Dr Muhammad Khan
THERE is a sudden rise in the campaign of politicisation of Pakistani Military at the level of various political force, several non-state actors and social groups. These groups make use of main stream as well as the social media for their disinformation campaigns to defame and politicise Pak Army and its premium intelligence agency in particular. It appears that this politicisation of Pakistani military is part of a larger agenda which may prove very dangerous against this organized, professional, popular and loved institution of Pakistan. This campaign of politicisation of Pakistani military has two dimensions; the domestic and external dimensions. Domestically, the politicization of Pak Army aims at defamation of this institution, since it draw its strength from the masses of Pakistan. This intimate bond and devoted connection is the real area of concern for the rival power (s) of Pakistan. The foes of Pakistan therefore have chosen to target this intimate relationship in phase one of their larger anti-Pakistan agenda. During this phase, the planners would like to create differences between masses and Pak Army through indirect strategy of defamation while negatively agitating the sentiments of masses and creating abhorrence against the institution of military.
Indeed, no external power can succeed in overpowering Pakistan in the presence of a strong and professional military which enjoys the unswerving, resilient and a dedicate support from people of Pakistan. The enemies of Pakistan had tried it many a time, last being the global war against terrorism. The intimacy and strong association between Pak Army and the masses enabled the former (Army) to combat, defeat and dig-out the roots of this internationally sponsored terrorism against state and society of Pakistan. Seeing the intensity of this internationally sponsored terrorism against Pakistan, it was assumed that, Pakistan would meet the fate of Iraq, Libya and Syria. Nevertheless, armed forces of Pakistan crushed these terrorists and their backers and abettors. This annoyed the planners and compelled them to diversify their strategies against Pakistan. Indeed, this all was done while the nation stood at the back of its armed forces. A critical analysis of war against terrorism would reveal that, it was an internationally sponsored campaign against Pakistan and its highly professional military. At domestic front the Pakistani military had to confront many zones of conflict: the sub-nationalist in Province of Balochistan, the hardliner and so-called religious groups like TTP in former FATA, KP and rest of the country. There were many other splinter groups that attacked directly and indirectly while supporting the TTP. Besides, militants from Afghanistan who frequently crossed over Pak-Afghan border to attack military posts and innocent people deep into Pakistani territory.
It is worth mentioning that, NATO and US forces have also attacked the border posts like Salala and Afghan National Army has also targeted the border post of Pakistan. Despite limited resources and being over stretched, Pak Army neutralized all; the terrorist outfits like TTP, the sub-nationalists, foreign forces, the terrorists launched from Afghan soil and above all busted the terrorist networks established by spying agencies of neighbouring countries and international players. While debating the external dimension of targeting Pakistan and its military, it appears that after having failed in their strategies and efforts of weakening the Pakistani Military through direct approach, the international spying network have adopted indirect strategy to weaken the Pakistani military. They assume that, after weakening the Military, there will no force to resist the international and regional forces to ruin Pakistan, the way it happened with Iraq and Libya. Defamation and politicization of Pakistani Military is an indirect approach to devastate Pakistan in a future scenario. It is a strategy of war, used by ancient military strategists like; Carl Von Clausewitz (Prussian General and military theorist) and Sun Tzu (Chinese General and military strategist). These strategists and many others have advised their governments to formulate strategies to defeat your enemy from within. Defeating the enemies from within have many elucidations; creating fault lines, causing split, defamation and humiliation, hatching plots and conspiracies, politicization of key institutions and causing hatred against institutions of national security.
This write-up primarily aims at creating a sense of awareness against the global and regional plots which aim to weaken Pakistan through an indirect approach of targeting its military. Since all other strategies to weaken and defeat the military have failed over the years, the spying networks of rival powers have resorted to invest on those elements who can politicize and defame the military at home. Politicization and defamation of military would further leads towards creation of sense of demoralization among the fighting outfits. It is to be noted that, Pakistani military is among the top few militaries of the world from the perspective of professionalism, bravery and dedication. The theme of this article is; let’s not allow defamation and politicization of Pakistani military. It is hard to imagine the challenges and hardships the military men face while confronting the enemies of various categories; conventional and unconventional, kinetic and non-kinetic and above all the threats of hybrid warfare. In the line of their duties, the Pakistani military men have only one objective in their mind; we awake to guard the geographical frontiers while our nation sleeps with comfort. So, let’s pay homage to those who sacrifice their lives for the future of this nation and indeed every Pakistani.
— The writer is Professor of Politics and IR at International Islamic University, Islamabad.
