A chronicle of the known unknowns

Newsgate, rumours, allegations and the departing Chief

The government had a full plate hence couldn’t afford scooping more when, out of nowhere, Cyril Almeida contributed “Act against militants or face international isolation, civilians tell military” for the daily Dawn on Oct 07, 2016. Was it an Op-ed? Definitely wasn’t. Beyond any doubt it was a news item – but Cyril is a columnist and not a reporter. So what? After all, the fame famished journo got a hand on an exclusive thrilling scoop, so how could he let it go?

My trigger-happy friend – without evaluating the stuff (and the consequences) – just went for it and then what happened in the initial one week was, I am sure, no less than a nightmare for the poor fellow. The paper that exploited every strategy to defend their columnist (and the story) soon felt the quicksand under its feet; hence opted to retreat unobtrusively, before getting bogged.

We all agree to one hard fact: that this leakage or plantation had a disastrous effect on the forces’ reputation as it conveyed the same narrative which was being frequently repeated by our enemies. Regrettably, it gave a severe nudge to the general public so it was not surprising when we heard the voices in favour of Khakis and against the government. The Army, too, expressed its rage and fury over the nefarious attempt by well known “unknowns” and at a point it appeared that the army would not agree to anything less than the scalps of those “unknowns”. The analytical views by the media anchors and analysts were clearly vouching the point. The seismic shocks kept the political atmosphere of the country shaking for quite some time.

Regrettably, people started feeling that the time was running out. Even an insignificant decision in the forces is based on the time & space factor. Everyone was agitated and clueless; not aware as to what was going on behind closed doors. One fine morning, the government offered the sacrifice of her Information Minister. Was that accepted? It’s really not known. The Interior Minister, while trying to cool down the public emotions, expressed his respect for the forces, showing his martial lineage by claiming to be the grandson of a soldier. What he forgot that it’s time for “granddaughters” to take throne while grandsons are trending merely to be thrown.

Another thing which Ch. Nisar forgot, that despite being assigned an important ministry, he is neither very popular with the ruling family, nor trusted. And governments often use such conferences by their ministers and advisors to provide their stance on particular issues. A few months back through Sartaj Aziz’s confession about allowing the Afghan Taliban’s leadership to live in Pakistan, two birds were hit with one stone; highlight issues obstructing better ties with India, the US, and Afghanistan and burden the army with international pressure. At another time a private channel was made full In-charge to wedge a war against the ISI and army but when found tables turning then siding with the army in public and a faint ban on the channel was opted; an action nothing more than slapping on a wrist.

Disturbingly, there were frequent meetings of government’s representatives with Pindi people – and amidst those, the media also started revealing not only the details about the culprits but also started alleging that the PM’s family was also involved. It is not known as to how far this is true – however, the ever vigilant moles claimed that irrefutable details in this regard were handed over to the prime minister by none other than General Raheel himself.

Dawn’s Cyril Almeida was the latest pawn of the government’s dangerous game with the army. It is very clear that the Dawn story simply could not have been written or corroborated without very highly-placed sources in the civilian government. Nevertheless, the reluctance to directly confront the military forced the civilian government to publicly deprecate the Dawn story as “fabricated” and to vow a “stern action” against Almeida and the newspaper. Although by doing so the PML-N has invited opprobrium but also successfully redirected attention from its risky campaign to reclaim power from the army.

It is the talk of the town that PML-N has an issue with the genuine popularity of retiring army Chief General Raheel Sharif. Nevertheless, the issue was not between the COAS and the PM, certainly not, hence it was the grievance of country’s most sensitive security organ named armed forces and not of some individual.

The committee was announced – amidst suspicions and doubts – and it held a meeting too. Majority of political parties rejected its formation, alleging it to be a biased and non serious composition. A retired judge with visible inclination towards the ruling family and the government, a few unwelcomed bureaucrats and a (not required) FIA representative made it up. What is this? Is the government (and interior minister) serious in finding out the (already known) culprits? On a side note, the ISPR is also strangely quiet and has restricted itself to playing tweeting, tweeting only. But one fails to understand what has made the interior minister and the government think that with the graceful departure of the COAS, the “Newsgate” will also go into the dusty drawers. One dares to remind them again, that one is grossly mistaken if thinking that the tussle is between the PM and the COAS – because that is not the case. The corps commanders’ concern and communiqué should never be taken lightly. (If) the current chief goes, then his successor will have to satisfy his subordinates with reasons and logic. The beauty of the game is that the drama will resume right from where it paused in the interval.

I hope that the government is not frightened. Nevertheless, if they think that the game is almost over and the king and pawn are about to go back into the same box, then they are seriously mistaken. The situatio reminds me of a famous Bollywood dialogue, “Picture abhi baqi hae meray dost” (The movie hasn’t finished yet, my friend).