A Leaf Out of Old Pak Army Playbook?

It was long apprehended by peace activists in Pakistan. Now, it has happened—a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir.

- Ashis Ray

ISLAMABAD:

Well-meaning elements in Pakistan were on tenterhooks when the secessionist Baloch Liberation Army last month attacked the Jaffar Express, killing dozens. At the time, the Pakistani ministry of foreign affairs (MOFA), without specifically blaming India for the incident, accused it of "sponsoring" terrorism in Pakistan. The peaceniks were worried Pakistan might retaliate, thereby triggering a spiral of tit-for-tat. They hoped that Pakistani chief of army staff (COAS), General Asim Munir, going ballistic in a recent speech would be the response. That hope was belied on Tuesday.

But why did Munir suddenly go off on a tangent with a volley of hostility towards India? And what can be made of the strike in Kashmir, the worst in years?

Salman Raja, the lawyer of ousted Pakistani PM Imran Khan, contended, "His continued incarceration is fuelling public anger and alienation."

Over the years, the Pakistani public's support for their army has waxed and waned. It dipped after its failure in the 1965 war with India, plummeted after its humiliating surrender to the Indian Army in 1971. Extended dictatorships under General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf also eventually disillusioned Pakistanis. By and large, though, the army has over the years managed to persuade its people that it is their all-weather protector.

The Pakistan Muslim League's Nawaz Sharif, as prime minister, attempted to prune the army's powers, but without success. However, the confrontation between the army and Imran Khan, leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), who is now in jail, could have caused an erosion in Pakistanis' goodwill towards their army; and its General Headquarters (GHQ) seem to be struggling to combat this slippage.

Indeed, the development has been seen in some academic, media and political circles in Islamabad as a reason for Munir's surprisingly sharp rhetoric—an attempt, in other words, to regain favourable public ratings.