Why the put up or shut up calls to Zardari?

President Asif Ali Zardari’s attack on his unnamed enemies has raised many eyebrows and caused apprehensions about a possible repeat of October 12, 1999 when the then prime minister had sacked the Army chief.

who in return conducted a successful military coup by dismissing the elected government.

The presidential spokesman, however, does not see any such thing happening. “There is no such possibility,” Farhatullah Babar told The News, adding the PPP government does not apprehend any such thing.

President Asif Ali Zardari’s speech in Naudero on the second death anniversary of Benazir Bhutto has stirred a countrywide debate over the targets of his hostility. He did not mention in clear words whether it was the Army, the media or the opposition that was threatening democracy. Many, however, see it as a subtle attack on the Army after the reports pouring out of the Presidency suggest Zardari’s growing negativity about the establishment.

A senior columnist and political observer, while talking to this correspondent, feared as to what would happen if President Zardari makes an announcement about key changes in the military in a public meeting like the one he addressed in Naudero. Though the president’s spokesman finds it a hypothetical “concern” and simply ruled it out, the question does agitate many minds.

Without identifying the enemies of democracy and those accused of trying to destabilise the democratic set-up, President Zardari has furthered the conspiracy theories instead of removing confusion about those threatening his government. Farhatullah Babar repeated that the president’s target was neither the Army nor the media but the anti-Bhutto forces, which too were not identified. Babar said that the president made a political speech that had the required tone and tenor meant for the PPP followers.

Credible sources recently confirmed, although the presidency has denied, the president’s growing mistrust vis-‡-vis the top military leadership. In the absence of any clear explanation from the president, such behaviour on part of Zardari is incomprehensible.

Although October 12, 1999 events were the outcome of the known mistrust between the then prime minister and the Army chief following the Kargil adventure of General Musharraf, in the present scenario the incumbent Army chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, is widely respected for his professionalism and pro-democracy stance. General Kayani is not only highly popular within the Army but is also admired by political parties for the excellent role that he had played during the last year’s general elections and later on the occasion of the judges’ restoration.

In a situation when the Army as an institution has regained its respect and there is absolutely no sign of the military’s attempt to destabilise the democratic set-up, any effort by the president to make key changes in the Army top command would be extremely dangerous for the system. Last year, the government’s abrupt shifting of the ISI under the Interior Ministry was unacceptable to all and sundry, including the media, which resulted into the immediate cancellation of the government’s notification.

Perhaps foreseeing the dangers ahead, different views were being expressed in the media as a reaction to the president’s speech such as, “There are only so many possibilities about where the threat Mr Zardari keeps referring to can come from. With his public comments, Mr Zardari may in fact be alarming the persons in those institutions that they could be the target of impending attacks themselves and, therefore, need to strike before they are struck against. Our advice: put up or shut up. The president is supposed to be a symbol of the federation, a unifying force rather than a hyper-partisan figure fuelling conspiracy theories. More presidential, less political – that’s what the county needs from Mr Zardari.”

Ansar Abassi

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on Dec 30 2009. Filed under Editorials, Local. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry