We have a habit, a nature of making scapegoats, blaming some entity whom we think is responsible for all the chaos around and separating our self immediately from everything that is associated with the blame. Everybody thinks he/she is correct and wants to sit on a high moral ground to point fingers at others. We get gist of news from different sources around us through media, news, talks, reviews, analysis etc and we align our ideas with them to strengthen our beliefs that whatever we thought or we concluded is the correct thinking pattern and the conclusion we reached cannot be anymore close to perfect.
I mentioned Iskander Mirza in another thread also, but hot headed members only come on PDF to vent out their frustrations just through words of abuses, swearing, cursing etc, just like you see our middle and lower middle class who once get behind the wheels of a mehran or vitz or corolla make it their rightful law not to give way, not to show courtesy and resort to road rash on slightest opportunity. Thats because now they can control something - a car. They are commander of that car and there is no boss no wife no relative no law to dictate them what to do. For the commute home, they are the master and commander for once in their lives and now they will show the world that they are the boss. Even then their life remains the same. Same boss, same wife, same relatives, same pay check, same inflation rate of growth, same bills increasing etc. They cant change anything in their real life, they can just vent out on the road by being discourteous and rude to pedestrians and other drivers to show that they are frustrated in their own lives and as soon as they get a chance to be the boss, they will have their way at any cost.
Iskander Mirza was an officer of Military Police. Liaqat Ali Khan made a costly mistake of bringing him as defense secretary. Mirza was a PSP officer in India but in Pakistan he kept getting promotions in military ranks as well as given appointments in federal and provincial roles side by side. He was promoted from Colonel to Maj general without becoming Brigadier. His role in enforcing Military Police in Bengal, then becoming Governor started the pattern that eventually led to 1971 war.
Now why is this guy important in history up to the events leading to current times and even in future. Liaqat Ali Khan's colossal mistake of bringing Army into civilian matters and setting pattern of making governors from retired Army officers is what we are witnessing today. Mirza was also the one who brought in Ayub Khan even though there were 4 other Generals who were senior to Ayub Khan. So this pattern of promoting junior most to COAS was also set from the onset in 50's, while iskander Mirza became the first President of Pakistan and after him it was Ayub Khan. The later notables are Zia and Musharraf.
Whenever a change is made, the public of Pakistan welcomes it with open arms. In my timeline I saw Musharraf being welcomed by people from outside military circles too. Same would have happened in Ayub and Zia's time. First they welcome, then they curse.
What guarantee is there that the next COAS will be a spitting image of RS ? There is none. As soon as Bajwa is gone, people and members of PDF will rejoice. After few years the new COAS or the one after that will be getting cursed and sweared at by the same lot who once welcomed the new COAS and pinned hopes with him. The same goes for PMs. Hardly anyone completes the tenure and is forced to leave the PM-ship.
It is so easy to blame "establishment" and the "state with in the state" and the power given to the Military and the other elites. One can ask, where was SC when Iskander Mirza was rising the ranks under Liaqat Ali Khan ? If SC had not shown the weakness back then, we might have seen SC as the most powerful tool in Pakistan. Its the people who give power to PM, COAS and the SC, but Pakistanis want to stand on the side and curse and blame. We have a lot of time to discuss these Political matters which have no effect on our lives except the prices we pay for the commodities we buy - AKA inflation. Lawlessness, insurgencies, dacoities, corruption, basically anything we pick now was also there back then when our grandfathers and fathers were kids and Pakistan was a new born baby. It was street talk back then. Stand after isha prayers in a group in a chowk and discuss politics or sit at a barber shop (love the signs saying - political talk is prohibited in barber shops) or sit inside mosques to make mullahs and molvis more and more political eventually thinking that the solution is sharia thus paving way for religious fanatics to come forward and try to become leaders to run the country. Of course there was no internet back then so face to face venting out was common. Those talks became slogans and the people gathering became mobs which political parties used to their advantage. Now the facebook, twitter etc are the new trend for spreading, discussing and starting a revolution.
50 years from now, our kids and grandkids will be discussing, blaming, cursing and swearing in the same manner that we are doing now - just standing on the fence. In reality helpless to make any real change but extremely potent in everything else which hardly matters in their lives. Governments come and go. The common man pays the price. The opportunists prey on the timelines they get while the intellectual cream and rich leave the country to secure their future and the future of their children.
None of this is New.