Facts and fiction, Zahid Hussain

Facts and fiction, Zahid Hussain

LIES and deception have often been used to cover up blunders, conspiracies and military misadventures spanning Pakistan’s 70-year history. Facts are hidden from the nation though known otherwise. Failure is celebrated as victory. As a result we could never learn from our mistakes and wrongdoings.

What happened in the 1965 war and the causes behind the dismemberment of the country in 1971 have not been acknowledged publicly. Mystery continues to shroud the presence of Osama bin Laden in a high-security garrison town and the raid on his hideout by the US forces in May 2011.

Enquiry commission reports on all these incidents have been consigned to the back room in the name of national security. More shocking is the fact that some of these reports were leaked through foreign sources, though they may still not depict the whole truth.

This situation has caused a widening trust deficit between the public and the authorities. Unsurprisingly, the people tend to believe the foreign publications on the issue, however unrealistic they may be. So sensitive have the security agencies become that even public debate on these issues is seen as breach of national security.

A new book offers illuminating details about the Kargil fiasco.

The Kargil military misadventure is one such event that has not been fully probed largely because of the same reason. The incursion that embroiled Pakistan in serious military and diplomatic embarrassment and ultimately led to yet another military coup has only been discussed and examined in a civil versus military binary.

But a new and well-researched book From Kargil to Coup authored by veteran journalist Nasim Zehra has examined the fiasco in great detail. Chronicling how the entire Kargil operation was conceived and carried out, it also analyses in a historical context the India-Pakistan conflict over Kashmir that has led to three wars between the two nuclear-armed nations.

Indeed the misadventure exposed the civil- military gap, but that was only one aspect of the story. The real issue was how a coterie of generals could bring the country to the brink of a nuclear conflagration. So much so that even the senior military leadership was unaware of the operation until things started unravelling.

The Kargil clique, as the author described the “group of four top generals” who later usurped power overthrowing the elected government, declared it a brilliant strategic move that failed to achieve its objective because of “spineless” civilian leadership. The book has assumed greater significance because the Kargil issue had not even been discussed or critically examined at various military forums.

From Kargil to Coup confirms that the civilian leadership was never taken into confidence on the operation, leave aside getting its approval that is legally required. It was in May 1999, almost six months after the start of the operation, that the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and the Defence Committee of the Cabinet was given a full briefing by the military leadership about it. By then, the incursion had already become known. “This was near identical replay of the operation Gibraltar with the only difference that in Kargil the civilian and military leadership were not on the same page,” the book points out. Operation Gibraltar was the code name for the incursion into Kashmir that led to the 1965 war.

The Kargil operation, code-named operation Koh-e-Paima, was launched a year after both India and Pakistan conducted nuclear tests that made them nuclear weapon states. The secret operation led by the then army chief General Pervez Musharraf was based on the assumption that the control of strategic peaks overlooking the main highway that worked as a supply line to the Indian forces in Siachen could force New Delhi to come to the negotiating table.

According to the author, the decision to go ahead with the operation was based on several factors that included drawing international attention to the Kashmir issue. “The clique of generals was confident about achieving its objectives.” Contrary to the calculation the operation turned into a fiasco. Pakistan was forced to pull out without any preconditions. In fact, the Kargil misadventure dealt a huge blow to the Kashmir cause, with Pakistan losing support of the international community on the issue.

Inevitably, the operation further intensified civil-military tension, resulting in the military coup by the same Kargil clique. Understandably, no enquiry could be conducted into the debacle that cost the country hugely. The book provides much needed information on the secret military operation that has been missing from the public debate.

Its objectivity and non-binary approach has earned the publication positive response. However, another book that also came out last week has evoked intense reaction from the security agencies and political leaders.

The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI, and the Illusion of Peace, co-authored by former ISI chief retired Lt Gen Asad Durrani and A.S. Dulat, former chief of India’s premier intelligence agency RAW, was launched last week in India. The book contains remarks by the former Pakistani spymaster on some of the issues obstructing peace efforts between the two South Asian neighbours.

General Durrani, who is also a central character in the infamous Asghar Khan case, is barred from leaving the country as he faces inquiry for potential violation of the military code of conduct. What has probably angered the military most are his comments that the Pakistani military leadership may have had prior information about the US raid on Bin Laden’s residence.

One may agree that because of his sensitive position the general should have been more discreet in his remarks, but there is nothing he has said that has not been written about before. The reaction reflects the narrow-minded perception of the military about national security. Even a former general is not spared. General Durrani has certainly not revealed any state secrets and the travel restriction on him appears extremely harsh. What is most interesting is that some other senior military officers, including former military ruler Gen Musharraf, have written much more candidly. An open debate on our mistakes and bungles can only strengthen the state, not weaken it.

The writer is an author and journalist.

zhussain100@yahoo.com

Twitter: @hidhussain

Published in Dawn, May 30th, 2018

For FATA residents the good news may be short lived, Marvi Sirmed

For FATA residents the good news may be short lived

Marvi Sirmed  MAY 29, 2018

After the passage of the 31st Constitutional Amendment from both the houses of the Parliament as well as by the provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the merger of FATA with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa awaited just the assent of the President of Pakistan. On Monday, the President did put his signatures on a key piece of legislation, but it wasn’t the 31st Constitutional Amendment Act. Instead, the President signed a questionable FATA Interim Governance Regulation of 2018.

The draft of the Regulation, a copy of which is available with Daily Times, seems to be old wine in a new bottle. Differences in the draft from the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) it stands to replace are conspicuous by their absence. Infact, in some places, the Regulation puts the FCR to shame with the kind of draconian measures proposed in it.

The 15-page document starts with a statement of objective, which is ‘to provide for an interim system of administration of justice, maintenance of peace and good governance in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and repeal of the Frontier Crimes Regulation, 1901’. This good intention is very soon lost as the text enters a very familiar, and a very dark territory.

The Regulation converts the office of the Political Agent, that Tzar of FATA, into that of the Deputy Commissioner. The Additional Political Agent becomes the Additional Deputy Commissioner, and the Assistant Political Agent gets renamed as the Assistant Commissioner.

The tribal agencies get replaced by tribal districts and the frontier regions are made sub-divisions.

The Regulation continues to maintain the institution of the jirga as the Council of Elders and as the Qaumi Jirga, just like FCR. Also, like FCR, too much discretion has been put at the disposal of the Deputy Commissioner and the Assistant Commissioner (who would also act as a judge in criminal cases, when designated by the Governor).

Another draconian aspect of the Regulation is the precedence it gives to the so-called ‘rewaj’ or local customs, to be determined by the Council of Elders. If history is to bear witness, it is clear that such customs have almost always worked against the interests of women and the poor. Whatever respite women might have anticipated in the wake of the passage of the 31st Constitutional Amendment, has been instantly evaporated after the signing of the Regulation.

Another worrying provision of the Regulation entails the negation of any jurisdiction of any civil court of the country to call in question anything being done in the region. This also goes against the spirit of the merger, whereby the judicial and law enforcement mechanism has to extend to FATA immediately.

The requirement of time till such an extension may practically be possible owing to the establishment of the required infrastructure is understandable, but this kind of absolute blackout will stop the momentum of transition, if the state has chalked out any roadmap to follow.

The extension of the High Court and the Supreme Court jurisdiction, or even provision for the right to appeal to the higher courts, is nowhere to be found in the Regulation. In fact, the two-page long Supreme Court and High Court (Extension of Jurisdiction to Federally Administered Tribal Areas) Act 2018 does not mandate any state authority to specify any roadmap for the extension of jurisdiction. Instead, under its provisions, the judiciary cannot extend its powers and establish its structures until the government notifies the higher judiciary to do so, that too, in selected areas from time to time, not in the entire region merged with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Another ridiculous and discriminatory provision of the Regulation entails prohibition of establishment of new hamlets, village-habitations, towers or walled enclosures on the frontiers of the country, without the prior permission of the Deputy Commissioner. The Governor has the power to order relocation of villages and settlements situated in close proximity of the border.

The President has signed the Regulation under Article 247 of the Constitution which, he must be fully aware, stands repealed by both the Houses of the Parliament and the Provincial Assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 2/3rd majority. Technically, the repeal will not take effect until the assent of the President, who has ensured that he will sign the 31st Constitutional Amendment Bill after the Regulation.

Speaking to Daily Times, an official in Ministry of Law and Justice said that the PMLN government had probably enacted the Regulation ‘in good faith’ to prevent a governance vacuum in the region. However, the government could have proceeded with the Regulation after debating it in the elected legislative houses. This way, it could have avoided the vacuum while taking elected representatives of the Pakistani people on board its proposals for the interim setup.

The timing of these developments is especially curious since the dissolution of federal and provincial legislatures is just four days away, and the provincial assembly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has already been prorogued, while the National Assembly has adjourned its sitting on Monday, with its prorogation date probably just 48 hours away.

Commenting on the matter, Afrasiyab Khattak, a senior leader of the Awami National Party, said that it was unfortunate that the government did not deem it necessary to discuss the Regulation with opposition parties or debate it in the Parliament. He said the Regulation was FCR reincarnated, and it had the bureaucracy’s imprints all over the document.

Farhatullah Babar, a senior leader of Pakistan Peoples Party, agreed and said that bureaucrats had drafted the Regulation ‘in the darkness of the night without discussion and debate’. He said the draft regulation was kept secret from everyone, adding that those who managed to secure its copies did so through informal channels.

“On the one hand, the president is correctly divested of all executive and legislative powers with respect to FATA, and on the other, the executive has itself assumed powers to legislate the interim regulation,” Babar lamented, as he pointed out the contradiction in the matter.

He said that the political parties and the civil society should demand that the interim regulation be placed before the Parliament for discussion before its approval. But if the government does not table the Regulation before the House for debate in the next two days, this won’t be possible until the new Assembly is elected on July 25.

Further, Babar emphasised that being an extraordinary legislation like military courts, the Regulation should have a sunset clause in it. “If it is promulgated in its present form, we should take it to the Supreme Court on the touchstone of violations of fundamental rights,” he said, adding that since Article 247 had been struck down by the Parliament, the Regulation could be easily challenged before the SC. “A rigorous judicial oversight and heated parliamentary debate will put some fear in bureaucracy and blunt its sharp edges”, he added.

The Regulation is also significant in the backdrop of the summer offensive in Afghanistan as announced by the Taliban. The inability to extend the jurisdiction of law enforcement machinery as well as of the judiciary will go to the advantage of militants who have already intensified their activities in areas within Waziristan and other ‘tribal districts’. These militants have not only increased targeted killings of civilians but also the attacks on the armed forces of Pakistan.

Published in Daily Times, May 29^th 2018.