The Pakistan Army’s public denial of playing any role in the country’s politics comes unprecedented as the army has been involved in “peace talks” with the rebellious Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) previously for the “national security” perspective.
Since the government and parliament abdicated their respective roles and powers in Pakistan, the country did not pay any heed to strengthen either democracy or the military. Moreover, the assurances by the military and the government, that the talks would be within the constitutional norms appear to have gone missing, reported Islam Khabar.
Furthermore, it also becomes difficult to determine whether the army needs to be envied or pitied as its current chief of staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, was named directly, earlier by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif and now, by Imran Khan. The new highlight to it comes by using pejorative terms like ‘neutrals’, a word that the army’s public relations have repeatedly used to demonstrate that it has no favourites among the politicians, parties and alliances and has now become the favourite of Khan and his supporters.
According to Islam Khabar, there is discernible wavering in Army’s approach to the political muddle as it has helped create, originally, by getting Nawaz Sharif to resign in 2016 after a questionable Supreme Court verdict in a corruption case.
The second rung of the army’s senior brass is keen to give Khan another chance, as it dislikes the established, family-driven PPP and PML (N).
The army’s dilemma also lies in how to bell the economic cat and how the prices are skyrocketing in Pakistan and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) dictating decisions has become a massive reason of burden on the masses. Financial bailout from other friendly countries is also at bay as an early election is bound to send Pakistan in a tail spin.Gen. Bajwa has four months left to complete his extended tenure as the army chief and he has conveyed that he would prefer to go home and not seek another extension, Islam Khabar reported.
