Significance of the US trip
General Raheel Sharif has proved himself quite the professional soldier. First, his no nonsense attitude to the insurgency was appreciated by all – except, perhaps, a small constituency inside Pakistan. Then, at the height of the dharna deadlock, he refused to dignify ‘third umpire’ calls and kept the army at a respectable distance. He also kept silent for most of Gen Musharraf’s trial, despite the provocative belligerence of certain government ministers. And now, in the US, he has played a crucial role in restoring Pakistan’s credibility and improving Pak-US ties.
It didn’t help, of course, that the prime minister’s national security and foreign policy advisor muddied the waters by falling back on the (now discarded) good Taliban policy on BBC (Urdu). That Gen Raheel put his foot down, with authority, on that matter too played a significant role in proceedings in Washington. And that the army had to, once again, put right what the politicians spoiled was the government’s own fault. Surely Sartaj Aziz did not make the remark without thinking. And surely the foreign office could have lost less credibility by adopting a less flawed response. But the state department had taken notice, and a more forceful rebuttal was called for.
For the moment, at least, Washington seems OK with the “terrorists of all hues and colours” narrative, which is significant. However, how indiscriminate Zarb-e-Azb turns out will become clearer only when the operation moves down from the badlands, and confronts the terrorism monster in the big cities – especially the lashkars and jaishes who have made political inroads in addition to running their sectarian militias. Gen Sharif also claimed that Da’ish (Islamic State) would not be allowed to strike roots in Pakistan. While it is likely that the anti-terror operation would leave little room for fresh forces to organise, it must be noted that the terrorist outfit has displayed remarkable resilience of late. And it’s not as if it is not trying to spread its tentacles in Pakistan. The army must nip this evil in the bud, something their chief no doubt realises. And now that NW is 90 per cent secure, the time to live up to some of these claims will present itself soon enough.