Barrel-Bomba
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WASHINGTON: Washington DC is not a very big city by world capital standards, but evidently this town ain't big enough for two Sharifs from Pakistan to visit at the same time. Three weeks after the country's enfeebled PM Nawaz Sharif visited the White House to meet President Obama, the nation's army chief General Raheel Sharif will arrive here on a trip where real business is expected to be conducted.
General Sharif will not be meeting President Obama, but there is little doubt that Washington regards him as the "real Sharif" and the "big Sharif", with whom it can do business, although it is not clear if he is seen as the better or worse of the two Sharifs.
READ ALSO: Nawaz Sharif made to listen more than talk when he met Obama — Daily
The US seldom sees an uniformed general it does not like, and the broad view in Washington is that Gen Raheel Sharif is still in his honeymoon phase with the US, where credulous spinmeisters weave yarns about the country's progressive and professional generals who will deliver results prescribed by America, the same way expectations were set up for Sharif's predecessors Kayani and Musharraf, before they were condemned.
The sheer chutzpah of an army shill announcing that the general will be holding meetings with the political leadership of a country he is visiting would be surprising anywhere except in the case of Pakistan where the khakhis have long called the shots behind a civilian facade.
The current military dispensation has been even more ruthless in asserting its primacy. Just days before PM Nawaz Sharif embarked on his visit to US last month, his NSA Sartaj Aziz was summarily relieved of his post and replaced with a retired three-star general, Naseer Khan Janjua. Janjua effectively became the civilian government's minder to ensure it did not cave into US pressure during the Washington visit.
READ ALSO: Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif heckled during speech in Washington
Such military oversight and control is now quite common across world capitals with Pakistan's khaki-designated minders even reporting to Rawalpindi's military intelligence establishment on the various ambassadors appointed by the civilian government, according to sources familiar with the workings of Pakistani embassies abroad. In fact, several key ambassadorships are held by retired military generals in an open display of who really calls the shots in a country that is only notionally a democracy. None of this has prevented any of the US administrations to continue the tedious facade of dealing with the powerless civilian governments.
After Nawaz visit, Pak’s ‘real’ Sharif heads to US - Times of India
General Sharif will not be meeting President Obama, but there is little doubt that Washington regards him as the "real Sharif" and the "big Sharif", with whom it can do business, although it is not clear if he is seen as the better or worse of the two Sharifs.
READ ALSO: Nawaz Sharif made to listen more than talk when he met Obama — Daily
The US seldom sees an uniformed general it does not like, and the broad view in Washington is that Gen Raheel Sharif is still in his honeymoon phase with the US, where credulous spinmeisters weave yarns about the country's progressive and professional generals who will deliver results prescribed by America, the same way expectations were set up for Sharif's predecessors Kayani and Musharraf, before they were condemned.
The sheer chutzpah of an army shill announcing that the general will be holding meetings with the political leadership of a country he is visiting would be surprising anywhere except in the case of Pakistan where the khakhis have long called the shots behind a civilian facade.
The current military dispensation has been even more ruthless in asserting its primacy. Just days before PM Nawaz Sharif embarked on his visit to US last month, his NSA Sartaj Aziz was summarily relieved of his post and replaced with a retired three-star general, Naseer Khan Janjua. Janjua effectively became the civilian government's minder to ensure it did not cave into US pressure during the Washington visit.
READ ALSO: Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif heckled during speech in Washington
Such military oversight and control is now quite common across world capitals with Pakistan's khaki-designated minders even reporting to Rawalpindi's military intelligence establishment on the various ambassadors appointed by the civilian government, according to sources familiar with the workings of Pakistani embassies abroad. In fact, several key ambassadorships are held by retired military generals in an open display of who really calls the shots in a country that is only notionally a democracy. None of this has prevented any of the US administrations to continue the tedious facade of dealing with the powerless civilian governments.
After Nawaz visit, Pak’s ‘real’ Sharif heads to US - Times of India