure and extended role of its PR organisation.
When appointed as COAS, there were many speculations related to his lesser operational experience and his capabilities as leader were suspected. But during his 3-year tenure as COAS, General Raheel Sharif proved to be a trusted commander, who always led from the front. Critics argue that the army is fighting a war not the COAS so why he is being credited? They should know that it's the leadership that makes people work in either right or wrong direction. Although he did not fight the operation himself, but his strong character and kind-heartedness for his juniors sets him not just a commander but a leader - the one soldier happily obeys and follows. And similar is expected from General Bajwa now. Furthermore, his upright persona never allowed media speculations to tarnish the image of either himself as COAS or Pakistan Army considered as the most battle-hardened army.
There came a time when Pak Army's image was muddled during General Musharraf's regime. It further deteriorated when General Kayani took extension, and did not satisfy the hopes/expectations of nation to eradicate terrorism from the country. Here, need arrived to resuscitate the true image and communicate the actual services and sacrifices being rendered by the Pak Army. This could only have been done through bridging the gap between nation and Army, through curtailing the confusions and misconstructions.
All over the world, militaries well-timed and frequent interactions with their nations, through the respective military media organisations have been a routine practice. Media organisations nowadays are considered an integral part of any large or small army. Recently, I had an interaction with Mongolian Army reps and would like to quote that as an example. Bordering with two big dominating countries, Russia and China, they still have no conflicts like Pakistan has with India, Afghanistan and Iran. Their Army consists of hardly 25000 troops and they are mostly deployed on UN missions and staff duties. They have full fledge military newspaper, time slots on TV channels and active participation on radio networks, and still were worried about enhancing civil-military relations, as they consider it a national responsibility to inform the public about what are they up to.
And if we talk about Pakistan Army's military media wing, keeping different scenarios in mind, it tried to fill the gap and revived the interaction between nation and itself. It did the right job, as every media body does for its organisation. People who have studied military communication are well aware that Armed Forces always have to satisfy two types of audiences, one internal (military personnel and their families), two external audiences (nation, the tax payers). And ISPR, since past couple of years has been successfully trying to do this job.