The joint sitting of the Parliament could turn out to be a watershed moment in the history of the civil-military relations provided the political leadership of the mainstream parties learns to act with maturity. It was for the first time that the military authorities admitted failures and offered themselves for accountability by parliament or any other forum. Briefing the Parliament amidst sharp questioning and sloganeering, the ISI chief took responsibility for the intelligence failure by not being able to locate OBL and offered to resign if asked by the PM. What is more, the armed forces vowed to implement the security policy formulated by Parliament.
This puts a big burden on Parliament which is now required to take vital decisions that include the re-evaluation of foreign relations, particularly ties with the US. The Parliament is also required to provide guidelines to the army and security agencies, exercise oversight over the security sector and conduct its accountability. The fulfillment of the tasks requires an efficient functioning of the concerned parliamentary committees. Even though the parliamentary session was in camera, the details of the proceedings were almost simultaneously aired by the electronic media which indicates the futility of the culture of secrecy. Parliamentary committees should be empowered to call concerned officials, both civilian and military, and demand comprehensive details of security and defence related issues. The committees should hold regular hearings which should generally be open to the media to create a public ownership of the defence and security policies.
Through a unanimous resolution, the parliament has called on the government to appoint an independent commission on the Abbottabad operation. There is a need on the part of the prime minister and leader of the opposition to move apace on the matter. The parliamentary sitting has sent a positive message to the world regarding unanimity among all political parties to stand united for the sovereignty of the country. Most important, the parliamentary sitting provides an opportunity to establish the supremacy of civilian authority over the armed forces. It is for the political parties to seize the hour by a display of statesmanship.
Credit for this goes definitely to MNS, for taking a bold stand so that whatever is left of our national honor is restored and sanity may prevail. But than these are all good intentions, which will be sacrificed at the altar of self interest. What can we expect of men who have located all their assets, property and children, to countries in Europe and in America. How will they counter the pressure of losing all these assets, if a situation demanded that they stand up to pressures of nations where bulk of their assets are located. It is just not possible that a sovereign self respecting nation can take the risk of giving such responsibilities to such men. All those serving men in civil or khaki services and our political leadership should be cleansed of men who have no stakes in Pakistan. This is why it is dangerous to allow serially corrupt men to hold such public offices especially when they have either foreign residential status, green cards or nationalities for self and/or children.
Comments are closed.