Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'From a military man to politician?' that was published in Newsband

From a military man to politician?

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has announced that he will retire when his extended tenure as Chief of the Pakistan Army ends on November 29. The civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has made it clear there will be no further extension. His exit is the most graceful in Pakistan’s recent history.

Gen. Kayani has learnt a lesson after his predecessor Pervez Musharraf gained notoriety because of his crimes.  Also after Osama bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. commandos in Abbottabad, he was blamed for not having discovered the world’s most wanted man earlier. Under him, the military seemingly distanced itself from the U.S., its patron-in-chief, while the Pakistan People’s Party government came close to the U.S.

Post-Musharraf, the Army knows it is not easy to run Pakistan and that power can be wielded from behind the scenes, leaving the civilian rulers to take the blame when things go wrong.

It was during Gen. Kayani’s reign that the Taliban and Haqqani network stepped up their murderous campaign in Afghanistan, the ceasefire along the LoC with India came under strain, and groups like the Jamaat-ud-Dawa continued to thrive. It was under Kayani's leadership of the ISI that 26/11 was planned in Pakistan.

Gen Kayani’s decision to retire gracefully is good for democracy and the Pakistan Army. Now the civilian government of Pakistan should strive to do what its army could not and that is destroy the cancer of terror.

Pak army has been conducting a low-intensity war against India for the last 30 years using the weapon of terrorism, which they have found out as a better means to disrupt our growth, than a direct confrontation. We are a multi-religious country while Pakistan founded on a single religion has learnt to use religious extremism in Pakistan and also in India, as the most effective weapon to grow and maintain its strategic interests.

Gen. Kayani would surely look for an important role in the Civilian set up. He has the cunning in him, wisdom to lie low and come out clean in embarrassing circumstances. These are hall mark of a diplomat. Bin Laden could not have stayed in Pak without the support of the Gen., yet, when the Americans flushed him out 'daringly', despite heavy Pak Army presence in the vicinity, he feigned ignorance. The 'dare' by the Americans could not have been possible without Pak Army complicity. Kayani got away accusing the Americans of betraying their mutual friendship. He is coolly denying Pak's covert role in the LoC violations; he certainly has the 'politician' in him; we may hear much more of him in the future.