Excellent - this is one discourse that many of us who have a Fauj connection find appealing, however, let me deal with the govt aspect first -- the politicians who run the state are actually running scared, because they are always scared of the army - is that really their fault? Usually it is the army that assists the state not the other way around - we who have a Fauji connection must , MUST get used to the idea that they civilians run the govt and our role is to be competent in our role, which is to kill the enemies of the state, not politics, not governance.
If today every institution is politicized, it is because the civilians are scared of the army and this politicization offers them a safeguard.
Now with regard to the heart of the problem - the civil war which is in essence a culture war - it was not just civilians, but the really the armed forces which sought to create a legitimacy for themselves in governance who introduced this evil - and it is up to the armed forces to be up front with the public, who are these militants, who is helping them, and how we are going to tackle them - see, what is happening now is that the armed forces are saying, well you can go to hell, because we have political fish to fry-- 800-1000 kgs of explosives have been accumulated (ISI does not know how or when and especially why, is this success, does this track as true? because if yes, then we don't need them, do we?) - I will guarantee that there will be no arrests, just as there were no arrests in any number of such cases, why? Because those involved are professionally related with those whose responsibility it is to prevent this.
1. Admit we have a serious problem
2. Define the problem in detail
3. Solve the problem
Unfortunately whatever Fauji connection I had dried up back when Grandpa retired from the Army in '65 & he wasn't all that endeared to how it was being run even back then.
You've presumed too much for I wasn't asserting that the Army should operate above & beyond its mandate ! Perhaps an example would elucidate better - You had an Army operation in Swat, in some Tribal Agencies & even in Baluchistan; when it was done where was the Civilian Apparatus to take over from there ? Where was the Police to maintain Law & Order, where were the relevant departments to develop those areas in the much vaunted 3D formula that the Civilian Executive talks about ? You had the Defense by the Army where was the Development & the Deterrence ? Why did the Army feel the need to maintain military presence in Swat still ? Because the Civilian Institutions did nothing to instil confidence in the people of those areas or to follow up with their mandated tasks.
The raison detre you give for the politicization of every Institution doesn't hold for me in the least bit because the 111 Brigade doesn't need more than a few seconds to topple a democratically elected Government no amount of politicization of the Army, the Judiciary or any other Institution is going to save the Civilian Executive's skin by being there boys against the Army.
Those Institutions are politicized for the same reason Institutions are politicized the world over - Decadence, Corruption & Nepotism ! The MNA doesn't have his guy as the SP in his town because hes afraid the Army may come & whisk him away he has it because he wants to give favors & receive some, he wants to maintain his hold over his area & he wants to benefit from whatever corruption the Police itself is involved in, in a classical symbiotic relationship.
Had the Armed Forces, currently any political ambition, the PPP led Government has given them numerous opportunities to topple it & declare Martial Law or pull off a Musharaf like Chief-Executive farce. Even the people would welcome that in preference to the sh*t this Government has subjected Pakistan to.
I agree that the ISPR is very poor when it comes to public perception management & they haven't presented a counter-narrative to tackle the problem; they are terribly guilty on this front !
As far as the ISI's incompetence viz vie the explosives are concerned - Do you know how easy it is to make these explosives ? From what I've heard you get most if not all of the stuff from your local departmental store. The ISI has tipped off different relevant bodies in the past of a probable attack & many a times explosive laden trucks smuggling them into Pakistan from Afghanistan have been caught !
Thwarting terror bid: FC seizes prohibited material near Quetta – The Express Tribune And this is one of many other examples. One horrible act that didn't get caught across a 1000 km+ border that is indefensible & cannot be manned should not be taken to be evidence to suggest that the complicity of the ISI, the FC or the Army !
As far are your 'no one getting caught because those who are involved are professionally related to those who are tasked with its prevention' comment is concerned - On what basis do you give such a sweeping statement ?
Baring half-arsed media reports riddled with talk of unnamed sources & secret reports what evidence does one have to substantiate such an assertion ?