Gen Raheel Sharif: How he changed Pakistan from 'hopeless' to 'hopeful' (his story after Davos)

[JAGGA-J]

His three years in the post saw a dramatic transformation as his leadership gave the military a new and clear sense of purpose


Francis Matthew, Editor at Large

Davos: Pakistan has seen terrorist incidents fall from more than 150 incidents every month in 2013 to less than ten a month today, and “the situation in Pakistan has moved from hopeless to hopeful”, said retired General Raheel Sharif in Davos at the World Economic Forum.

It is only two months since Sharif stepped down in November 2016 from being the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. His three years in the post saw a dramatic transformation as his leadership gave the military a new and clear sense of purpose which took effect in the highly successful Zarb-e-Azb operations which dramatically reduced the terrorist threat that had dominated the security situation in Pakistan for years.

But it was very interesting that Sharif did not see the military success as an end in itself, and during his speech he made it clear that the military task was to support a stable society and successful economy, to which end he spoke of the importance of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, and its “game changing” effect on the Pakistan economy.

Sharif has also been mentioned as the future Chief of Staff for the Saudi-led Islamic Military Alliance of 39 Muslim nations ready to fight terror, but he refused to confirm his appointment when speaking to Gulf News after the meeting, saying that this was still under discussion.

Sharif was speaking at the Pakistan Breakfast hosted by Ikram Sehgal of the Pathfinder Group, and the general first outlined the huge scale of the fight against terror in Pakistan that has been going on for the past three years in Operation Zarb-e-Azb which was carried out in North Waziristan on the Pakistan-Afghan border.

“We had 25,000 intelligence operations, arrested more than 33,000 people, and more than 4,000 terrorists were killed in the operation. The expected blowback did come and there were some tragic incidents, but the people and the nation supported the process and we stood firm,” said Sharif.

“The air force had to work with get care to avoid collateral damage as there were no clear battle lines in the 8,000 square kilometres of the mountainous area. More than 38,000 families had to be moved to huge temporary camps while the operation was continuing. It is a tribute to the people manning the camps that not one woman or child died there, and now more than 90 per cent of the families have returned to their homes.”

“We intend to hold and secure our western border with Afghanistan. We know it is porous, but our determination is illustrated by way that on our side we have the army patrolling the border while the Afghans only have their police force on their side.”

Sharif’s responsibilities also included commanding the Pakistan Rangers who took the fight into Karachi, and he was pleased to note that Karachi had moved up from being the sixth most dangerous city in the world to 36th although he was quick to add that there “is obviously more to do”.

After the success in North Waziristan, Sharif moved on to create two new army divisions to protect the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, CPEC, that runs 2,600km linking the Chinese city of Kashgar with the Pakistani port of Gwadar running over the Karakoram Highway and some of Pakistan’s more rugged territory with a new network of highways, railways, optical fibre and pipelines.

The Corridor has attracted between $46 to $54 billion (Dh169 billion to Dh198 billion) in investment from China and elsewhere, and other new highways will link CPEC to Pakistan’s main cities of Lahore and Karachi, and the entire project is seen as a major shift towards economic stability and growth in Pakistan.

“It is the army’s task to ensure that the rule of the state can run everywhere in the country,” said Sharif, adding that on November 13, the first convoy had left Kashgar and had successfully reached Gwadar with no incident. “Our neighbourhood is safer; peace has improved; and CPEC will make a big difference to the country,” he said.


http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/pakis...ex-army-chief-1.1964949?utm_content=1.1964949

Pakistan has a long way to go, please, Gen. was great, but we have a long long way to go

 

[Solomon2]

The General has definitely turned around the fate of Pakistan from literally daily suicide bombings we only get 1-2 bombings in weeks Karachi is much safer now -

Why didn't his predecessor do this?

 

[Indus Pakistan]

Why didn't his predecessor do this?

It required somebody to grasp the nettle. Going after the problem was politically difficult. It entailed not following the path of least resistance but opening a difficult operation. That said the public mood had changed and was supportive of a major operation so in that sense Gen. Raheel was their at opportune time but no doubt he did bring a go get done attitude that was infectious and results can be seen.

 

[Psychic]

Pakistanis think that their army has done a good job in reducing terrorism. Will they acknowledge that Indian Army has done an outstanding job by reducing terrorism in Kashmir to negligible levels from 1990s.

Mr chaddi, Indian army did not crush the militancy in Kashmir, it was Musharraf who did that by cracking down on militant camps in Pakistan and arresting their leaders under immense American pressure and concluding a cease fire along the LOC.

 

[JAGGA-J]

Pakistanis think that their army has done a good job in reducing terrorism. Will they acknowledge that Indian Army has done an outstanding job by reducing terrorism in Kashmir to negligible levels from 1990s.

Killing innocent Kashmirs, raping women, maiming children shouldn't be touted as a battle over "terrorism"! India has a lot of innocent blood on their hand & washing it away under the garb of "terrorism" is a fallacy.

 

[Malik Usman]

Pakistanis think that their army has done a good job in reducing terrorism. Will they acknowledge that Indian Army has done an outstanding job by reducing terrorism in Kashmir to negligible levels from 1990s.

Yes...by deploying 1 million Army (Including all other security forces)......and now there is Curfew from last 6 Months in Jammu & Kashmir and Kashmiri are Protesting against India and Indian Military for their freedom. There are many mass killing graves found of Killing Innocent peoples in Jammu & Kashmir. Firing pallet guns on protesters... and the Protest which you are referring is went down due to Afghan War. It has nothing credit on Indian Army.............
Indian Holding Jammu & Kashmir by deploying 1 Million Army, but they never could win the hearts of the Kashmir People.......is this you call good job ????

 

[khakhi_chaddi]

Yes...by deploying 1 million Army (Including all other security forces)......and now there is Curfew from last 6 Months in Jammu & Kashmir and Kashmiri are Protesting against India and Indian Military for their freedom. There are many mass killing graves found of Killing Innocent peoples in Jammu & Kashmir. Firing pallet guns on protesters... and the Protest which you are referring is went down due to Afghan War. It has nothing credit on Indian Army.............
Indian Holding Jammu & Kashmir by deploying 1 Million Army, but they never could win the hearts of the Kashmir People.......is this you call good job ????

We are not interested in winning hearts of muslims.

 

[Tiger Genie]

Raheel Sherief was a lucky bloke to have come into power just around the time Pakistanis were in a state to meekly accept serious bombings within their country by their own military, the alternative being more bombs by the US. IMO he walked the tight rope between too much bombing which would have set of the jihadi support factions of ISI & military and the national mood to see reduced US bombings.

Importantly, unlike his predecessors, he kept his mouth shut most of the times, thus letting others, especially cyber scribes attribute greatness to him every time Nawas Sheriff bungled (of which there were numerous occasions). And MOST importantly, he had the sense to resist calls for yet another coup in Pakistan even though there seemed to be widespread public support for ouster of Nawas Sherieff.

Given his popularity, he failed to exploit it in several areas - for example, he could have done a lot to remove terrorist sanctuaries inside Pakistan that were used to export terrorism into India and Afghanistan. He also failed miserably in supporting some initiatives that the civilian leaders signaled for peace with India, probably in accommodation of pressures from his fellow generals.

 

[Areesh]

Raheel Sherief was a lucky bloke to have come into power just around the time Pakistanis were in a state to meekly accept serious bombings within their country by their own military, the alternative being more bombs by the US. IMO he walked the tight rope between too much bombing which would have set of the jihadi support factions of ISI & military and the national mood to see reduced US bombings.

Importantly, unlike his predecessors, he kept his mouth shut most of the times, thus letting others, especially cyber scribes attribute greatness to him every time Nawas Sheriff bungled (of which there were numerous occasions). And MOST importantly, he had the sense to resist calls for yet another coup in Pakistan even though there seemed to be widespread public support for ouster of Nawas Sherieff.

Given his popularity, he failed to exploit it in several areas - for example, he could have done a lot to remove terrorist sanctuaries inside Pakistan that were used to export terrorism into India and Afghanistan. He also failed miserably in supporting some initiatives that the civilian leaders signaled for peace with India, probably in accommodation of pressures from his fellow generals.

Genera Sharif doesn't need a character certificate and performance analysis from jerks like you bharatis. The way he handled or manhandled you guys it is obvious nothing rational and neutral is coming out of you guys about him.

He did something that many other armies couldn't do. He fought one of the most brutal insurgencies and forced them to run back to where they were actually founded, funded and supported from (Afghanistan). Heck if Indian army would have to fought something on the scale of TTP then I am sure there would have been more casualties to suicides and fratricides than of TTP terrorists killing Indian soldiers.

So keep your analysis to yourself. It is not even worth writing on the paper on which you are printing your new currency notes after demonitization hoax.

 

[Tiger Genie]

Genera Sharif doesn't need a character certificate and performance analysis from jerks like you bharatis. The way he handled or manhandled you guys it is obvious nothing rational and neutral is coming out of you guys about him.

He did something that many other armies couldn't do. He fought one of the most brutal insurgencies and forced them to run back to where they were actually founded, funded and supported from (Afghanistan). Heck if Indian army would have to fought something on the scale of TTP then I am sure there would have been more casualties to suicides and fratricides than of TTP terrorists killing Indian soldiers.

So keep your analysis to yourself. It is not even worth writing on the paper on which you are printing your new currency notes after demonitization hoax.

The level of foaming from you clearly shows your inability to digest the facts. I know the bar is pretty low for generals in Pakistan butthe level you are lowering it even further should clearly be seen as an insult to even the Pak military!

As Dawn's Cyril Alemida clearly burst the bubble for you sycophant jerkies like you, your military establishment is and has always been in a tight rope walk, balancing between supporting and limiting jihadi terror groups. Raheel Sherieff, by keeping his mouth shut and bombing the hell out of Pakistan areas, did do an admirable job of it. He did zilch against India, but then he was smart enough to see what happened to the gen.Musharraf when he tried something against India, and kept his bombings inside Pakistan!

 

[The Sandman]

Raheel Sherief was a lucky bloke to have come into power just around the time Pakistanis were in a state to meekly accept serious bombings within their country by their own military,

I thought you're gonna write something serious but nope we can't expect anything sensible from delusional indians like you this guy is responsible for reducing terrorism by over 50% in my country this guy is a reason why Karachi is much much safer now this guy cleared our northern areas infested by the foreign funded cockroaches but yea he is also responsible for butt hurt of our neighbors who can't see a prosperous terrorism free Pakistan. He has done a lot to remove terrorism from my country and he really don't need any certificates from indians like you. Reported for writing BS.

 

[Areesh]

The level of foaming from you clearly shows your inability to digest the facts. I know the bar is pretty low for generals in Pakistan butthe level you are lowering it even further should clearly be seen as an insult to even the Pak military!

As Dawn's Cyril Alemida clearly burst the bubble for you sycophant jerkies like you, your military establishment is and has always been in a tight rope walk, balancing between supporting and limiting jihadi terror groups. Raheel Sherieff, by keeping his mouth shut and bombing the hell out of Pakistan areas, did do an admirable job of it. He did zilch against India, but then he was smart enough to see what happened to the gen.Musharraf when he tried something against India, and kept his bombings inside Pakistan!

And the level of pain I can see in your posts for Pakistan army and its general shows that they are doing something right or else why someone like Indians would hate him. In fact they have done all the things right. Particularly in kicking and killing your proxies in Pakistan.

http://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/12/pakistan-is-winning-its-war-on-terror/

I know it hurts to see your proxies dying a slow death. They are the real soldiers for you since the guys in the Indian military are busy complaining about their daal and roti.

Cyril's article didn't burst anything for me. It didn't change anything for me or neither for my army. It had no impact here. Yeah it might have given something to you bharatis to masturbate upon. More delusions to you bharatis to live in if already existing delusions weren't enough. He didn't need to do anything to India. He was needed to answer every Indian aggression which he did with perfection, He was so good that your military was forced to do a drama of surgical strike to save some face.

He changed a lot of things for Pakistan and all of them are positive and that is what matters to me. Being a bharati you should be more worried about the joker ruling your country than commenting about ex army chief of Pakistan. The same joker of Gujarat that was banned to visit the country that you adopted after you ran away from India.

 

[Solomon2]

It required somebody to grasp the nettle. Going after the problem was politically difficult. It entailed not following the path of least resistance but opening a difficult operation. That said the public mood had changed and was supportive of a major operation so in that sense Gen. Raheel was their at opportune time but no doubt he did bring a go get done attitude that was infectious and results can be seen.

Raheel said the mood changed after the school attack in December 2014, yes. So why did Pakistan, which was already bleeding from a hundred cuts, have to wait that long? Why was it "politically difficult"?

 

[iPhone]

He needs to write a book. And I mean that very much. Mainly focusing on his time as COAS and the challenges the country faced. Would be an awesome read.

 

[nightingale]

Raheel said the mood changed after the school attack in December 2014, yes. So why did Pakistan, which was already bleeding from a hundred cuts, have to wait that long? Why was it "politically difficult"?

Well it was a difficult decision because there are two mind sets in Pakistan , one still believes that negotiations are the only solution n live in a fool's paradise by relating these terrorists with religion, the other group is of view enough is enough n Aps attack was actually the last hit to it . All we needed is to decide it once n for all that no mercy for anyone in the name of religion . Here we are with least attacks as compared to previous years so the hundred cuts will heal soon as we are on the right track finally