EDITORIAL: Fifty-seven years apart September 6 continues to remain a momentous day in the history of Pakistan. Over these years, the perceptions and perspectives of national politics of this nation have undergone dramatic transformations; and in some cases, quite disappointingly.
Miffed as it was by its reverses in the Rann of Kutch and of Major General Akhtar Malik’s march on Akhnoor the Indian leadership decided to carry out a predawn attack on Lahore and Sialkot on September 6, 1965. So confident of victory was the Indian army chief, General Chaudhuri, that he had boasted to have another “peg” at the Lahore Gymkhana.
He could not, while during the war lasting 17 days India lost to Pakistan quite a big chunk of territory; nearly half of its air force was shot out of the sky and it agreed to wind up its aggression and asked for peace parleys with Pakistan.
That it was a war jointly fought by the armed forces and people of Pakistan was a reality that left no one in doubt. Unarmed masses would jampack trains to be on the battlefront to teach a lesson to Indian aggressors.
While the ‘melody queen’, Noor Jehan, crooned Aali’s “Aye Watan Key Sajeelay Jawanoo” and maestro Mehdi Hasan rhymed in with some other patriotic songs the people would wait for Jammor di Awaz hosted by Nizam Din. Pakistan won that war and for all times to come conveyed to India that irrespective of size it is an equal power in this region.
But that was September 6, 1965. Fifty-seven years later, however, the same armed forces are under an attack but from within the country. The chief of the country’s largest political party, Imran Khan, had no hesitation in scandalising appointment of new army chief.
Addressing a rally in Faisalabad on Sunday, he said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and his allies in the coalition government wanted to appoint an army chief of their choice to avoid their corruption cases.
“They fear that a strong and patriotic army chief would question their corruption,” he added. Simply stated, he tended to suggest that there are some weak and unpatriotic three-star generals in the Pakistan Army.
Nothing could be more preposterous and absurd on the part of a person who was prime minister for three and half years and is vying to be in that position once again, and has rightly earned a stiff rebuke from the army’s public relations arm, the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR).
“Regrettably, an attempt has been made to discredit and undermine senior leadership of Pakistan Army,” said the ISPR, reminding Imran Khan about the sacrifices rendered by the armed forces in the war against terrorism.
It is an undeniable fact that our national history is replete with extra-constitutional interventions and a long spate of rule by military usurpers. It is true that a perception exists that the military for various reasons has a very large footprint in national and international affairs of the country and casts a shadow on national politics but it is also true that despite all this, it is also considered to be the bedrock of the national security and stability of the country.
There have been questions raised over the conduct of the army chief at times and insinuations that there is desire on the part of the appointing authority (the prime minister) to appoint a person favourably disposed towards him or his political party, but it has been proven time and again that once appointed, the army chief is his own man and his strength and constituency is the force that he commands.
To make the selection of the chief of the army controversial and that too by suggesting that among the prospective candidates, all of whom have served with distinction and honour in the defence of the country for decades and earned their three stars to become Lieutenant-Generals, there may be one who is not a patriot and therefore unworthy of leading the elite force is, to say the least, a patently ludicrous and incongruous proposition.
Let us resolve to put our petty quarrels and prejudices aside and recognise our present circumstance where our frail economy has become the ‘weakest’ link in the chain of our defence capability; it’s a cause of a significant erosion of our national sovereignty and our security stands threatened not only from across our borders but also from within. Let us all endeavour to rekindle the spirit of September 1965 and strive to come together as one nation and forge the same unity amongst our rank and file.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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