May 13 , 2023
Attacks on Pakistan Military, a sacred cow
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
* Pakistan’s Military, Once a ‘Sacred Cow,’ Comes Under Attack by Protesters: New York Times
* Protesters are turning on Pakistan’s military after Imran Khan’s arrest: CNN
* Supporters of ex-prime minister show rare pushback against powerful army: NPR
* Why are Imran Khan’s supporters angry with Pakistan’s military?: Al Jazeera
These are some of the headlines on the attacks on Pakistan Army installations in the aftermath of the arrest on Tuesday of the former Prime Minister of Imran Khan.
Once unthinkable, the scenes of violent protest that broke out across Pakistan on Tuesday after the arrest of the former prime minister, Imran Khan, seemed to cross a line against defying the army that has rarely been breached in Pakistan’s turbulent history, the New York Times said adding:
“Since the country’s founding 75 years ago, the military has kept a steady hold on the country’s politics and foreign policy, carrying out three successful coups and ruling the country directly for several decades. Even under civilian governments, military leaders have kept an iron — if cloaked — grip on power, ushering in politicians they favored and pushing out those who stepped out of line. Few dared any open defiance.”
According to CNN: Pakistan is teetering after former Prime Minister Imran Khan was dramatically arrested by paramilitary troops on corruption charges, sparking a deadly outpouring of anger against the powerful military that has put the country on edge.
The army has accused Khan and his supporters of crossing a red line, saying that military property and installations have been “systematically attacked” and that “anti-army slogans were raised.”
“Any further attack on the army, including all law enforcement agencies, military and state installations and properties, will be severely retaliated against,” the military said in a Wednesday statement, its first since Khan’s arrest. “The full responsibility of which will be on the very group that wants to push Pakistan into civil war.”
Khan has repeatedly accused the military of conspiring with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to remove him from office, even calling out a senior official by name and accusing him of being behind the shooting that injured him in November.
Going on Khan’s claims, his supporters have targeted their rage toward the military, fervently taking to social media to put out messages against the establishment.
“The intensity and consistency of Imran Khan’s attacks on the military, especially after being ousted from office last year, are unprecedented,” CNN quoted Syed Baqir Sajjad, a Pakistan Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, as saying.
Al Jazeera report
Al Jazeera provided a graphic account of the attacks of military installations:
A 34-second video, shot in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore on May 9, starts by showing a group of people, including women, entering a mansion. They are wielding sticks, chanting slogans and carrying flags of former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party.
The man making the video says: “People have broken through the gates and have now entered the corps commander’s residence,” referring to a senior military officer. He then walks towards a soldier standing on a corner of a vast lawn, looking at the crowd entering the compound, and tells him, “Sir, we told you not to touch Imran Khan.”
The mansion was not just the residence of a top military general in Lahore, it also had historical significance. Named Jinnah House, after the country’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, a part of the imposing building was later set on fire by the protesters.
Dozens of similar videos showed the protesters in several cities targeting installations and buildings belonging to Pakistan’s powerful military.
A video shot in the garrison town of Rawalpindi – where the Pakistani Army General Headquarters is located – showed a woman protesting at the entrance of the fortified complex, rattling the gate to open it as two other women surrounded her.
Another video showed hundreds of people carrying PTI flags and wearing party scarves descending on the same gate, trying to climb it and hitting it with batons. Before long, they entered the compound, chanting “God is great” and demanding Khan’s release.
Imran Khan says ISI General conspired his assassination
Attacks on the army installations came in the backdrop of Imran Khan’s repeated accusations that Pakistan’s spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), officer, Major General Faisal Naseer conspired in the assassination attempt in November 2022, when he was injured in shooting.
Imran Khan said that the police refused to register an FIR against the ISI Major General Faisal Naseer to probe the officer’s involvement in the assassination attempt on him.
Imran Khan said, “Punjab Police says they are ready to register FIR against Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah but not against DG (C) ISI Faisal Naseer.”
Imran Khan held three men accountable for the attack during his long march. “I fully believe these three have done this (attack) through a conspiracy. It’s my right [to register case]. I’m the leader of the biggest political party and ex-PM and if I can’t get his name in the FIR then I ask what [rights can be expected] for the nation and for the common man.
Responding to DG ISPR, Mr Khan said he represented Pakistan when the DG was not even born. “You should learn who backed the Pakistan Army when the world was maligning the country amid Osama Bin Laden’s fiasco,” he added. You should have a record check, he urged the DG, on Army’s ranking in PTI’s tenure too.
On Monday, army’s media wing said that “irresponsible and baseless allegations” by Imran Khan against a serving senior military officer were “extremely unfortunate, deplorable and unacceptable”.
Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of America. Email: asghazali2011 (@) gmail.com
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The Journal of America Team:
Editor in chief:
Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Senior Editor:
Prof. Arthur Scott
Special Correspondent
Maryam Turab
