Indian Defence Review

The video of Imaan Mazari of Pakistan lambasting the Pakistani Army and Pakistani Government’s handling of the recent protests by Islamists in Faizabad (https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/pak-politicians-daughter-slams-pak-army/articleshow/61874468.cms), posted by her on Twitter and re-tweeted by social activist Asma Jehangir, was widely watched in Pakistan before it was taken down along with Imaan’s Twitter account, according to Pakistani media. In her forceful video, Imaan says, “Shame on the army. Because Pakistan Army only understands language used by terrorists like Khadim Hussain Rizvi, we should also use the same language and send message to army. Such force should be condemned for funding people who have always tried to promote terrorism in Islamabad and the rest of Pakistan. I condemn the army who disrespects our martyrs (who laid their lives for fighting against terrorism)”.

Imaan also alleged that the Pakistani “army funds terrorists” in the country, saying, “The army funds terrorists for making people’s lives a hell. I again condemn the army as they still don’t understand that supporting terrorism is destroying this country. Pakistan community has now become effigy on the hands of terrorists. They discuss, accept terrorists demand. Is this our country, our community? This force has destroyed this country.”

10 persons were killed and more than 250 injured in clashes in Pakistan as the army and security forces cracked down on Islamist protestors blocking the highway between Islamabad and Rawalpindi for more than three weeks demanding the resignation of Zahid Hamid, Law Minister.

The security forces action was ostensibly after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued contempt of court notice against Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal for failing to implement orders to clear the roads. Some  2000 odd protestors from Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah (TLYR) and the Sunni Tehreek Pakistan (ST)  had been successfully blocking the Islamabad Expressway and Murree Road that connects Islamabad with its only airport and the garrison city of Rawalpindi demanding resignation of law minister Zahid Hamid for changes made in Khatm-i-Nabuwwat or finality of Prophet Muhammad in the Elections Act 2017 passed in September.  During the clashes, protesters also reportedly fired tear gas shells.

The protests later spread from Islamabad to other parts of the country including Karachi, Lahore, Hyderabad, Gujrat, Faislabad and Peshawar, with the protests reportedly spearheaded by Khadim Hussain Rizvi, chief of Tehreek-e-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah, which recently registered as a mainstream political party. Other fundamentalist groups like Tehreek-i-Khatm-i-Nabuwwat and Sunni Tehreek Pakistan also joined in. Pakistan blocked all media channels including social media like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube etc. Media personnel covering the protests across the country were beaten up and a former home minister’s house torched. Eventually, Pakistani Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa talked to PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi  urging peaceful solution to the problem.

Then came the visuals of Pakistani Major General Azhar Navid Hayat, Director General of Punjab Rangers distributing Rs 1000 each to every protester, and endearing them by saying, “Hum Aapke Saath Hain”; implying Pakistani Army is with the Islamists”. Khadim Hussain Rizvi, Tehreek-i-Labaik Ya Rasool Allah chief, later revealed that it was the army which ensured the government met the protesters’ terms; saying, “They (Pakistani army) told us they will get all of our demands accepted.” Zahid Hamid, law minister has resigned but the Pakistani public is appalled by the manner in which the country, particularly the army caved in.

The sight of a major general in uniform pleading with the Islamists would have been particularly galling especially after all the hype that the ISPR has been building up to prop up the Army’s image. Zahid Hussain, in his article ‘Surrendering to mob rule’ published in the Dawn on November 29 wrote, “There has hardly been an instance where the state has capitulated so humiliatingly to a group of extremists holding the nation’s capital hostage. The six-point agreement brokered by the military leadership is virtually a document of surrender. A beleaguered civilian administration has signed on the dotted line conceding all the demands of clerics named in what is described as the Fourth Schedule of the police department, or the extremist watch list”.

Given the prevailing environment in Pakistan, Imaan is lucky to be alive after openly denouncing the army. Had she not been the daughter of Shireen  Mehrunnisa Mazari, Pakistani politician who is member of national assembly of Pakistan and chief whip for Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaf, she would have probably been abducted, raped and killed by now.

Shireen Mazari has promptly tweeted, “I want to make it absolutely clear that I do not share the views my daughter Imaan expressed in the video she posted on Twitter. I also strongly condemn the language she has used against the armed forces. I love my daughter but totally disagree with her views and the language used,” adding, “She is an adult and has her own viewpoint and I have an equal right to oppose that viewpoint.” Not that Shireen Mazari has anything to fear for herself. Shireen Mazari had earlier headed the Pakistan-funded Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad from 2001 to 2009, later becoming the editor of ‘The Nation’.

She joined the Tehreek-e-Insaf in 2006 and was elected to the National assembly from Punjab in 2013. As Director General of Pakistan’s Institute of Strategic Studies, Shireen Mazari along with Lt Gen Javed Hassan, Commandant, National Defence College, Pakistan attended the  Regional Conference on Security held in Bangladesh in 2001, where both propagated low intensity conflict, guerilla warfare and indirect intervention as more viable options of modern day – including using psychological warfare, terror and subversion.

Even as Naveed Mukhtar, Pakistan’s DG ISI is lying blatantly that Pakistan will continue to “support Afghanistan” in its war against terrorism, General John Nicholson, heading US and NATO Forces in Afghanistan stated on November 28 that he has not seen a change in Pakistan’s support for militants so far. Earlier this year, he had pointedly stated that the Taliban and Haqqani Network leaders enjoyed “freedom of actions” in safe havens in Pakistan. Handling of the recent protests in Pakistan was clearly capitulation by the civilian authorities under pressure from the military. Interestingly, there were lukewarm comments by the Trump administration in saying, “We have seen unhelpful relationships between the military and some of the hardline Islamist parties. We are observing what happened and what role was played by the military? There is concern that the way these protests ended in a way has emboldened extremism and extremists in Pakistan.”

There never was any ambiguity that the military rules Pakistan (whether directly or indirectly) and is inexorably linked to and support the Islamists.  Involvement of Pakistani military undertaking terrorist attacks inside Afghanistan, targeting Afghan and US-NATO forces is periodically reported by Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security. As far back as 2007, the SAS had killed a Taliban commander in Helmand province of Afghanistan – identified as Pakistani military by the identity card found on his body. Britain’s refusal to make the incident public even led to a row with the then Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

In 2016, Afghan security forces killed Pakistan General Nida Mohammad, head of Taliban’s military branch for the Provinces of Faryab, Badghis, Sar-e-Pul and Ghor in northern Afghanistan. With Pakistan having trained three Mujahid battalions in 2012-2013 to operate covertly in conjunction Taliban, Pakistani involvement in Afghanistan is perhaps at par, if not more, of the weak division supporting Taliban during the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan. Yet a constituency in Capital Hill still wants US aid and support to Pakistan to continue, stipulations being not of much consequences.

The $10 million price on Hafiz Saeed though much publicized is only to provide information about the involvement of this radical mullah in 26/11 like terrorist attacks. But, with David Headley (Pakistani national in American custody) and his testimonials, what other proof does the US need? But then the CIA, with Britain’s MI6 in tow, continue to  play their own double games.

With concerted efforts by the Pakistani military to radicalize the population at large, their handling of the recent protests is hardly surprising. The Pakistani army while riding the Islamist tiger also realizes the need to cover its backside; an audacious assault on the army’s headquarters in Rawalpindi in 2010 was particularly worrisome: The attackers came within a few hundred feet of army chief Ashfaq Kayani’s personal office, and were aided by army conspirators (http://www.matthewaid.com/post/68451720695/general-ashfaq-parvez-kayani-and-his-legacy-as-isi). So, peace with Islamists are perhaps considered essential, especially this time when the core region of Punjab also getting agitated. The Chinese too may have had a hand in this, with possibility of the CPEC getting heated. After all the ‘CPEC Division’ in the ISI could not have been established without China demanding it.

The Pakistani military and terrorist organizations have common manpower base. Politicians like Imran Khan have come up with Islamists support; very reason why a radical like Shireen Mazari happily joined his political party. Two years back she was propagating that the Taliban should build the capability to strike beyond the borders of Afghanistan to interdict the International North-South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) linking Iran-Central-Asia and beyond.

The Pakistani military is presently engaged in propping up the likes of Hafiz Saeed on the political stage. His release may have been on recommendations of  Xi Jinping’s, timed with Ivanka Trump leading the US delegation to India for GES 2017. With Hafiz Saeed announcing he intends to contest the next general elections in Pakistan, China will be thrilled if Saeed gets elected as the next Prime Minister of Pakistan.

This should not be surprising considering how China had positioned its protégé Prachanda as Prime Minister of Nepal. With a radicalized military already in its pocket, China can then threaten the US and its allies through rogue Pakistan far more dangerously than through North Korea. At the same time, politics being the game of power and money, propping up one Islamist will cause fissures within the Islamists in Pakistan. This would cause greater instability in Pakistan, with ISIS and Uyghur cadres returning from Syria-Iraq adding to the chaos.