Outgoing Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s admission that the military did interfere in politics before February 2021 has vindicated many voices who had been critical of the establishment’s role from day one. It is worth remembering that not too long ago, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), which is now a critic of the military, used to demonise activists and commentators who called out the establishment for political engineering in 2018 elections and over its other transgressions. Journalists and activists who faced violence during the ‘hybrid regime’ (when PTI was proud of being on the ‘same page’ with the military) were gaslit by the then government. It is clear that the PTI’s newfound opposition to the establishment is rooted in the military’s withdrawal of support to former prime minister Imran Khan, who was dependent on the institution to stay in power.
That being said, the Pakistan Army cannot redeem itself by merely stating that it committed unconstitutional activities and will avoid them in the future. If General (retd) Bajwa’s statement is actually a step towards course correction, Pakistan Army will have to prove that it is disengaging itself from politics. Apart from putting an end to the act of favouring and/or disfavouring political parties, this policy-shift (if there is one) should also include ending the practice of pressuring courts, manipulating media and threatening independent activists and journalists. The institution needs to show that it has begun respecting civl liberties.
Pakistan Army will be truly believed to have stopped going beyond its constitutionally-mandated role if the following steps are taken:
1) Release Ali Wazir
An elected member of the parliament, Ali Wazir, is in jail on fabricated charges since December 2020. The fact that even bails granted to him in the many sedition cases registered against him do not guarantee his release from prison means that it is the military’s decision to keep him behind bars. Sindh government and even Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari have expressed their inability to do something about the continued persecution of an elected parliamentarian. If the establishment no longer believes in meddling in politics, Ali Wazir should be released and mistreatment of ethnic minorities and their representatives must end.
2) End persecution of activist Gulalai Ismail’s parents
Human rights activist Gulalai Ismail who had to flee Pakistan after continued death threats over her anti-establishment activism is often seeing sharing photos of her elderly parents outside anti-terrorism court where they have to appear regularly for hearings of terrorism and sedition cases registered against them. The elderly couple is being punished for their daughter’s fearless advocacy of the Pashtun community. Since the establishment can no longer harm Gulalai because she managed to leave the country unharmed, they resorted to persecuting her parents. The cases against the couple are malicious and must be withdrawn if the military is serious about restoring its image.
3) End all forms of surveillance
Surveillance by the establishment is considered a norm in Pakistan, and secret videos of politicians and public figures are recorded and later used to blackmail them. Apart from politicians, activists and journalists are also routinely followed and their phones tapped. This surveillance is sometimes used as a scare tactic, and threatening calls from untraceable numbers are made to journalists and activists. This practice of intimidating dissenting voices into silence is another habit that the establishment must overcome if it wants the public to believe the former army chief’s statement.
4) Start respecting the Constitution
Every few months, pro-military accounts and even some commentators on TV start floating the idea of Presidential system in Pakistan, saying that it is the only way to ‘save’ the country. Petitions demanding the same are filed in the courts by the usual suspects. If the military has truly disengaged itself from politics, such narrative-building to confuse the nation and undermine the democratic system in the country must also end. Under the Constitution, Pakistan is a parliamentary democracy and experiments of presidential system done in the past have failed and even led to the breakup of the country. The establishment should therefore stop its stooges in the media, who are often planted as ‘defence analysts,’ from undermining Pakistan’s Constitution.
