Pakistan: After PTI netas, it is Imran Khan’s supporters in the Army facing the heat

Disciplinary actions and military court proceedings initiated against senior army officials for supporting Imran Khan. (File/ Representative image)

On June 26, Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, Director General, Inter Services Public Relations (DG-ISPR), disclosed in a press conference at Rawalpindi that three army officers, including a lieutenant general, were sacked for dereliction of duty or complicity in events. Additionally, disciplinary proceedings have been completed against three major generals and seven brigadiers, in what was described as the Army’s “self-accountability process”.

This intent had already come across at the recently concluded 81st Formation Commanders’ Conference (Rawalpindi, June 7), when Army Chief Asim Munir spoke about a “tightening of the noose” around the planners and “masterminds” of the May 9 violence.

Elite Face The Heat

The dismissed officers include Lt Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghani. He hails from a military family: His father retired is a Brigadier and his father-in-law, Capt (retd) Naved Rasul Mirza, is a relative (“Mamoo”) of Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial’s wife. Among those disciplined or transferred under a cloud from important positions are Brig Mehr Omar Khan, Commanding Officer of Rawalpindi’s notorious 111 Brigade, otherwise known in Pakistan’s history as the “coup brigade” used by past dictators.

The DG-ISPR pointed out that a granddaughter of a retired four-star general (noted fashion designer Khadija Shah), a son-in-law of a retired four-star star general, the wife of a retired three-star general (Shabnam Jehangir), the wife and son-in-law of a retired two-star general (Rubina Jameel and Mehboob) were also “facing this process of accountability due to irrefutable evidence.”

These penalties showed that accountability in the Pakistan Army was being carried out without discrimination, irrespective of rank or social status. The press conference also emphasised that military courts were there to stay and had been dealing with culpability of civilians in the past.

CJ Bandial’s Loosening Grip 

It sent a clear warning to an activist higher judiciary under Chief Justice Bandial, which still seems determined to provide some succour to a beleaguered Imran Khan.  Three petitions were filed last week (June 19) before Pakistan’s Supreme Court by senior lawyers Aitzaz Ahsan, Latif Khosa (former Punjab Governor) and another counsel, representing former Chief Justice (CJ) Jawad S. Khwaja, challenging the trial of civilians in military courts.

CJ Bandial set up a nine-member bench to hear the petitions, this time including long ignored senior judges, now CJ-designate Qazi Faiz Isa and the next senior judge Justice Sardar Tariq Masood. Rumours were rife of a quick judgment, before the Supreme Court’s summer recess. However, both senior judges desisted from joining. Another judge, Mansoor Ali Shah withdrew from the bench later, forcing an embarrassed Bandial to defer hearings in the case for a fortnight.

On trials under the Army Act, Maj-Gen Chaudhry said in his press conference that military courts were already functioning. After investigations were completed, “trial of the 102 miscreants” arrested in connection with the May 9 incidents could be held there. The DG-ISPR also said the suspects being tried in military courts would be penalised according to their crimes but they had complete legal rights, including the right of appeal in high courts and the Supreme Court.

Asim Munir Isolates Imran

Though not mentioning Imran Khan’s name, the DG-ISPR dismissed allegations of a “false flag” operation made repeatedly before foreign media channels by the former PM. Chaudhry emphasised that investigations held until now had proven that the events of May 9 had been planned for several months, creating a conducive environment first and instigating people against the army. A diabolical narrative “based on lies and exaggeration” was spread on social media inside and outside the country, he added.

In particular, Chaudhry stressed at the press conference that these actions by the Army’s disciplinary institutions became necessary as there was tremendous pressure from families of Army martyrs who had not taken kindly to the desecration of monuments for the “shuhada” at various places, country-wide, by the violent mobs of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He added, “the Pakistan Army has resolved time and again that the Constitution is sacred for us and is a reflection of the nation’s wishes”.

The Army’s messaging, under Asim Munir’s stewardship, thus seems two-pronged – one, clearly indicating that Imran’s political future is bleak, as the identified May 9 mastermind. Yet, widespread disgruntlement against the Army in Pakistani civil society and among urban youth, particularly in Punjab needs to be tackled on priority, and given a cleansing balm in days to come. For the moment, senior Army Generals seem to have rallied behind this approach.

Rana Banerji is a former Special Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication.