Imran meets COAS

Why should political leaders try to cultivate personal relations with COAS?

The unannounced visit paid by the PTI chief to the COAS might have gone unnoticed had DG ISPR not tweeted about it leading to conjectures of all sorts on the social media.

It is an unfortunate trend in the political parties to approach the army while they are fighting one another tooth and claw. What disturbs one is that both the parties in power and the opposition do this. And it is alarming that the army leaders are not unwilling to play ball. In 2014 instead of acceding to the PTI’s demand for ordering a recount in a handful of constituencies, which the government ultimately had to do, the PML-N let the confrontation snowball. Finally losing hope, Prime Minister Sharif asked the COAS to play a facilitating role for resolution of the impasse. Ironically after the subsequent meeting between former Gen Raheel Sharif and the PTI and PAT chiefs, the two leaders decided to up the ante.

The PML-N again failed to learn any lesson. It was impolitic on the part of Maryam Nawaz to tweet soon after the induction of the new COAS and CJ. “There’s an end to every storm. Once all the trees have been uprooted, once all the houses have been ripped apart” This led to hints and insinuations that politics had something to do with the new appointments. These were used by Imran Khan to cast doubts about the choice being on merit.

In a democracy it is unusual on the part of a political leader to call on a COAS to congratulate him on his appointment. Also unusual for a COAS to spend an hour with him discussing, as claimed by PTI’s media cell, issues of national integrity, security and conditions prevailing in the region. A more useful and uncontroversial way is for the army to put its views before the proper parliamentary committees when called upon to do so. The politicians would do well to let the army chief spend all the time he has to focus on the army’s professional affairs.