He was, and is, an impressive man. The retired Lt General Tariq is a man whose very voice can inspire those serving under him. And he was no paper tiger. At least no “not paper tiger” by the army brass’s standards. Yes, he’s commanded operations in the war against terror in South Waziristan. Then, as the chief of the Frontier Corps, he led the operation in clearing Bajaur of the Taliban. He commanded the important Mangla Corps. Was also our man in CENTCOM, up in the US.
Back in his FC days, the then Major General did the most press of his career, where he was a stark contrast from the other senior officers. He was always articulate and ready with an answer that seemed he had given thought to beforehand.
Back when General Kayani’s successor was being chosen, he was one of the generals in the running. And many were of the view that he would be the ideal choice in more ways than one. That he was the smartest of the lot, that he was battle-hardened in the war against terror and that he had extensive, effective interaction with the Americans, which is a significant part of what an army chief is to be doing in the current geopolitical climate.
Yes, the boy from Tank (not a pun here, this armoured corps officer belongs to the KP town) was his comrades’ best foot forward.
Well, the problem, as can be depressingly seen in his two-part interview with Rana Mubasher on Aaj TV, is that even the best foot forward is a bit of a loony.
http://www.zemtv.com/2017/11/06/aaj-rana-mubashir-kay-saath-6th-november-2017/
http://www.zemtv.com/2017/11/07/aaj-rana-mubashir-kay-saath-7th-november-2017/
Some minutes into the interview, one can see that the fellow has taken those forwarded-as-received Whatsapp messages from batchmates way too seriously. The man wants a technocratic government. Now, we all know what that term is code for. And the general is also savvy enough to realise that. I know people will criticise me when I say this, he repeated again and again. But I do not mean a military government, he said. No, not at all. Just a cabinet of experts that is vetted by the intelligence agencies (no, not just the military’s intelligence agencies, not at all). And then, the general says, when that government has fixed the problems of the country, we could go for free and fair elections after some years.
The entire interview was peppered with clarifications that he was not saying what he was saying. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, then one can throw caution to the wind and go ahead and call it a duck.
The description that the good general gave certainly sounded like an interruption in the democratic process to make way for the deep state. Anchor Rana Mubasher, himself not the sharpest tool in the shed (though a tool, nonetheless) kept on asking how the proposed set up is going to be brought, egging Khan to say the military, but the latter was wary of saying that the military should bring in the new set up. But was saying it throughout the interview nonetheless.
The general was also peppering his statements with “if you call this democracy.” That is the classic line to take, specially by usurpers in Pakistan. Whereas the European fascists of yore were unapologetically fascistic, dictators and their supporters in our neck of the woods always talk about dismantling the system and install “true democracy.”
Unless democracy spills over to fascism, with the suspension of judicial activity and civil rights, and the electoral process is also scuttled, then democracy, irrespective of how ugly we might think it looks, is the only way forward; God knows we have tried – unwillingly – what the general is suggesting, in the past. If we haven’t even figured this out by 2017, then some institutions haven’t moved much, have they?
Post-script: For the Media Watch column, we have often titled program reviews as “If you see one thing this week.” I think this makes the cut. This is an odd choice for that, you might say. That the general is just another retired general and he figures nowhere in the scheme of things, you might add. True, but use this as a learning tool. From this interview of a thinking man, a fine officer, we can learn how the rest of his former colleagues (retired and serving) think.
It would be much uglier, what the rest think. Wanting military rule would only be the basic step. Some of them would probably be clandestine members of organisations with names like Al Andalus, who would want the Pakistani government to invade Spain.
