DWARIKA PRASAD SHARMA
Shooting the messenger is almost a pastime in Pakistan. The Deep State of that country, as its all-powerful army-ISI combine is known, virtually has a licence to kill without any accountability. Several reporters, who had the gumption to prick the underbelly of that establishment, were eliminated and the ostensible probes that followed were predetermined to be left hanging in the air.
The messenger who is in the line of fire now is Dawn newspaper’s much-regarded reporter and columnist Cyril Almeida. In a story published on 6th October in the widely-read and admired newspaper, Cyril touched the raw nerve of the wider Pakistani establishment when he reported a rift between the civilian government and the Deep State following the surgical strikes by the Indian Army on terrorist launch pads and camps in PoK.
Anything published in Dawn carries weight not only in Pakistan, where it has been a household name for long years, but internationally. The Deep State and the Government of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif have gone overboard trying to belie the hot pursuit strikes by the Indian Army. Islamabad has also been denying that it has been diplomatically isolated in spite of its full-blast campaign to internationally put India in the dock over Kashmir.
Cyril’s report, impeccably sourced, makes several points that are deeply embarrassing to both prima donnas of the Pakistani establishment. The prime prima donna, the Deep State, feels floored by not only being shown up with its knickers down regarding the surgical strikes, but on edge by so much as a suggestion that the civilian government would commit lese majeste by directing it to rein in its strategic asset, the terrorists it uses against India and Afghanistan. As for the civilian complement, the report calls its lies regarding the Indian strikes and on being diplomatically isolated over the terrorism emanating from Pakistan. The reported rift being flashed across the public domain also exposes the civilian government to a possible coup.
Pakistan’s Army Chief Raheel Sharif, who is on the verge of his retirement, is seen to be feeling whittled down by the Indian Army’s action. He is said to be publically popular for his clean image amid the entrepreneurial rapacity of several other generals and the traditional corruption of civil administrators. Nobody ever credited Nawaz Sharif with probity in running his business empire, but the Panama papers expose, listing huge funds stacked abroad by his family members, was a major recent whammy for him. Gen Raheel Sharif, who had begun his career as Army Chief on a quiet note, just as quietly made his way to centre-stage, buoyed by his military successes against “bad” terrorists (while continuing to nurture “good terrorists”-the ones the Pakistani Army considers its strategic asset).
The Deep State has control over matters of security and foreign relations, which it jealously guards. Bonhomie with India has traditionally been anathema to it, unless a ruling general, like Pervez Musharraf, decides on a spot of flirtation to try to refurbish his own global image. His peace formulations, initially revolving around what he called the “core issue” of Kashmir, innovatively moved to “doables first”. He could afford to project himself as innovative vis-a-vis India, as he had good rapport with his commanders, and only later in his ruling stint had put on the mantle of a civilian President.
Before being sworn in as Prime Minister in May 2013, Nawaz Sharif, oozing bonhomie for India, told an Indian reporter: “I will not allow Pakistan to export terror. The army will be on board in bettering ties with India. I am determined to restore the authority of the PM’s Office. The army will report to the PM, who is the boss.” This was destined to be wishful thinking. General Raheel Sharif chose to go to Lahore when he was asked to be present at an urgent Cabinet meeting in Islamabad called to discuss the situation after the Indian surgical strike. In recent days, Nawaz has been spewing venom against India, while eulogising terrorists as heroes. India-bashing is an established survival formula in Pakistan.
(The writer is a senior journalist)
