Haider Raza Mehdi |
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is a wily character. A bureaucrat, who worked closely with him says…”He’s a very cunning man, uses his soft demeanor to trick people in agreeing to him…in cabinet meetings he slyly gets his agenda through, and people don’t even realize he’s making a “Mamoon” out of them….”
The bureaucrat shared some more interesting details regarding how Khaqan manipulates everyone around him, including his cabinet colleagues. Apparently he used the same ruses to make a fool out of the NSC and has done a “Mamoon” on the Army Chief by distorting the NSC press release, stating that the committee condemned the Indian media narrative and not Nawaz Sharif’s statement!
Hats off to this ‘Thund Abbasi’ from Murree. No wonder there’s a boycott Murree campaign going on! So do we see another “it is rejected” tweet from the DG ISPR, or silence?
Nawaz in his desperation will willingly put everything at stake, including the country! So expect a drowning Nawaz to take many others down with him! Even attempting to grievously harm the country!
My senses tell me that while the Army high command, especially Gen. Bajwa, must be smarting in the manner they’ve been made a fool out of Khaqan Abbasi, is now treading very carefully not to get into the same mess that he did, following the it is “rejected tweet” after his post Dawn Leaks meeting between Gen. Bajwa and then PM Nawaz Sharif.
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Then, he was reported to have been incensed at Nawaz Sharif’s about face from what had been agreed to in their private meeting on Dawn Leaks. So why the silence? Why has the Army not clarified that the NSC unanimously condemned Nawaz Sharif’s statement and not what that wily fox, Khaqan Abbassi is making it out to be?
The answer lies in two things.
1: The Army has learned a lesson from its embarrassing “it is rejected” tweet by the DG ISPR to not get into a public media spat with the civilian government and get a large segment of society gunning for them for exceeding their mandate.
2: Gen. Bajwa is a much wiser man and knows that he and the Army are being deliberately baited to take an anti-Nawaz position, publicly, and thereby provide more oxygen to Nawaz’s anti-military rhetoric and move the focus away from his corruption!
He also knows, as we all do, that Nawaz is fighting a battle for his survival, economic and political. If convicted, the likelihood is that he will eventually also be deprived of his wealth. This is Nawaz’s worst nightmare. Because he knows that once deprived of his wealth, his political death is certain!
Hats off to this ‘Thund Abbasi’ from Murree. No wonder there’s a boycott Murree campaign going on! So do we see another “it is rejected” tweet from the DG ISPR, or silence?
Therefore, however much Nawaz attempts to muddy the water and obfuscate the real issue of his corruption, money laundering and ill-gotten wealth, by his inflammable and inflammatory, anti-military narrative, his conviction is on the cards.
Read more: COAS Gen Bajwa steps in to address grievances of Hazara community
So why the Army should intervene in any form or shape and be baited? It’s been 10 years since Mumbai! For 10 years we’ve had civilian governments. The former Army Chief, Raheel Sharif, if anything, was totally aligned to Nawaz, despite the media hype.
He owes his current assignment in Saudi Arabia to Nawaz. The evidence of Maryam’s and Nawaz’s involvement in Dawn leaks has mysteriously disappeared from the records of the security agencies, both military and civilian.
Later, Bajwa was his handpicked Chief. An avowedly anti martial law advocate since his younger days. He was a very strong voice against any form of Army intervention during the 2014 dharna days and was removed from his Corps Command assignment, and posted to a “khudday line” post by Raheel.
If this odious man, Nawaz and his brother had governed well, not resorted to unbridled corruption loot and plunder at will, there wouldn’t have been any Panama. Panama is not a military establishment conspiracy against Nawaz. His corruption was uncovered by an International consortium of journalists.
As a senior PMLN leader told me recently ‘Ubb yay Fauj ki conspiracy ka Nawaz Munjan nahee chullay ga. Nawaz bohath khatharnak game khayl raha hay, aur mulk ko soch sumujh kay dabonay ki koshish kurr raha hay, upnee jaan aur maal buchaanay kay leeyay’
Read more: Qamar Bajwa to Iran: Cooperation necessary for regional peace
Here is the fundamental, irrefutable fact. The overwhelming evidence to date is that Nawaz is guilty of corruption, money laundering and ill gotten wealth. He will and should swing from the gallows, political or real, because of his own actions. Not because of any conspiracy by the military.
Therefore, I think Gen. Bajwa is wise in swallowing his pride, accept that he was outmaneuvered, and outfoxed by a cunning Khaqan Abbassi, made a “mamoon” and keep quiet. Nawaz, as we all know, is sliding down a slippery suicidal slope, and hopefully for the sake of our country, will fall on his own sword!
Nawaz Sharif has overreached in his desperate attempt to stave off his inevitable conviction for corruption and his ultimate political death. But as we get closer to his conviction, Nawaz in his desperation will willingly put everything at stake, including the country! So expect a drowning Nawaz to take many others down with him! Even attempting to grievously harm the country!
Haider Mehdi is the current Convenor of The Strategy Study Group, founded by the late Col. S. G. Mehdi M. C, former Group Commander of Pakistan Army’s Special Services Group (SSG). Haider is a former Pakistan Army officer, corporate leader, management consultant, business trainer, and serial entrepreneur. The views expressed in this article are authors own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.