Well, you will surprise to know in close army circle Gen Pasha doesn't count as smart man. He is just closed friend of Kayani. Otherwise he has no quality of leading such huge intelligence. As compared to Gen Gul H it was famous during his tenure he never let any foreigner cross the attock bridge, sent them back to capital.
General Hameed Gul is one of the most incompetent and self obsessed general to lead ISI.
His qualification was constant TC of Zia and his knack for corruption.
If we have anyone in Army to blame for worsening the situation of Pakistan in terms of militancy and sectarian violence, Gen Gul is one of the primary culprits.
His comments border on near lunacy in many cases and use of religion infused propaganda is his forte.
I recall him speaking on TV before US invasion of Afghanistan in which he was saying...and I quote
"The Green clothed ones (implying angels) are already amongst the Taliban and the bombs and weaponry of Americans shall be of no use to them".
My father (ex Army) was sitting besides me and said that it is a shame this
drama made to the rank of general.
Kiyani and Pasha are certainly not inferior to Zia/Gul in terms of competency and not the sort who are promoting the use of religion infused propaganda as a cover, the recent promotions in army have been much more transparent and are actually quite on merit rather than Ji Hazoori.
In this regards the worst was Zia who introduced a Ji hazoori and TC culture in Army...believe me there was no one worse in this regards.
It is not that Kiyani and Pasha are incapable of handling things, however the problem is that the mistakes of past, wrong alliances and dodgy partnerships have led to a much more complicated scenario than what we had before and we need extremely bold leadership to help cement the foundation of our future policy.
Leaders are those people who fill the gap when lesser men shy away from taking the responsibility.
If today Army is politically on the retreat in face of civilians, it is upto any civilian leader to take charge and say
"Follow me my nation, my soldiers, my ministers, my generals...i shall look the enemy in the eye and chart down a path for you all to tread in order to take this country onwards and upwards".
The irony is not that the leadership is corrupt...the irony is that one thing our leadership (PPP/PML) is most afraid of is...to lead!
Today the civilian political leadership can show guts and earn respect, instead they too covertly use media and underhanded tactics to blame military and ISI for the hiccups and try to maintain a status quo...instead of stepping up on the stage and becoming the leadership.
Leaders are supposed exert their influence...this phenomena cannot be expected if the leaders remain aloof, hide behind snide remarks in media or keep on running to London etc. for every small checkup.
How can you ensure that control is in hands of political leadership if the leadership wants to hide behind mistakes instead of taking ownership that it has been unsuccessful in determining a cohesive plan?
Can we expect Army to remove militancy on its own when the support structure can only be targeted via police and judiciary?
If the government cannot prosecute the militant supporters and no reports/cases are filed against known clerics who openly promote sectarian violence...then we cannot hope to defeat the product of the hate perpetrated by this breeding ground of terrorism
The problem is not that the military is unable to fight the terrorist militants, the problem is that these terrorists are often the product of brainwashing which is done by clerics who are openly allowed to create an environment of hate and persecution in the name of religion.
Such clerics need to be tried under some law and actually be given the harshest punishment.
I see our great journalists bombarding Army and ISI, however i have not seen the criticism of our great legislation, law enforcement and judiciary in being unable to take on the breeding grounds which can be taken on via non military means and once dismantled will deal a death blow to the enemies of Pakistan who are financing a terror campaign.
If all we say is that Military is the complete solution in this case, then i am afraid we could not be more wrong.
The politicians tolerate the extremist clerics and their followers due to vote bank considerations...can this be allowed to happen?
What is the role of police and why is it so?
Where is the police except being on guard duty of politicians?
Can the police do a much better job if it is structured to function independently instead of being at the mercy of the likes of Shahbaz Sharif?
Even if Kiyani and Pasha are replaced, can we do better just by delegating the task to military alone?
Does the problem not require a complete solution of which military is just a part of?
The question is that why do the militants survive?
What sort of gaps in the state mechanism are the militants able to exploit?
Once they escape and vanish under the wings of legitimate/illegitimate political/religious organizations...they are not successfully apprehended by law enforcement agencies and are not prosecuted by the government...this is the most critical failure in our war against the terrorists.
The primary culprits in these nesting organizations need to be identified and dealt with in order to effectively deny space to the terrorists.
Why have we had no landmark trials in which the promoters of intolerance, hate and violence in the name of religion are dealt with?
Will this not slowly but surely take care of a major deficiency in our current counter terrorism effort?
