Captain’s no-ball

Prime Minister Imran Khan has delivered a ‘no-ball’ at the most crucial stage of his political innings and is likely to pay the price for this mega-slip. His mind boggling, needless and self-harming tiff with the mighty military establishment over the appointment of Director-General (DG) of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has thrown a spanner in an otherwise routine affair within the Pakistan Army. Since October 6 to-date, all the high-level transfers and postings announced by the military high command remain on hold – a situation which had never occurred in the past. This unprecedented and bizarre controversy has also infused a new element of uncertainty in an already fragile and dysfunctional political system.

What the Prime Minister’s aides describe as a mere “technical glitch” in a bid to downplay the deadlock over the appointment of the new DG ISI has already resulted in a huge trust-deficit between civil and military leaders and blown away the perception – painstakingly build in recent years — of them being on the same-page.

Indeed, the Prime Minister’s rash and obstinate attitude has made Pakistan a laughing stock before the world – among friends and foes alike — and dragged the country’s most sensitive institution into the full public glare for all the wrong reasons. Even many of Imran Khan’s trusted aides realise that their Captain stands on the wrong side of the fence on this issue because of his fixation with an individual and insistence on changing rules of the game — defying both principle and logic. As the impasse drags on, the once harmonious relations between the two power-centres of the country have turned sore despite some hectic efforts by their common go-betweens to control the damage. Insiders on both sides of the fence acknowledge that chances of the Prime Minister being able to thrust his choice on the Army is starkly remote, and he is unlikely to get even a face-saving exit from this self-created controversy.

If the past is any guide, the appointment of the DG ISI had always been a standard and straightforward affair. The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) would send his recommendation to the Prime Minister, which got accepted without any ifs and buts. And why not? Who would know better than the COAS himself where to place a three-star general? Earlier, during Imran Khan’s own term as Prime Minister, the last two DG ISI – Lt. General Asim Munir and Lt. General Faiz Hameed – were appointed in a similar fashion. The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) made the announcement in the same manner as it announced the appointment of Lt. General Nadeem Anjum as the new DG ISI on October 6.

During the previous government of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), both Lt. General Rizwan Akhtar and Lt. General Naveed Mukhtar were also appointed as DG ISI the same way. The then Prime Minister did not ask for three names to select one out of them and none was called for an interview. The COAS’s decision was respected, even though technically DG ISI reports to the Prime Minister. Reporting to the civilian authority, however, doesn’t mean that the selection of the country’s spymaster has become the domain of the Prime Minister, who doesn’t have the required expertise and knowledge to take such a decision.

One should thank the Almighty that political interference had never been allowed in the Armed Forces, although some of our politicos always dreamt of treating them as they treated the Sindh or the Punjab Police in which almost every appointment gets made on the recommendation of this or that heavy or light weight lawmaker or minister.

The storyline that some ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) cabinet members and Imran Khan’s loyalists initially tried to peddle that the Prime Minister does not want a change in the ISI’s command for the next few months because of the precarious situation in Afghanistan, does not hold any ground. Why? Because as an institution, the ISI always ensured continuity of policies and guarded the core national interests despite the routine changes in its leadership. This underlines the fact that institutions always remain bigger than any individual and it ought to be like that.

As DG ISI, Lt. General Faiz Hameed played an eventful innings. Many of his valuable services and initiatives for the country’s security and advancing the national goals as the top spymaster will never be known and one can only guess at a few of them. But that has been the proud tradition of this institution and its successive leaders. They all work in shadows.

General Faiz has now a new challenge, an assignment before him as Commander of the IX Corps responsible for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s security. The new DG ISI would draw strength from the institution just like his predecessors and business as usual will continue in Abpara, Islamabad where the spy agency is headquartered. The country’s most disciplined organisation of the Armed Forces will remain unruffled by the captain’s ‘no-ball.’

But following this so-called notification fiasco, Pakistan’s civil and military leadership must now make concerted efforts to ensure that the country’s premier spy-agency and its leadership must be kept out of all such controversies, and away from the public radar as much as possible. Pushing the ISI and its top official in the limelight should always be a big no under all circumstances. The strength and effectiveness of spy work lies in anonymity. Even its top boss – the public face of the agency – must be kept away from the media glare.

At the same time, it is a moment of reckoning for Prime Minister Imran Khan and his aides. They need to ponder over the fallout of this self-created, unnecessary controversy. What did they gain out of it and what did they lose? The advisable course would be to focus on the damage control – which should start immediately. Taking a step back by the Prime Minister would be a small beginning in this direction. The sooner the suspense ends over DG ISI’s appointment, and the matter gets resolved, the better it is for the government, the system, and the country.

The takeaway lesson: No one should try to dictate to institutions on personal whims and wishes. This weakens the system and results in confrontation among institutions which Pakistan can ill-afford at this critical juncture.

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s besieged government already has many fronts to worry about, including the country’s lingering economic woes, the derailed accountability process, strained relations with the United States, and confrontation with India over the occupied Kashmir, a volatile Afghanistan on the west… the list can go on and on. Therefore, this is not the time, Mr. Prime Minister, to lock horns with the institution that has remained supportive to your house of cards all through. Rather, the civil and military leadership should work in tandem to pull the country out of the crisis. Therefore, remaining on the same page is vital.

The skipper should refrain from throwing any more “no-balls” as his quota of bad political deliveries has already been exhausted. He should rather work to restore trust among institutions and deliver on at least some of his election promises in the remaining two years of his term rather than picking up avoidable battles.

The writer is Editor-in-Chief, Bol Media Group