Has the army learned its lesson?

[fatman17]

Opinion
Has the army learned its lesson?
Islamabad diary
Ayaz Amir
Friday, November 15, 2013

Is the army happy now? When you play with fire and ride the dragon’s back it’s too much to hope that once you try to get down the fire will not scorch you. For 30 years the army has played at ‘jihad’ and held in a tight embrace elements like the Jamaat-e-Islami, considering them as knights of the faith, ghazis of Islam. Now these same elements have bitten the hand that has fed them for so long.

Nations can disagree with the wars they fight. There was opposition in the United States to the Vietnam War. There was fierce opposition both in the US and the UK to the invasion of Iraq. In Pakistan there is a better appraisal of what the army did in East Pakistan in 1970-71. But no nation with any notion of self-respect or honour insults its soldiers, the way the Jamaat chief has done, and the way that other mufti of the faith, Fazlur Rehman, has done by calling the Taliban dead the righteous dead and insulting the memory of our fallen soldiers by implying that they died on the wrong side of righteousness.

This is a society steeped in religiosity. People here take the concept of shahadat (martyrdom) very seriously. Our army, for the most part, is a peasant army, its strength drawn from northern Punjab and the Pakthtun belt. When our soldiers, officers and men, go into battle they are sustained by the conviction that they are fighting not only for Pakistan but for Islam. When they fall in battle they say, their families say, it is the will of God, fortitude and fatalism going hand in hand…that what will be, will be, it’s all written in the stars.

So for anyone to question their martyrdom, as Munawar Hasan of the Jamaat has done, and for anyone to bestow the title of martyr on their enemies is the greatest insult of all. This is the Jamaat and it’s getting away with it. Just imagine if such a thing had slipped from the mouth of a PPP leader. The Jamaat would have been on the warpath. Since it is the Jamaat, one of our custodians of holiness, the reaction, while strong in some quarters, has not been as intense as it would have been if a ‘secular’ leader had uttered the offending words.

Look also at the crocodile tears of the ruling party, the PML-N, silent for several days after Munawar Hasan’s outburst, not a squeak from its side, and waking up from its meaningful stupor only after the army’s information wing, ISPR, came out with its statement taking the Jamaat amir to task. Only then did PM Nawaz Sharif remember that the fallen dead of the army were the nation’s ‘benefactors’. Thori der kar dee mehrban aate aate.

How well-controlled on this occasion is the anger of our trading classes, a mighty political force in today’s Islamic Republic. No streamers have gone up in Lahore denouncing the Jamaat chief.

If we are not a sick society already we are fast turning into one. If a person can be shot by his own official bodyguard on the false charge of blasphemy – Salmaan Taseer uttered not a blasphemous word – and if his killer can be called a hero of Islam, and if lawyers garland that hero and religious parties hold huge demonstrations in his support, then someone coming from outer space and witnessing what we do would be hard put to testify to our sanity.

But for the army to ponder is this: that much as it may be upset by the anti-shahadat babbling of the Jamaat chief, the peculiar atmosphere prevailing in Pakistan, the winds not just of intolerance but sheer stupidity blowing across the national landscape, have much to do with the army’s own policies and preoccupations. The maulvis and assorted holy fathers were nothing. They were just instruments in the army’s hands. The army showed the way, mapped out the geography of ‘jihad’, and the holy fathers, under army tutelage, became the nuisance that we now see them to be.

Mustafa Kemal at the head of the Turkish army swept away the cobwebs of the past, smashed old superstitions, and created a new nation. Pakistan’s secular elites, led by the army, created new superstitions and instead of taking Pakistan into the future, pushed it back, into the hole in which we now find ourselves.

The holy fathers played second fiddle to the army and the secular elites. And now, to no one’s surprise except ours, the holy fathers, and assorted Munawar Hasans, are in the ideological vanguard and the ruling elites, too scared to take a stand on anything worth fighting for, tremble and quake before the trumpet blasts of the holy right. If this is how they are against paper tigers how do we expect them to perform against the real stuff, the Taliban?

So the question is not whether their holy nuisances, lords of the pulpit and the loudspeaker – the latter once considered an invention of the devil, now first in their list of weapons – will change their stripes. Who cares about that? The question is whether the army is capable of discarding the so-lovingly nurtured shibboleths of the past and changing its thinking.

Before Pakistan can emerge from the mists of obscurantist thinking, before it can put the demons of intolerance and sheer stupidity to rest, it is the army which has to change its spots. If it can’t do that we are doomed. The Republic’s sword-arm is the army. Let there be no doubt about that. Therefore, before Pakistan’s reformation – whether it takes a Luther to bring it about or an Ataturk – the army must reform itself.

The task is not easy. Look even at the ISPR statement. While castigating Munawar Hasan it praises the Jamaat’s founder, Maulana Maudoodi, for “his services to Islam”. What services to Islam? Is this the army’s knowledge of Pakistan’s history? Mauduooi opposed the creation of Pakistan and denounced Jinnah. There is an extensive literature on the subject but let just one quote from Maudoodi’s ‘Muslims and the Present Political Turmoil’ suffice: “Pity! From League’s Quaid-e-Azam down to the lower cadres there is not a single person who has an Islamic outlook and whose perspective on matters is Islamic.”

Al-Qaeda’s ideology has been influenced by Maududi’s writings. The seeds of intolerance and bigotry in the country created by Jinnah were sown by Maudoodi and the Jamaat-e-Islami. Indeed, the Jamaat was the inventor of danda-bardar – lathi-bearing – Islam. The Taliban have gone a crucial step further and become the Janissaries of Kalashnikov-Islam. It’s a difference of degree, not substance. And the army had a hand in these transformations. Not surprisingly, Gen Zia was a fervent admirer of the Maulana and his brand of Islam. And for Pakistan’s passage into the dark ages we know how much we owe Gen Zia. If, oblivious of all this, the ISPR can still bring itself to idolise Maudoodi’s services to Islam then perhaps the time may have come to abandon all hope.

This martyrdom debate has been a good thing. It has helped clarify some matters, unless of course we have lost the ability to think clearly and are past the point of no return. The physician should have a clearer idea of the demons he helped create. But can the physician now heal himself? This is the most important question of all.

Tailpiece: And I had almost forgotten about Mullah Naseeruddin Haqqani. Now what explanation will we give regarding his presence in Islamabad? The skeletons in our cupboards.

Email:

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Opinion
Has the army learned its lesson?
Islamabad diary
Ayaz Amir
Friday, November 15, 2013

Is the army happy now? When you play with fire and ride the dragon’s back it’s too much to hope that once you try to get down the fire will not scorch you. For 30 years the army has played at ‘jihad’ and held in a tight embrace elements like the Jamaat-e-Islami, considering them as knights of the faith, ghazis of Islam. Now these same elements have bitten the hand that has fed them for so long.

Nations can disagree with the wars they fight. There was opposition in the United States to the Vietnam War. There was fierce opposition both in the US and the UK to the invasion of Iraq. In Pakistan there is a better appraisal of what the army did in East Pakistan in 1970-71. But no nation with any notion of self-respect or honour insults its soldiers, the way the Jamaat chief has done, and the way that other mufti of the faith, Fazlur Rehman, has done by calling the Taliban dead the righteous dead and insulting the memory of our fallen soldiers by implying that they died on the wrong side of righteousness.

This is a society steeped in religiosity. People here take the concept of shahadat (martyrdom) very seriously. Our army, for the most part, is a peasant army, its strength drawn from northern Punjab and the Pakthtun belt. When our soldiers, officers and men, go into battle they are sustained by the conviction that they are fighting not only for Pakistan but for Islam. When they fall in battle they say, their families say, it is the will of God, fortitude and fatalism going hand in hand…that what will be, will be, it’s all written in the stars.

So for anyone to question their martyrdom, as Munawar Hasan of the Jamaat has done, and for anyone to bestow the title of martyr on their enemies is the greatest insult of all. This is the Jamaat and it’s getting away with it. Just imagine if such a thing had slipped from the mouth of a PPP leader. The Jamaat would have been on the warpath. Since it is the Jamaat, one of our custodians of holiness, the reaction, while strong in some quarters, has not been as intense as it would have been if a ‘secular’ leader had uttered the offending words.

Look also at the crocodile tears of the ruling party, the PML-N, silent for several days after Munawar Hasan’s outburst, not a squeak from its side, and waking up from its meaningful stupor only after the army’s information wing, ISPR, came out with its statement taking the Jamaat amir to task. Only then did PM Nawaz Sharif remember that the fallen dead of the army were the nation’s ‘benefactors’. Thori der kar dee mehrban aate aate.

How well-controlled on this occasion is the anger of our trading classes, a mighty political force in today’s Islamic Republic. No streamers have gone up in Lahore denouncing the Jamaat chief.

If we are not a sick society already we are fast turning into one. If a person can be shot by his own official bodyguard on the false charge of blasphemy – Salmaan Taseer uttered not a blasphemous word – and if his killer can be called a hero of Islam, and if lawyers garland that hero and religious parties hold huge demonstrations in his support, then someone coming from outer space and witnessing what we do would be hard put to testify to our sanity.

But for the army to ponder is this: that much as it may be upset by the anti-shahadat babbling of the Jamaat chief, the peculiar atmosphere prevailing in Pakistan, the winds not just of intolerance but sheer stupidity blowing across the national landscape, have much to do with the army’s own policies and preoccupations. The maulvis and assorted holy fathers were nothing. They were just instruments in the army’s hands. The army showed the way, mapped out the geography of ‘jihad’, and the holy fathers, under army tutelage, became the nuisance that we now see them to be.

Mustafa Kemal at the head of the Turkish army swept away the cobwebs of the past, smashed old superstitions, and created a new nation. Pakistan’s secular elites, led by the army, created new superstitions and instead of taking Pakistan into the future, pushed it back, into the hole in which we now find ourselves.

The holy fathers played second fiddle to the army and the secular elites. And now, to no one’s surprise except ours, the holy fathers, and assorted Munawar Hasans, are in the ideological vanguard and the ruling elites, too scared to take a stand on anything worth fighting for, tremble and quake before the trumpet blasts of the holy right. If this is how they are against paper tigers how do we expect them to perform against the real stuff, the Taliban?

So the question is not whether their holy nuisances, lords of the pulpit and the loudspeaker – the latter once considered an invention of the devil, now first in their list of weapons – will change their stripes. Who cares about that? The question is whether the army is capable of discarding the so-lovingly nurtured shibboleths of the past and changing its thinking.

Before Pakistan can emerge from the mists of obscurantist thinking, before it can put the demons of intolerance and sheer stupidity to rest, it is the army which has to change its spots. If it can’t do that we are doomed. The Republic’s sword-arm is the army. Let there be no doubt about that. Therefore, before Pakistan’s reformation – whether it takes a Luther to bring it about or an Ataturk – the army must reform itself.

The task is not easy. Look even at the ISPR statement. While castigating Munawar Hasan it praises the Jamaat’s founder, Maulana Maudoodi, for “his services to Islam”. What services to Islam? Is this the army’s knowledge of Pakistan’s history? Mauduooi opposed the creation of Pakistan and denounced Jinnah. There is an extensive literature on the subject but let just one quote from Maudoodi’s ‘Muslims and the Present Political Turmoil’ suffice: “Pity! From League’s Quaid-e-Azam down to the lower cadres there is not a single person who has an Islamic outlook and whose perspective on matters is Islamic.”

Al-Qaeda’s ideology has been influenced by Maududi’s writings. The seeds of intolerance and bigotry in the country created by Jinnah were sown by Maudoodi and the Jamaat-e-Islami. Indeed, the Jamaat was the inventor of danda-bardar – lathi-bearing – Islam. The Taliban have gone a crucial step further and become the Janissaries of Kalashnikov-Islam. It’s a difference of degree, not substance. And the army had a hand in these transformations. Not surprisingly, Gen Zia was a fervent admirer of the Maulana and his brand of Islam. And for Pakistan’s passage into the dark ages we know how much we owe Gen Zia. If, oblivious of all this, the ISPR can still bring itself to idolise Maudoodi’s services to Islam then perhaps the time may have come to abandon all hope.

This martyrdom debate has been a good thing. It has helped clarify some matters, unless of course we have lost the ability to think clearly and are past the point of no return. The physician should have a clearer idea of the demons he helped create. But can the physician now heal himself? This is the most important question of all.

Tailpiece: And I had almost forgotten about Mullah Naseeruddin Haqqani. Now what explanation will we give regarding his presence in Islamabad? The skeletons in our cupboards.

Email:

@fatman17; Ayaz Amir (whatever one may think of him) has raised such piercing questions!

First of all; I was simply stupefied at the ability of some Politicos to arrogate the ability to decide who should not be considered a Martyr!
A country that can accept and condone that has lost its soul! If a Country thinks to do that to the people that represent the bulwarks of it defences; then it is an utter shame.

The insidious role of the JEI at the time and circumstances of Pakistan's creation can be easily forgotten if Pakistan chooses to do so now.
But Pakistan can never turn its back on its men in uniform who have died in service.
When the 'Man in Uniform' speaks of "Izzat-O-Iqbal" he does not speak of his own Paltan; but the "Paltan above All"; his Nation!
But when you choose to ignore his connection to that; then you choose to deprive him not only of his "Reason to Live" (as a Soldier) but also deny his "Reason to have Died".
There can be "nothing more SHAMEFUL than that".

 

[Dillinger]

@fatman17; Ayaz Amir (whatever one may think of him) has raised such piercing questions!

First of all; I was simply stupefied at the ability of some Politicos to arrogate the ability to decide who should not be considered a Martyr!
A country that can accept and condone that has lost its soul! If a Country thinks to do that to the people that represent the bulwarks of it defences; then it is an utter shame.

The insidious role of the JEI at the time and circumstances of Pakistan's creation can be easily forgotten if Pakistan chooses to do so now.
But Pakistan can never turn its back on its men in uniform who have died in service.
When the 'Man in Uniform' speaks of "Izzat-O-Iqbal" he does not speak of his own Paltan; but the "Paltan above All"; his Nation!
But when you choose to ignore his connection to that; then you choose to deprive him not only of his "Reason to Live" (as a Soldier) but also deny his "Reason to have Died".
There can be "nothing more SHAMEFUL than that".

Us (OK maybe not you) civilians have a hard time understanding the notion of "paltan" and the myriad things the term stands for in different contexts, ask any soldier and the real answer is simple- "paltan ki shaan ke liye". But soldiers have understood that this aspect of soldiering (like many others) is beyond simple comprehension. The deeper malaise here is that one would expect a fanatical defense of the army by the populace which has long held it as its savior, provider of sustenance and arbitrator of right and wrong. The fundamental shift which seems to be reflected in the lack of a real backlash to the JI is disturbing in that the shift has occurred not towards the notions of military accountability to a civilian leadership or something like that but perhaps towards extra-national entities like the TTP. A true assemblage of the silent men and women, only they seem to be looking towards the black flags to provide them succor, a silent AND radicalized mass as @Secur often puts it.

 

[OrionHunter]

The question is whether the army is capable of discarding the so-lovingly nurtured shibboleths of the past and changing its thinking.

And 'changing its thinking' is the crux of the problem. As long as the PA considers religious fundamentalism as a crutch it can depend on, and militants as its 'strategic assets' to further the army's leverage in foreign policy by using them in its proxy wars, it will be more of the same. Nothing will change.

Pakistan would need a Mustafa Kemal to turn things around.

 

[Darth Vader]

@fatman17; Ayaz Amir (whatever one may think of him) has raised such piercing questions!

First of all; I was simply stupefied at the ability of some Politicos to arrogate the ability to decide who should not be considered a Martyr!
A country that can accept and condone that has lost its soul! If a Country thinks to do that to the people that represent the bulwarks of it defences; then it is an utter shame.

The insidious role of the JEI at the time and circumstances of Pakistan's creation can be easily forgotten if Pakistan chooses to do so now.
But Pakistan can never turn its back on its men in uniform who have died in service.
When the 'Man in Uniform' speaks of "Izzat-O-Iqbal" he does not speak of his own Paltan; but the "Paltan above All"; his Nation!
But when you choose to ignore his connection to that; then you choose to deprive him not only of his "Reason to Live" (as a Soldier) but also deny his "Reason to have Died".
There can be "nothing more SHAMEFUL than that".

My Friend Soldiers Live and Die With and for man next to them , these politicians dont care for any one They care about their pockets If All the politicians in india and Pakistan caer about their nation, then no one will die in hunger in these countries. their sons wont drive ferraris , lambos they wont live in castels and they can achieve more in 10 years what others have achieved in 100 years

 

[SQ8]

The question of the silent majority has already been answered. It is a silent majority that has the case of a major Stockholm syndrome. It now sympathizes with the cause of its captors. And if Talibanization, complete extremism do come.. Pakistanis will willingly accept it. The elite will find ways around it to survive while the rest of us will quietly suffer away. This nation has had it in terms of opportunities for improvement and what is to follow is nothing short of horror. Perhaps , it is in this context that a balkanization of Pakistan may not be a bad idea after all; saving whatever sections are possible from extremist ideals. Because the PA is as such left neutered in this scenario, they need support from the people to do anything; and when there is little of that they will too end up as silent spectators at best and total disarray at worst.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

The question of the silent majority has already been answered. It is a silent majority that has the case of a major Stockholm syndrome. It now sympathizes with the cause of its captors. And if Talibanization, complete extremism do come.. Pakistanis will willingly accept it. The elite will find ways around it to survive while the rest of us will quietly suffer away. This nation has had it in terms of opportunities for improvement and what is to follow is nothing short of horror. Perhaps , it is in this context that a balkanization of Pakistan may not be a bad idea after all; saving whatever sections are possible from extremist ideals. Because the PA is as such left neutered in this scenario, they need support from the people to do anything; and when there is little of that they will too end up as silent spectators at best and total disarray at worst.

If all that happens: What a Huge Tragedy that will be !!
Kya hona tha aur kya hua?

 

[SQ8]

If all that happens: What a Huge Tragedy that will be !!
Kya hona tha aur kya hua?

Well, one can blame their parents generations.. or the one before it.. but as such.. It was just a case of bad luck for Pakistan. Sometimes there arent the right people to follow an idea through. Jinnah's loss had consequences more far reaching than anyone could ever imagine.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

Well, one can blame their parents generations.. or the one before it.. but as such.. It was just a case of bad luck for Pakistan. Sometimes there arent the right people to follow an idea through. Jinnah's loss had consequences more far reaching than anyone could ever imagine.

I honestly cannot subscribe to that line of thought. I am convinced that there are many more than a few good men around. But; why the somnolence, the lassitude............
What should one say?

 

[SQ8]

I honestly cannot subscribe to that line of thought. I am convinced that there are many more than a few good men around. But; why the somnolence, the lassitude............
What should one say?

Well because(I might be up for call for castration for saying this) .. Pakistanis(or Muslims rather) believe too much in the power of "Inshallah" or rather misinterpret the idea. In other words, the idea that god will assist you if you do your effort has changed to god will assist you regardless of you making an effort or not.

 

[Dillinger]

The question of the silent majority has already been answered. It is a silent majority that has the case of a major Stockholm syndrome. It now sympathizes with the cause of its captors. And if Talibanization, complete extremism do come.. Pakistanis will willingly accept it. The elite will find ways around it to survive while the rest of us will quietly suffer away. This nation has had it in terms of opportunities for improvement and what is to follow is nothing short of horror. Perhaps , it is in this context that a balkanization of Pakistan may not be a bad idea after all; saving whatever sections are possible from extremist ideals. Because the PA is as such left neutered in this scenario, they need support from the people to do anything; and when there is little of that they will too end up as silent spectators at best and total disarray at worst.

@Oscar I think you've swung far too much towards pessimism again. Let us remember that the radicalized masses, as radicalized as they maybe, lack the courage to take the leap/dive. They have been conditioned to distribute sweets when the General takes over the reigns but have never lifted up a man on their shoulders and set him on the chair (not in any lasting manner anyway), ergo they will sit on the fence no matter who they sympathize with. As long as they sit on the fence neither side will gain an overwhelming advantage. The tacit agreement with the Taliban's ideology will ensure ready recruits and shelter (something which it needs to sustain its current tempo but even so it can still not swamp the capital and seize power) while the army will still be able retain its conventional edge in the absence of an active mass movement against the army and in support of the Taliban, as such as long as the masses remain relatively dormant the PA will retain its relative edge despite any hemorrhaging due to attrition.

IMO the changing/emerging threat scenario actually is the ideological support provided by mainstream parties like the PTI to the Taliban, a leader who claimed the support of the urban youth (who have known the taste of a modern life) openly panders to the Taliban, the youth (educated and urbane, fickle neophytes perhaps and yet unlikely to relish the prospect of a Taliban state) do not yet censure their chosen leader- these things are worrisome.

What say you, Sir @fatman17?

@Secur, @jaibi, @Alpha1?

 

[Tameem]

Before Pakistan can emerge from the mists of obscurantist thinking, before it can put the demons of intolerance and sheer stupidity to rest, it is the army which has to change its spots. If it can’t do that we are doomed. The Republic’s sword-arm is the army. Let there be no doubt about that. Therefore, before Pakistan’s reformation – whether it takes a Luther to bring it about or an Ataturk – the army must reform itself.

Ayaz just sums up a complete storm in these two lines, There is absolutely no grassroot support to any religious parties anywhere in Pakistan not even in KPK, they thrives only on the tacit support of verious security agencies who use them as cannon fodder since 79. The lame argument that Army looking towards public and found silence at the moment is utter rubbish....its the other way around actually.

If today PA strategically decides to accept LOC as common border, all these demons vanish the next day..............!!!

 

[jaibi]

@fatman17 sir a wonderful read!

 

[Capt.Popeye]

@fatman17 sir a wonderful read!

But; @jaibi, my friend (even if you are Sarhad-paar): Will it be enough just to read it? 

Ayaz just sums up a complete storm in these two lines, There is absolutely no grassroot support to any religious parties anywhere in Pakistan not even in KPK, they thrives only on the tacit support of verious security agencies who use them as cannon fodder since 79. The lame argument that Army looking towards public and found silence at the moment is utter rubbish....its the other way around actually.

If today PA strategically decides to accept LOC as common border, all these demons vanish the next day..............!!!

There is meaning to what you say. Even at this stage; the Army (or Security Estt.) can and must "bite the bullet" and work on this serious threat within. The past can (and must) be steadily and progressively broken with; since the past itself is creating the Ghosts that haunt today.
As for the LOC; it is a reality, even for the entire world. Therefore it is the de-facto common Border. Even the Heavens cannot change that in any major fashion.

 

[jaibi]

Hey, Capt. I hope you're doing well. I see this positively because now we're truly inspecting about our policy and assumptions on which we build them. Only in that essence this change is something to see positively. For better or worse, Pakistan cannot affoard to go through a drastic change becuase no matter how bad the status quo is it is also something that's holding things at bay, for the moment at least.

But; @jaibi, my friend (even if you are Sarhad-paar): Will it be enough just to read it? 


There is meaning to what you say. Even at this stage; the Army (or Security Estt.) can and must "bite the bullet" and work on this serious threat within. The past can (and must) be steadily and progressively broken with; since the past itself is creating the Ghosts that haunt today.
As for the LOC; it is a reality, even for the entire world. Therefore it is the de-facto common Border. Even the Heavens cannot change that in any major fashion.