Plus the Baluchistan situation had improved but what many forget is that when kiyani took over and musharraf left, the image of the army was extremely negative. In fact it was the most negative in its entire history and no army chief had ever faced the situation of hostility from the people bcz the were more sympathetic towards the terrorists. The media was attacking the army, the opinion of the people was negative, the terrorists were taking over, the incompetent civilian govt was of course anti army and the Baluchistan situation was boiling. In such a situation kiyani did great work and he vastly improved the image of the army. The term i used a few years back was " recreating the love for the armed forces in the heart of the populace" . I adore general raheel ( everybody here knows that. I advocated field marshal) and I miss his absence each day but the great general rode on the wave created by kiyani and that wave was anti terror operations and the positive image of the army.
This is why I side with kiyani and hold him in high esteem. I remember those days well. Very well.
Haroon Rashid has always been a fan of Gen kiyani... He made some similar points as you...Today also, he wrote an article in his favor...
http://m.dunya.com.pk/index.php/author/haroon-ur-rahid/2016-12-02/17723/70919611
But just one thing... Towards the end of his article, he said tht
"hero ki baat maan kar un se na insafi ki gayi aur musalsal" ..this line, makes it look like..as if he is saying tht Gen Raheel Sharif personally ordered Gen Kiyani's character assasination.... I doubt abt it.... But haroon rashid has been praising Gen Raheel Sharif too... Didnt understand what he meant by this line... He is one of those few jourmalists, whom i trust....
Personally, i dont know what to think abt gen kiyani... I think, he wasnt tht bad, for sure, as the media makes him out to be..he did some good things, esp in his first term, but his second term, left a lot to be desired.... He should have done things...which he didnt... Freqent drone attacks, on daily basis, abottabad, salala, also contributed to downfall in his popularity.. He was very lenient with zardari and co, and let them do, whatever they wanted..even let them free in memo gate... Did a deal with zardari on memo gate..and let haqqani go abroad..when tht case was in Supreme court.. He should have let the case reach its logical end, through supreme court...but he let hussain haqqani go, who is now lobbying against Pakistan in USA......And he wasnt concerned about drone attacks at all, being COAS..... He shouldnt have taken extension... I am sure he must be regretting it too...
