Gilani fears coup conspiracy; hits out at army

[Patriot]

To an outside observer, Pakistan prime minister Yusuf Gilani has been doing splendidly well in the recent months — which is saying a lot, considering the political minefield he needed to traverse any single day. To my mind, his stature was rising, but then all of sudden on Thursday, he lost the touch, which is how his ‘defiant’ statements on Thursday appear.

In a democracy, of course, civilian supremacy must prevail. However, the catch is Gilani is riding the high horse over the so-called ‘Memogate’, where the military did the right thing cooperating with the supreme court, which is looking into the affair that indeed has grave national security implications.

No matter Gilani’s protestations about democracy, the real issue is whether the government had any role at all in the ‘Memogate’. That is also how the Pakistani opinion will be inclined to see the state of play. Most political parties have refused to applaud Gilani’s ‘defiance’. The supreme court chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry is plainly dismissive of the suggestion of a possible army coup. The army chief Ashfaq Kayani bluntly says he has no intentions of overthrowing the government. So, who’s afraid of the dark?

If, perchance, anyone in the government did in fact approach the United States for help to reorder the Pakistani body polity, that was a dastardly thing to have been done. And he (or she) must face the retribution. It is what we in India would call an ‘anti-national activity’. The tragedy of Pakistan all along has been that its elites have been indulging in ‘anti-national activities’ — bending over backward to serve as the United States’ doormat. The ‘Memogate’ is symptomatic of that syndrome.

A great window of opportunity is available today to purge that syndrome, when the US’s capacity to intervene in Pakistan’s internal affairs stands severely impaired. Imagine, American ambassador in Islamabad would have been shuttling today between Islamabad and Rawalpindi. But he isn’t. And Pakistan hasn’t gone to dogs.


Gilani chose wrong issue for right cause - Indian Punchline

 

[BATMAN]

GO GHADARI GO

 

[Waffen SS]

Atleast one thing is going good these days. The HOLY COW is being ridiculed, questioned, abused from all corners.

It was good of the Prime Minister to go hard against these incompetent, self-praising losers of all wars since 1947.

 

[pakdefender]

Atleast one thing is going good these days. The HOLY COW is being ridiculed, questioned, abused from all corners.

It was good of the Prime Minister to go hard against these incompetent, self-praising losers of all wars since 1947.

What a pitiful morn you are, life must have been unkind to you
You live in Pakistan under the very protection that the armed forces provide yet vomit garbage against them on every occasion.

 

[Husnainshah]

Now that's the spirit, at least someone in the government isn't afraid of Army. Zardari is indeed The Man. No wonder Zardari is being consistently conspired against. Someone needs to show 'em thugs in uniform what their constitutional domain is. it's Public SERVANTS Vs Public REPRESENTATIVES. Doesn't matter how corrupt or incompetent the government is, as long as it has Public Mandate, in my opinion. And even then, a vote of no confidence can dismiss the government, or merely 1% of Pakistani people on streets.

 

[Waffen SS]

What a pitiful morn you are, life must have been unkind to you
You live in Pakistan under the very protection that the armed forces provide yet vomit garbage against them on every occasion.

PROTECTION!!!!!!!!!!!! You must be kidding me.

 

[monitor]

On the brink
December 26, 2011

Asif Ezdi

Finally, it’s official. The government and the army are on a potentially suicidal collision course. Gilani made two fiery speeches last Thursday declaring that he would not allow the army to form “a state within a state”. He also spoke of conspiracies to pack up the elected government. Gilani’s tirade was followed by a Reuters story that evening in which “military sources” were quoted as saying that the army is fed up with Zardari and wants him out of office but through legal means. The military spokesman declined to comment, confirming by implication that the report was correct.

Gilani asserted that the government’s differences with the army are over the question of civilian control over the military. This is not true. Not even the military leadership today disputes the principle of civilian supremacy.

The real cause of the present tensions between the government and the army is the PPP leadership’s unwillingness to allow an independent and impartial investigation into Memogate. The reason is simple: Zardari is afraid that such an inquiry might reveal his fingerprints on the memo. Therefore, Zardari and co. would like to leave the matter solely to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, where the ruling coalition enjoys a majority and would be able to vote down any adverse findings and conclusions.

The government has another fresh worry. If the Abbottabad Commission comes to the finding that the raid that killed Osama last May was facilitated by the liberal issuance of visas to American spies in Pakistan, further questions would be raised in the public mind about the government’s willingness to stand up to Washington on vital questions of national security.

Zardari and his camp have not only raised a false alarm about military intervention, they have also been targeting the Supreme Court. Zardari is not even sure of American support any longer. After having served US interests loyally for more than three years, he is heartbroken at the thought that even Washington might be considering dumping him.

The fact is that it is not democracy but Zardari’s political survival which is under threat. And the threat comes not from any machinations and intrigues by the military but from the government’s own lack of performance, economic mismanagement, corruption, poor governance and now, to top it all, what looks like its willingness to compromise national security and the country’s nuclear deterrent in order to remain in favour in Washington.

In a meeting with journalists on December 17, Gilani reportedly branded Mansoor Ijaz as a “total liar”. Ijaz should not be believed, Gilani said, because he was not even a Pakistani but a stranger, a farangi and a “nobody”. One might ask Gilani that if Ijaz is all that, then why did Benazir remain in touch with him during her years in exile, why did Zardari have a meeting with him in May 2009, and why did Haqqani consort with such a person?

The question whether it is Ijaz or Haqqani who has been lying can only be determined in an impartial inquiry, which has not even begun as yet. Haqqani’s denial of having “written”, “authored” or “drafted” the memo brings to mind Bill Clinton’s famous statement that he had not had “sexual relations” with Monika Lewinsky. It all depends on how you define “sexual relations” – or in Haqqani’s case, how you define “writing”, “authoring” or “drafting”. If it means putting pen on paper, Haqqani did not write the memo. But that is not what Ijaz has alleged. According to him, the message was dictated to him by Haqqani and its content originated entirely from him.

Ijaz has also released loads of purported BlackBerry messenger exchanges with Haqqani in support of his assertions. Haqqani has not produced any evidence to disprove that he exchanged those messages.

And speaking of farangis, isn’t James Jones one too? Yet, Gilani has so much faith in this particular farangi that after Jones submitted his affidavit in the memo case, our prime minister demanded that the matter should now come to an end. Otherwise, he said, the Americans would start wondering how little political sense (shaur) the Pakistani people have.

Gilani need not worry, at least not as far as Jones is concerned. Jones has already made known what he thinks of the Pakistanis. In the same interview in which he admitted having sent the memo to Mullen, Jones also said Pakistan was a “country hell-bent on self-destruction.” There was “no logic” to what its senior leadership, civilian and military, did, especially their unwillingness to take advantage of the generous opportunities presented by Washington. Jones no doubt included Gilani among the civilian leaders who behaved so illogically.

Yet, Gilani is very generous to Jones and unquestioningly accepts his claim, made without producing any evidence from the record of his phone calls, that Ijaz had called him a few days before May 9, the date on which, according to Ijaz, Haqqani first contacted him in connection with the memo.

But nothing better exemplifies the PPP leadership’s twisted logic than the eagerness with which it has jumped at the passing mention by Ijaz in one of his BBM exchanges with Haqqani of a report attributed to a senior US intelligence source that the ISI head “asked for and received permission from senior Arab leaders to sack Zardari.”

This piece of “intelligence”, given by Ijaz “for what it is worth” – a phrase which the Oxford Dictionary defines as meaning that it was given without a guarantee of its truth – was made the stuff for a sensational blog in a British daily on an ISI “plot” to involve foreign countries in Pakistan’s domestic power struggles and then included by the government, without any attempt at prior verification, in its reply to the Supreme Court. Even after the army has clarified that Pasha did not meet any Arab leader on the dates in question, the government has not had the honesty to correct itself.

Gilani’s verbal assault on the army leadership was an act of desperation to prevent an impartial inquiry into Memogate. It has recklessly pushed Pakistan near the precipice by adding a first class crisis of political-military relationship to the many security, economic and governance challenges the country is faced with.

The first priority for both the political and military leadership should now be to walk the country back from the brink. That would be easy enough if the present standoff were about the military’s subordination to the civilian government. Kayani has already declared that the army supports the democratic process and is cognisant of its constitutional obligations and responsibilities. Zardari for his part would have a chance of bringing the tension down when he speaks on December 27, on the fourth anniversary of Benazir’s assassination in his first public appearance after his recent illness. But the real problem is different. It is Memogate inquiry by the Supreme Court and that is an issue on which there is little give in the positions taken by the two sides. The very fact that Zardari is opposing the investigation suggests that he has something to hide. Kayani on the other hand was very categorical when he said that “irrespective of all other considerations, there can be no compromise on national security”.

In the meantime, Kayani has done well to squash speculation about an impending coup. But he also needs to do more. He must dissociate himself from those of his generals who have been talking of pushing Zardari from office “through legal means”. That is not the business of the military and it is a breach of their oath under the constitution. Evidently, there are still some crazy generals who harbour designs to influence the political process in the country. Those “military sources” who spoke to Reuters last Thursday about removing Zardari from the presidency should be identified by Kayani himself and held accountable.

Email: asifezdi@yahoo.com
-The News

 

[VCheng]

This is a thought-provoking article.

 

[araz]

This is a thought-provoking article.

A penny for your thoughts sir!!!
Araz

 

[VCheng]

A penny for your thoughts sir!!!
Araz

I see this latest tussle as the final chapter in a long drawn out saga. Pakistan may be able to use this crisis to set its own house in order, or it will not be able to do so and may pay the ultimate price.

Having said that, I see Pakistan succeeding in sorting this out with a more stable arrangement that will leave Army in a stronger position militarily and the political system stronger for governance. This process will take about a year or two until the next elections to play out fully.

I would be happy to discuss this further, and to change my opinions if suitably convinced by others here.

 

[araz]

I appreciate your insight which concurs with mine. Of course not being sooth sayers we cant predict which way pakistan will go. We however live in hope that perhaps one day people will make the right choices and this poor country, which has been raped and pillaged in so many ways will come out of the gloom and take its rightful place in the international arena.
Araz

 

[VCheng]

I appreciate your insight which concurs with mine. Of course not being sooth sayers we cant predict which way pakistan will go. We however live in hope that perhaps one day people will make the right choices and this poor country, which has been raped and pillaged in so many ways will come out of the gloom and take its rightful place in the international arena.
Araz

I join you in these prayers and hopes and wishes to succeed. InshaAllah Pakistan will come out of this crisis. It must.

 

[Sugarcane]

I join you in these prayers and hopes and wishes to succeed. InshaAllah Pakistan will come out of this crisis. It must.

What's up dude? are you all right these days?

 

[VCheng]

What's up dude? are you all right these days?

I don't know what you mean by this comment. My discussion with Araz above is self-explanatory I think.

 

[pakdefender]

Now that's the spirit, at least someone in the government isn't afraid of Army. Zardari is indeed The Man. No wonder Zardari is being consistently conspired against. Someone needs to show 'em thugs in uniform what their constitutional domain is. it's Public SERVANTS Vs Public REPRESENTATIVES. Doesn't matter how corrupt or incompetent the government is, as long as it has Public Mandate, in my opinion. And even then, a vote of no confidence can dismiss the government, or merely 1% of Pakistani people on streets.

jiyala openly admitting that his government is corrupt and incompetent