Taking all positions
One can analyse the prime minister’s flip-flops on his stand against the military depending on which point of the political spectrum one stands. It could be interpreted, for instance, by pro-government circles that in this eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation, the other guy blinked. And, truth be told, the military high command actually was said to have been taken by surprise by the normally cool prime minister’s strong words. It prompted the army chief to come out with a statement rubbishing talk of a possible military coup.
The flip-flop could also be construed, by others, as inconsistency and part of an irritating trend on behalf of the incumbent government to be happy with whatever they can get. Their immense capacity to accept anything as long as they can get out of whatever very immediate crisis they would be at a point in time has long been criticised by analysts.
Another interpretation, by pro-military commenters, has been that of admonition on his earlier statement. Settle your disputes within the country, say these usual suspects, but don’t wash your linen in international public. The context: the premier’s rhetorical question about where the world’s most hunted man got a visa to stay in Pakistan from. This, say this lot, has the potential to bite the country later on.
Of course, no one would find it easy to believe the premier’s side of it. That his talk of their being a state within a state was not directed towards the military but his defence ministry. Not many takers, either, for his spiel that he had to convince and cajole the army and ISI chiefs to accept their extension contracts. But such hardly plausible spin seems to the currency of anyone in politics in the country.
If the prime minister genuinely felt the need for a rapprochement with the military, more power to him; no need for any unnecessary muscle-flexing at this rather sensitive time in our history. As long as the impulse to preserve the government and provide a united front internationally doesn’t take away from the larger, long term goal of correcting the civil-military imbalance in the country.