Asad Ali |
Armed forces and intelligence are assets of every country for their territorial sovereignty. Their job is to protect national interests of the country. In Pakistan, we are lucky enough to have such a professional, committed and one of the best-armed forces and intelligence in the world. They are protecting our national interests and maintaining the security of our country. Our Armed forces always contributed their shares during the time of need.
The army is only department that is well disciplined and maintains it’s our position internationally. But, it is very unfortunate that some anti-state elements and some of their facilitators are pitching their voices against our armed forces and intelligence agencies for their personal agendas.
The solution to the current façade would be to fight fire with fire, use the same propaganda machines, social media, and news agency to build a narrative that is pro Pakistan, pro-democracy & pro-military.
International media, community, and international establishment never acknowledged the sacrifices of our armed forces for bringing peace in the region. After making sacrifices of almost 60,000 people, economic losses in infrastructure and lack of investment due to the security situation in the so called War on terror has rendered little sympathy and trust to the armed forces of Pakistan.
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Given the fact that Pakistan is not only fighting against the local establishment looking to seize power for personal interest combined with the international establishment and the 21st century narrative of proxy wars, Pakistan faces a grave existential and ideological crisis much bigger than 65 war and more bloodier then the 71 war. Desperate times call for desperate measures? Right? Wrong! In a situation like this when the stakes are as high as this, the armed forces and the intelligence agencies have to meticulously plan and execute.
Some reports suggest that during the last 6 months an estimated 6,000 reports have been published in Pakistani media against the military establishment of Pakistan. Coupled with the ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s narrative of “Vote koIzzat Do” and the surge in nationalism has proved to be major threat to the armed forces of Pakistan. One can safely say that a situation like this, where the military establishment of Pakistan is facing all these three facets of the popular narrative being developed in Pakistan.
Our Armed forces always contributed their shares during the time of need.
The army is only department that is well disciplined and maintains it’s our position internationally.
It is tackled intelligently and in a way that does not reinforce the narrative of the PTM, Nawaz Sharif, Justice Shukat Aziz Siddiqi and international media that intelligence agencies of Pakistan have overwhelming control on the state institutions of Pakistan and may or may not have the will, resources and authority to dictate their own terms and conditions to these state institutions.
Recent attacks on the political leaders during this election campaign in which whether or not the military establishment was involved or not has rendered reinforcement to the idea that the military establishment is behind these killings and that people behind the scenes want to have an influence on the elections which is why many parties are not even being allowed to run a full-fledged campaign while some have been free to propagate their views of democracy.
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This wouldn’t be the first time allegations like these have been leveled against the military establishment and probably wouldn’t be the last but what remains is the question of what we have learned from the past 60 years. The military establishment has to understand that these interventions of supporting one party and side-lining the other is exactly the agenda of states working against Pakistan’s interests and this particular tactic hasn’t been very helpful.
The solution to the current façade would be to fight fire with fire, use the same propaganda machines, social media, and news agency to build a narrative that is pro Pakistan, pro-democracy & pro-military. If the cards are played right now, the country would go a long way to the path of success, stability and growth.
Asad Ali is a freelance Journalist. He is doing his M.Phil in International Relations from Quaid Azam University Islamabad. His area of interest is Political and International Issue. The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Global Village Space.