THE Pakistan Army Thursday took a strong exception to the statements of senior politicians about the military leader
ship and media discussions, asking them once again to refrain from making the Chief of Army Staff’s (COAS) post controversial.
Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Director General (DG) Major General Babar Iftikhar said the position of Chief of the Army Staff was like ‘Centre of gravity’ in the Pakistan Army and unnecessary criticism of him caused a negative impact.
“We have been saying again and again that the Pakistan Army should be kept away from politics,” he remarked, adding that Pak Army has been exercising restraint.
This is for the second time in about a week that the Pakistan Army had to make a call to politicians not to drag the institution in muddy politics and speaks volumes about the resolve of the Army to stay apolitical and instead focus on its professional responsibilities.
In fact, there is consensus among saner segments of the country’s population as well as political parties that defence forces should stay neutral but even then brazen or tacit appeals are made by some political leaders to the institution to play a role that favours their parties’ political objectives, which is highly deplorable.
The leadership of Pakistan Army has taken a welcome decision not to be lured into politics and in fact, the developments of the last one year sends a clear message that this is not rhetoric but commitment of the leadership.
There is no denying the fact that the country is facing serious internal and external security threats and the defence forces need to pay not only focused attention to foil designs of our enemies that are trying to harm security and economic interests of Pakistan but they also need undiluted support of the nation to accomplish this noble task.
The ISPR DG has rightly pointed out that standards for leadership in the Pakistan Army were very high and any criticism of its leadership affects the morale of officers and soldiers, who believe in their command.
Attempts to create divisions in the rank and file of Pakistan Army whether through statements or social media propaganda are, therefore, condemnable and need to be curbed forthwith.
It is also the duty of the media not to ask questions on sensitive issues just for the sake of sensationalizing things at the cost of national unity and reputations of the national institutions.
We also believe that similar thinking should also prevail with respect to the judiciary, Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) and Parliament which also come under constant attack on false presumptions and politically motivated moves.
