Political tug of war.

While all the stakeholders seem to have dug their heels deep enough in the ongoing political tug-of-war in Pakistan that commenced in the first week of April 2022; however, the real internal and external beneficiaries are dancing on their toes. The recent unsuccessful assassination attempt on former Prime Minister Imran Khan has added new dimensions and given an extraordinary fillip to PTI's protests against the PDM government.

Nevertheless, the most unfortunate and alarming twist the events have taken is the direct pitching up of PTI against some Army officers by name based on speculations rather than justifiable proof. On the other end, the unprecedented joint press conference by the DG ISPR and DGI did more harm than good to the cause of sprinkling water on the political fire.

The consequences of exposing and weakening the 'National Centre of Gravity' by the enemies and frenemies of Pakistan through overt and covert means have been repeatedly highlighted in several earlier published articles though; yet, the seriousness and the enormity of the issue seem to have been missed despite the clear reference to 1971 debacle. I opined in 1990 that for Pakistan the CoG was the cohesive integrity of the Armed Forces of Pakistan and for India, it was their political system based on the founding principle of Unity in Diversity. Although my views were apolitical; yet, I remained conscious of the fact that my opinion might have been biased being a person in uniform.

As years went by, the internal, regional, and international developments and the role played by Pakistan Armed Forces kept reminding me about the pertinence of my expressed views but looking for validation by a neutral expert. I felt greatly relieved and vindicated when I read a tweet by a known anti-Pakistan Army person i.e. an American political analyst Christine Fair: 'For Pakistan state to collapse, it is the Pakistan Army, which has to collapse. For better or worse, I do not see that happening'. Dr. Fair's tweet should have also been an eye-opener for Army bashers in Pakistan who with blinkers of corruption, foreign funding, and misplaced self-serving political affinity try to undermine their security forces and intelligence institutions that is tantamount to cutting the branch on which they are sitting.

However, the Pakistan Armed Forces too need to remain cognisant of the fact that 'within the trinity of the People, the Government and the Armed Forces, if forced to make a choice...