Imran Khan’s PTI starts course-correction towards Pakistani army

Imran Khan

The name of the new army chief of Pakistan, who will replace Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa when he retires at the end of November, is yet to be announced.

But Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) party, which had made an anti-army campaign its main political plank, has already begun a course correction to its hostile approach towards the Pakistan army.

Also Read: Imran Khan vows to continue protest march after attack on him

This came amid an attack on Imran Khan and his supporters during a rally leading to the death of one person and injuries to others, including Imran Khan, who had to be hospitalized.

Although it is not clear who was behind the attack, there has been all-round condemnation from political parties and the army.

The attack could be attributed to the army or sections trying to scuttle a rapprochement amid seeming attempts by Imran Khan and his party to reach out to the high echelons of the military establishment to make peace.

Imran Khan and Bajwa

PTI said it did not have any favourites for the army chief’s post and would welcome whoever replaces Gen. Bajwa.

Imran Khan, who was prime minister of the country until April, had strained relations with the incumbent army chief, who he thinks ousted him from power.

Incidentally, Imran Khan had given Bajwa a three-year extension, ignoring a court’s advice not to do so.

Senior leaders of the party on Monday said the PTI does not have any favourite candidate and would welcome whoever became the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

“To us all the generals are excellent and we will welcome them if anyone among them is made the chief,” said Pervez Khattak, former defence minister and a close aide of Khan in the party.

Several other senior PTI leaders also supported his views.

‘Need a strong army’

Imran Khan too, changed his tone against the army on Sunday.

“I want the army to be strong. We need a strong army. My constructive criticism is not to harm them,” Khan said while addressing supporters during his ongoing Lahore-Islamabad long march named ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ or real freedom-- from the “corrupt and imported” government that replaced him.

Imran Khan’s diatribe against the army and the Pakistani spy agency had led Inter-Services Intelligence chief Nadeem Ahmad Anjum and the Army spokesman to hold a joint press conference last week to rebut the former prime minister’s charges against their institutions.

Imran Khan’s remarks are being carefully parsed to see whether he was looking beyond Bajwa to the others in the Pakistani military establishment or if the message was directed towards Bajwa to assure him that his image will not be tarnished after he retires.

In his tenure since 2016, Bajwa also had strained relations with Nawaz Sharif, the then prime minister and leader of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League (N).

Army-government relations

Bajwa had encouraged Imran Khan, whom he helped in becoming the prime minister, to use the National Bureau of Accountability )NBA), an autonomous body set up in 1999 to probe corruption of politicians and senior officials, against Nawaz Sharif and his brother Shahbaz Sharif and other political opponents.

Significantly, most civilian leaders who came to power in Pakistan since 1947 have done so with the help of the army.

The army has ruled Pakistan directly for nearly half of the seven decades of its existence. The other prime ministers, who were elected, were used as a front by the army to run the country from behind-the-scenes.

The Pakistani army has historically formulated the country’s foreign, defence, strategic policies. In recent years it has had an exceedingly large say in economic issues as well, especially in lucrative infrastructure projects like the multi-billion-dollar China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.

The army had also brought Nawaz Sharif to political centre stage to counter Pakistan People’s Party chief Benazir Bhutto in the mid 1980’s as chief minister in Punjab-- Pakistan’s most important and populated province-- and later made him prime minister in 1990.

But like all other prime ministers of the country, he was dismissed and could not complete his full five- year term.

Third alternative

Nawaz Sharif was elected prime minister three times, his last term lasting from 2013 to 2017. But after he asserted himself on foreign policy issues, especially in normalising relations with India, he was dismissed on charges of corruption.

Gen. Bajwa and the Pakistan army top brass had thought of creating a third alternative by propping up Imran Khan’s PTI away from the Bhuttos and the Sharifs
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For a while, Imran Khan went along with the army and helped implement its policies. He used the NAB on the army’s behest against the Sharif’s and Bhuttos and other political opponents. NAB investigation against Nawaz Sharif finally drove him out of the country and he self-exiled in London.

But Imran Khan’s failure to revive the economy from a serious crisis and generating employment for the youth as well as his assertion on the domains the army considers its traditional areas of influence started friction between them.

The main disappointment of the army came with Imran Khan’s failure to put back Pakistan-US relations on track.

America has been Pakistan’s traditional supporter, though China has become more important to it in recent years.

Meanwhile, Sharif and Bhutto led the National Democratic Alliance’s protest march-- directed not so much against Imran Khan but the army—which started gaining ground. This worried the military establishment which then started looking beyond Imran Khan.

This finally led to the downfall of Imran Khan when he lost a trust vote in Parliament in April. By this time the army had made a deal with Shahbaz Sharif and had begun propping him up as the country's next prime minister.

For Bajwa and many in the top brass of the army, the question is how to deal with the emerging scenario.

Serious challenge to the military

Imran Khan is undoubtedly the most popular political figure in Pakistan. He is demanding an early election and knows it can sweep his party to power if it is held soon.

But the army is trying to cut a deal with Nawaz Sharif by bringing him back to counter Imran’s popularity, particularly in Punjab which holds 50 percent of the Parliament seats.

Bajwa and other senior generals are worried they could be put on trial once they retire and either Imran Khan or Nawaz Sharif gain strength and confidence after becoming Prime Minister.

Pakistan is currently not only facing a political crisis but also a serious challenge to the military’s future status in the country.

There is uncertainty about its relations with the civilian leadership and how it will pan out in the coming days.

As things stand, Pakistan is in for a long haul of instability that may prove to be beyond the all-powerful military’s control.