Khalai Makhlooq

In the see-saw equation of changing fortunes between civilian politicians and military Generals in Pakistan, selective amnesia is common. In 2018, PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif had rightly accused Pakistani Generals of facilitating the “selection” (as opposed to “election”) of Imran Khan by bumping-off the PML-N dispensation.

Nawaz had cuttingly coined the term “Khalai Makhlooq” (extraterrestrial beings or aliens) for the dour Generals to allude to the invisible but sure hand of the cantonment. It is another matter that the vainglorious Imran Khan misread his “selection” by the Generals to imply their deference, only to be booted-out ingloriously and to be incredulously followed by a government led by the same PML-N, helmed by Nawaz’s brother, Shehbaz Sharif.

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But wiser with times and experience, the “establishment” (read Pakistani military) has solidified its stranglehold with the self-anointment of Field Marshalship onto its Chief, Asim Munir, should Shehbaz or anyone else in the unnatural alliance government dare think of crossing the line with the Generals again. Not done with grand posturing, Munir further awarded himself the Hilal-i-Jurat (Pakistan’s second highest gallantry award ~ equivalent to India’s Maha Vir Chakra) to further embellish the over-decorated uniform of an Army that has never won a war, ever!

While the larger-than-life symbolism of a ramrod posture or blunt (albeit, apolitical) language is naturally given to those in “uniform” across the globe, in Pakistan, it is additionally embellished with political theatrics and extra constitutional verbiage. Because these Generals want to usurp power, they make sure that they speak the populist language of unhinged and uncouth politicians to suggest their own nationalist “muscularity”. The tradition started early with the first native Pakistani Chief (later self-appointed Field Marshal and President) Ayub Khan, who infamously said about the Indian Soldier before the 1965 Indo-Pak war, “The Hindu has no stomach for a fight and can be silenced with a few blows”.

Ayub could be (dis)credited for setting the template of a politicised Pakistani General who would combine blustering charisma, intemperate language, and domineering actions, to ensure that the Pakistani military remains the singular power, either formally, or informally (like now). Ayub’s successor, the debauch General (and President) Yahya Khan, carried on the unprofessional rhetoric of the “historic superiority of the Moslem fighters” and added cavalierly just before the 1971 Indo-Pak War, “I’ll be damned if I’ll see Pakistan divided”. Yahya’s chosen General to handle his Eastern theatre was one who preferred the moniker “Tiger” to be embedded in his name to project bravado and valour i.e., Lt Gen AK “Tiger” Niazi, also known as the “Butcher of Bangladesh” (a dishonour shared with yet another Pakistani General, Tikka Khan) for overseeing the genocide.

Niazi had boorishly said, “Mein is haramzaadi quam ki nasal badal doon ga” (I will change the race of this bastard community) and also thundered, “Dacca will fall only over my dead body”. Later, the so-called “Tiger” Niazi meekly signed the surrender papers along with 93,000 Pakistani soldiers. Later, a line of over-ambitious Pakistani Generals would continue conflating toxic religiosity, jingoistic politics, to cross-border activities like Generals Zia-ul-Haq, Hamid Gul, Mirza Aslam Baig etc., who would keep overstepping their functional mandate to the detriment of democracy in Pakistan, and regional peace.

Like Zia, yet another “Mohajir” General, Pervez Musharraf, would attempt dangling his own aura with a picture of him testing a pistol in a forward area, with a cigarette dangling from the side of his mouth, and his beret at a rakish angle! It wasn’t just carefully manufactured imagery for a General trying to out-swagger his Punjabi-Pathan colleagues ~ he was working simultaneously on his ill-fated Kargil Project. But as it perhaps happens only in Pakistan, after each military blunder the ‘establishment’ scripts its own narrative to suggest a different outcome, as many in the Pakistani narrative still have a very different view from reality about the results of 1965, 1971, Kargil, to now, even Operation Sindoor.

Today, “Field Marshal” Asim Munir’s nuclear sabre-rattling is from the age-old playbook of Pakistani Generals and their penchant for thundering statements, however reckless and unbecoming of professional soldiers. Munir’s language reflects the sensibilities of fringe cadres when he supposedly claimed, “we are a nuclear nation, if we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us” or adding to the debate on Indus waters by insisting, “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, we will destroy it with 10 missiles…The Indus river is not the Indians’ family property.

We have no shortage of missiles, Praise be to God”. While it would have gladdened the cockles of the hyper-nationalist diaspora in the US and the cadres back home, the inherited (and shared values across the Line-of-Control) of British traditions like “Officer Like Qualities” or OLQ, were given a clear miss. The first “Hafiz” (knows the Holy Quran by rote) as the Head of the Pakistani ‘establishment’ is now attempting a counterintuitive and unnatural ingratiation with the United States of America, as it battles religious extremism and terrorism created in its own nursery. Therefore it will be critical and imperative for “Field Marshal” Asim Munir to continuously flex the medallions on his chest, keep making controversial and provocative statements, as also keep the civilian politicians in check, to continue ruling the roost.

The United States under the equally amoral Donald Trump will allow Munir the long rope for its own tactical, transactional, and topical reasons ~ after all, his railing and unacceptable statements on American soil against India (supposedly an ally of the US) went unchecked. Obsequiously, Munir had no qualms in joining the chorus seeking a Nobel Prize for Trump, and for now, he remains the real McCoy in the Pakistani narrative with Shehbaz Sharif left to carry the blame should something go wrong. It is a patented formula of the Pakistani ‘establishment’ for long, and it usually ends in formalizing the initially informal rule by the military General.

(The writer is Lt Gen PVSM, AVSM (Retd), and former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry)