Punjab bypolls silence role of Army in Pakistan, puts generals in political maelstrom

Following the Punjab bypolls, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa's fallout with his protege Imran Khan has left the army rank and file deeply divided as his efforts to revive his image in the past few months have failed and his chances of getting an extension remain firmly buried.

Following the Punjab bypolls, Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa's fallout with his protege Imran Khan has left the army rank and file deeply divided as his efforts to revive his image in the past few months have failed and his chances of getting an extension remain firmly buried. The General's image and command within the Army and outside remains crippled and there is little hope of reclamation before he retires in November this year. The most intriguing part of Pakistan's Punjab bypolls has been the silence surrounding the role of the Pakistan Army in the stunning outcome.

According to media accounts in Pakistan, the General had to spend quite a few sessions with senior as well as middle-ranking officers to convince them of his decision to abandon Imran Khan. It was thought that Bajwa had mistimed the move and gave Imran Khan a golden opportunity to absolve himself of his failures in his three years as a chief executive of the country. However, Bajwa tried to stem the haemorrhaging of his as well as the army's reputation through tough posturing and warnings, but there was little impact on those who were merrily calling him 'Mir Jafar' and other choicest abuses. Even many retired Generals openly supported Imran Khan.

The army not only came to be responsible for the mess but also became a favourite target of all and sundry. Rarely have the Generals been so widely reviled in Pakistan. Moreover, the successive statements from the Army chief, as well as the ISI chief on staying clear of politics, revealed how weak Bajwa's position has become. These flip-flops only underline the growing division among the leadership in dealing with the multiple crises confronting Pakistan, especially the political conundrum. Bajwa's hands-off approach has few takers among the Rawalpindi generals, a clear sign of his failure as a commander-in-chief. Some among his commanders have other ideas to bring back Imran Khan but keep him under check, a possibility that seems fanciful today, especially after Khan has trumped home in Punjab.

As Punjab voters have shown, there is little support for the army's political games. Khan too would not easily succumb to pressure or patronage from Rawalpindi. He has found his feet and will play the game from a stronger wicket than in the past. His opponents, PML-N and PPP, are trapped in a catch-22 situation--leadership is weak, public support is wavering and there is no great love lost with the Generals either. In a way, Khan is in a better position as a political leader than he was before being ousted. The army is caught in a cleft as its protege has come into his own while traditional opponents like PML-N and PPP are on slippery ground, an ideal situation in normal circumstances. The army cannot go back to the old parties that it had long planned to whittle down and had successfully done so with Khan as its ventriloquist.

Success, ironically, will depend on how malleable its former protege, Imran Khan, is for collaboration. It is a task which calls for considerable interventions, hard or soft, a possibility riddled with no less peril for Bajwa and his Generals in the coming days. (ANI)

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