Recently, Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) General Raheel Sharif became the first Asian to receive Brazil’s Order of Merit. The Brazilian government gave the medal for General Sharif’s remarkable courage to deal with the menace of terrorism, successful leadership of the Army in the face of multiple threats, giving hope to his nation against dismay, and above all for his great efforts to promote peace and stability in the region.
Comment:
This is not General Sharif’s first foreign accolade. In October 2015, Turkey conferred Raheel Sharif with the Turkish Legend of Merit in recognition of his services for regional peace and management of terrorism. Last year in February, Saudi Arabia awarded the Order of Abdulaziz Al Saud to General Sharif, and in November 2014, US Legion of Merit medal was presented to General Sharif by US Secretary of State, John Kerry. According to the Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Major General Asim Bajwa the US award was in recognition for Sharif’s brave leadership, sagacity, vision and efforts for peace and stability in the region.
It is indeed odd to see foreign powers honouring the CoAS, especially when three major events call into question the general’s competency to remain in office a tarnish the image of the Pakistani military.
On 15th of June 2014, the CoAS launched the long awaited Zarb-e-Azb operation in North Waziristan, a key demand of the Obama administration predicated on conditional payments from the coalition support fund. However, concealed from the view of ordinary Pakistanis was the appalling condition of Internally Displaced People (IDPs) that ran into the millions thanks to Sharif’s eagerness to please America. In March 2015, the Geneva based IDMC estimated 1.8 million Pakistanis to be displaced due counter insurgency, insurgency and other acts of violence—in the main perpetrated by the Pakistani army leadership.
Raheel Sharif was able to camouflage the ugliness of the Zarb-e-Azb by engineering a social protest movement spearheaded by Imran Khan and Tahir ul Qadri against Nawaz Sharif. This diverted the public’s attention away from the plight of IDPs until Imran Khan ended the protest drama that coincided with a slowdown in military operations in the tribal areas. How can the US construe Sharif’s actions in uprooting millions of Pakistanis from their homes as intelligent and visionary?
Almost a year ago, the massacre of children at the Pakistani public army school in Peshawar put the spotlight on the military establishment for its failure to prevent the attack and its pathetic response in immobilizing the assailants. The location of the school in Cantt (a fortified military zone) and its management directly under the Army Public Schools and Colleges System (APSACS) raises serious doubts about Sharif’s leadership of the army and its associated institutions. If the army cannot protect its own then what type of protection can it offer ordinary Pakistani citizens?
Ever since Musharraf sided with America’s global war on terror in 2001, poor security has plagued the country and militants have not spared even army bases, airports and other supposedly secure places. Given such high profile terror attacks, one would have expected the military top brass to bolster the security needed to safeguard children, but sadly, this never transpired. Worse still, no senior army official resigned over the debacle or faced punishment for sheer incompetence. The army’s refusal to accept culpability for its own failings is a familiar story that runs deep amongst the top brass. During Kayani’s tenure no military official of repute was reprimanded over the Abbottabad raid—the biggest fiasco in the history of the Pakistani army.
After the Peshawar attack, the only thing the army pushed for was to accelerate the codification of the counter insurgency strategy known as the National Action Plan (NAP). The 21st constitutional amendment promulgated NAP, which bestowed the army with considerable powers over both the civilian leadership and the judiciary. NAP enabled the army to act with impunity, conduct sham trials of suspects, abduct and kill Pakistanis at will, disregard the jurisdiction of the courts, muzzle the media, and monitor the financial transactions of every Pakistani. Only a coward frightened by his own people would resort to such heinous measures. Where is the bravery in this?
To implement NAP the State Bank instigated draconian measures that resulted in billions of rupees disappearing from Pakistan’s banking system as depositors rushed to withdraw cash to hide it from the prying eyes of General Sharif. Subsequently, the rupee is depreciating against the dollar at an alarming rate. Usually, economic steadiness accompanies security, but under Sharif, economic uncertainty continues to spiral out of control, and any hope of liberation of Pakistanis from tyranny has fast evaporated.
Instead of promoting peace and stability, General Raheel Sharif is sabotaging Pakistan’s political, judicial and economic systems, and is violating the rights of ordinary Pakistanis in the name NAP. For such achievements, Raheel Sharif is hailed as a visionary, and is showered with accolades for reforming Pakistan. Allah Almighty says:
وَإِذَا قِيلَ لَهُمْ لَا تُفْسِدُوا فِي الْأَرْضِ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا نَحْنُ مُصْلِحُونَ
“And when it is said to them, “Do not cause corruption on the earth,” they say, “We are but reformers.””
(Al Baqara: 11)
Voices both at home and abroad are demanding to extend General Sharif’s reign of terror, which comes up for renewal in November 2016. Sharif’s predecessors Musharraf and Kayani were also granted extensions and just look at their achievements. Allah Almighty says:
أُولَئِكَ الَّذِينَ اشْتَرَوُا الضَّلَالَةَ بِالْهُدَى فَمَا رَبِحَتْ تِجَارَتُهُمْ وَمَا كَانُوا مُهْتَدِين
“Those are the ones who have purchased error [in exchange] for guidance, so their transaction has brought no profit, nor were they guided.”
(Al Baqara: 16)
Muslims of Pakistan must understand that General Sharif is no different from his predecessors. He is of the same evil breed as Musharraf, and the same corrupt seed that has bequeathed Pakistan the American Raj. Every Pakistani is duty-bound to disobey Sharif’s every command, uproot his evil National Action Plan and work tirelessly for the establishment of the Rightly Guided Khilafah state upon the method of the Prophethood. Allah سبحانه وتعالى says:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَجِيبُوا لِلَّهِ وَلِلرَّسُولِ إِذَا دَعَاكُمْ لِمَا يُحْيِيكُمْ وَاعْلَمُوا أَنَّ اللَّهَ يَحُولُ بَيْنَ الْمَرْءِ وَقَلْبِهِ وَأَنَّهُ إِلَيْهِ تُحْشَرُونَ
“Oh you who have Iman, respond to Allah and His Messenger, when he calls you to that which gives you life. And know that Allah comes in between a man and his heart, and that to Him you will be gathered.”
(Al-Anfal:24)
Abdul Majeed Bhatti