Pakistan army morale lowest since 1971 war with India
Michael Hughes
Pakistani political leaders and former officials believe the military's reputation is the lowest it's been in 40 years, especially considering recent events such as the Osama bin Laden raid, the Taliban attack on a naval base in Karachi and the murder of a journalist by Pakistani intelligence.
Critics have alleged the army's standing hasnt been this poor since it lost Pakistans eastern flank, now called Bangladesh, in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war.
Ayaz Amir, a Pakistani journalist-turned-politician and former army captain, considers bin Ladens discovery near Islamabad a national embarrassment that has cost Pakistan considerable leverage with the U.S.
In a News International article, Amir suggested the country's national emblem should be the ostrich because of the proclivity of Pakistani leaders to bury their heads in the sand to avoid dealing with reality.
And former Pakistani ambassador Karamatullah K Ghori claimed in the The New Indian Express that the generals have lost their swagger. The people of Pakistan, once the militarys strongest supporters, have finally turned against them.
The brutal murder of Asia Times Online journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, whose body was found near Rawalpindi bearing the marks of an ISI hit, was the last straw. As Ghori wrote:
Saleems murder has enraged the people of Pakistan who have already had enough justification to feel badly let-down by a military establishment pampered and primed at the cost of their socio-economic welfare and well-being. The army has thrived on the fat of the land while the people of Pakistan have toiled in grinding penury.
Once seeming to possess a moral edge over the U.S. - whose drone strikes have killed scores of Pakistani civilians as CIA operatives have run amok on their soil - Pakistani officials are now weighed down by a guilty collective conscience. As a result, they've agreed to launch an operation against extremists in North Waziristan, which might be an unwise excursion given the recent demoralizing siege of Mehran. But Amir made something clear:
We have to get one thing straight. That we are amenable to American pressure is not so much because of our economic vulnerability, although that too is a problem, but because of our strategic double games: fighting some militants while nurturing and supporting others because of their presumed usefulness against India. Or as future insurance policy for Afghanistan.
Amir said Pakistan's leaders must choose between terrorism as a foreign policy tool or reestablishing national sovereignty because they can't have both.
Ghori indicated the army has had such a special place in Pakistani hearts that they're williing to forgive the generals for the haunting debacle of their surrender" on December 16, 1971 at Dhakas Paltan Maidan.
But the horrific occurences of the previous month have brought back unsavory memories of national humiliation, prompting Amir to call for a change of guard, both political and military. However, he also admitted how challenging this would be, considering that, in Amirs words:
Islam is not the state religion of Pakistan, denial is.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Pakistan army morale lowest since 1971 war with India - National Afghanistan Headlines | Examiner.com Pakistan army morale lowest since 1971 war with India - National Afghanistan Headlines | Examiner.com
Michael Hughes
Pakistani political leaders and former officials believe the military's reputation is the lowest it's been in 40 years, especially considering recent events such as the Osama bin Laden raid, the Taliban attack on a naval base in Karachi and the murder of a journalist by Pakistani intelligence.
Critics have alleged the army's standing hasnt been this poor since it lost Pakistans eastern flank, now called Bangladesh, in the 1971 Indo-Pakistani war.
Ayaz Amir, a Pakistani journalist-turned-politician and former army captain, considers bin Ladens discovery near Islamabad a national embarrassment that has cost Pakistan considerable leverage with the U.S.
In a News International article, Amir suggested the country's national emblem should be the ostrich because of the proclivity of Pakistani leaders to bury their heads in the sand to avoid dealing with reality.
And former Pakistani ambassador Karamatullah K Ghori claimed in the The New Indian Express that the generals have lost their swagger. The people of Pakistan, once the militarys strongest supporters, have finally turned against them.
The brutal murder of Asia Times Online journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, whose body was found near Rawalpindi bearing the marks of an ISI hit, was the last straw. As Ghori wrote:
Saleems murder has enraged the people of Pakistan who have already had enough justification to feel badly let-down by a military establishment pampered and primed at the cost of their socio-economic welfare and well-being. The army has thrived on the fat of the land while the people of Pakistan have toiled in grinding penury.
Once seeming to possess a moral edge over the U.S. - whose drone strikes have killed scores of Pakistani civilians as CIA operatives have run amok on their soil - Pakistani officials are now weighed down by a guilty collective conscience. As a result, they've agreed to launch an operation against extremists in North Waziristan, which might be an unwise excursion given the recent demoralizing siege of Mehran. But Amir made something clear:
We have to get one thing straight. That we are amenable to American pressure is not so much because of our economic vulnerability, although that too is a problem, but because of our strategic double games: fighting some militants while nurturing and supporting others because of their presumed usefulness against India. Or as future insurance policy for Afghanistan.
Amir said Pakistan's leaders must choose between terrorism as a foreign policy tool or reestablishing national sovereignty because they can't have both.
Ghori indicated the army has had such a special place in Pakistani hearts that they're williing to forgive the generals for the haunting debacle of their surrender" on December 16, 1971 at Dhakas Paltan Maidan.
But the horrific occurences of the previous month have brought back unsavory memories of national humiliation, prompting Amir to call for a change of guard, both political and military. However, he also admitted how challenging this would be, considering that, in Amirs words:
Islam is not the state religion of Pakistan, denial is.
Continue reading on Examiner.com Pakistan army morale lowest since 1971 war with India - National Afghanistan Headlines | Examiner.com Pakistan army morale lowest since 1971 war with India - National Afghanistan Headlines | Examiner.com
