The following is a recurring theme about the advice given by the establishment but they don't get credit for trying to advise all governments. They may not be right in how things turn out always (nobody is) but no one can fault the establishment for wanting to do the right thing given the circumstances.
"According to sources, Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa presented all the pros and cons of using force against TLP workers when the political and military leadership gathered to discuss the issue at the National Security Committee meeting that took place on October 29. People who know the details of this meeting have confirmed to Dawn that the army chief said if the decision-makers were ready to pay the price for using force against the TLP, then the military would do as ordered. However, mention was made of the previous instances where the government had used force against citizens – Lal Masjid and the Model Town incident – and participants of the meeting were reminded of the consequences of both episodes."
This goes further back to 1971. The establishment then too advised the political leadership in the West to make amends with those in EP yet their advice was not taken. What happened afterwards is clear to all.
It was the right decision for military and bajwa not to use force against TLP.
Do we really need another TTP type insurgency? TLP has millions of followers in Punjab especially so it would have caused tons of issues for the state.
For politicians it’s easy, drone strikes, black water agents, using unnecessary force but after politicians manage to turn the local against the state, it’s the army which has to give sacrifices to bring the situation under control.
What has ppp or pmln lost for all the drone strikes they allowed especially ppp in which the most drone strikes happened almost daily? Ppp was unharmed while army was stuck fighting basically all of tribal areas.
When people fight the state, soldiers will die not politicians while politicians will use it to gain political point scoring.
We don’t need more internal enemies.
India as an external enemy is enough for us.
Our economic situation and our current condition isn’t enough to fight insurgencies in tribal areas, Balochistan and potentially Punjab, sindh and ajk if force was used against TLP all while having to keep Afghanistan and india in check.
I’m not even a tlp supporter but Pakistan doesn’t need more internal enemies then it already has.