Compilation of Opinions on the Military Takeover in Pakistan

Chowk Staff
Oct 18, 1999



Rule in By Nilesh

Lets Grant Him the Benefit of By Syed Imtiaz H Gilani

A Brave General By Ali Hanafi

May Your ‘Intellect’ Rest in ! By Ammar-Ur-Rahman Khan

in By I M Mohsin

Pak Army Zindabad By Muhammad Aamir

Anatomy of the Pakistani Generals By Umair R. Kayani

Khilafah for By Almuhajiroun


Rule in

I read in newspapers and saw on television the positive response received in about take over of the country. The public seems to blame Nawaz Sharif for all the ills in the country. No to some extent he was wrong in his decisions of the administrative affairs. But the public seems to have forgotten that it was the that laid the foundation of this destruction. For 25 years they have ruled the country. , Nepotism, Mismanagement was the hallmarks of their rule. They got away because of cold since the western aid was flowing then in the country. But today the realities are very different. Western countries are not going to give away largesse just because was once their ally. Secondly, the army complains of deteriorating . Well if they are so concerned, why they are cornering more then 50% of the budget for themselves. No prime minister in was able to cut down their budget and get away from it. All this years they always raised the false alarm of Indian bogey. The people of should have understood this by now that no country in the world right now can invade and get away with it. The recent examples of Kosovo, Kuwait and East Timor should help them in understanding this.


Lets Grant Him the Benefit of
All bleeding heart liberals faulting General Musharraf for the should answer one question honestly; was not Nawaz Sharif's becoming more and more fascist with each passing day? No one can applaud a take-over. But when the ship of state is badly floundering and about to crash, others will inevitably try to steer it away from disaster. And General Musharraf never really wanted this onerous responsibility. His hand was forced by Nawaz Sharif’s ill-advised moves over the last couple of weeks. That is now history. Let us now "force" General Musharrafs hand to make this the dawn of a better day and not start of another long, dark night in our history.

This should not begin another witch-hunt targeting Nawaz Sharif and his henchmen. Saif-ur-Rehmans infamous hounding of Benazir and her spouse only earned her public sympathy. These leaders have stolen from , mostly without documentary trace. Slamming them into jails is only going to tax the system further. They must be forced to cough-up the money. Their assets should be correlated with taxes paid, and the difference promptly recovered. After that, they should simply be put to pasture by debarring them from any future public office for having perjured themselves before the tax department.

General Musharrafs biggest test is to keep at bay all the old faces milling about GHQ, climbing over each other to offer them selves once again to "serve" the nation. To them he must firmly, but politely say " thanks, but no thanks".

Meanwhile, he must quickly put a civilian face to . With each passing day, international pressure and domestic unease with a will increase. A longish-term interim of technocrats, peppered with key, experienced, clean and uncontroversial politicians, who know the ropes, must be installed. This will be the Generals second major test. Everything that follows will reflect the people chosen to man the interim set-up.

Pakistanis have accepted the take-over with a sigh of relief. The West's blitz against the appears incongruous here. To them a sham is more acceptable than a that has the wholehearted welcome of the people. They (the West) want a surrogate set-up dancing to their tune; but we need a that addresses core issues and measures up to our aspirations. And besides, these born-again champions of were only recently supporting the unpopular dictatorship of General Zia when it suited their expediency-driven here.

It is a new and momentous beginning. Let us extend General Musharraf unfettered support. If he has a hidden agenda, he also will meet the of his predecessors. For the sake of a hundred and forty million people, let us and pray that he is sincere; let us that he delivers. For after this there are no more chances.


A Brave General

Till this point I had no intentions of writing about the recent situation that is taking place in . I always thought that things would never improve in , as we are nothing but a dead nation who has now gotten use to shouting slogans and saying Zindabad XYZ. We are all a bunch of hypocrites who say "Yes Sir" in front of higher authorities and later call them bad names or abuse them when they are not there. We are a dead nation who can watch and see every thing that is going on around us but can say nothing and our feelings are no longer there in fact we are all "bayhiss" (without conscience).

But indeed I was wrong. The current situation and the bold step taken by the Chief of Army staff shows that there are still some life left amongst us. There is still . There is some flame, which can still be used for lighting up the fire that we have forgotten. Maybe our generation doesn’t have the same feelings and dreams that our parents had, who fought for . When my parents tell me how they thanked Allah when was made I see it all in their eyes. Those eyes have the shine of glory and Alas we don't have that same feeling that they had.

We are heard as saying that what have you given us, this one who is full of corrupt leaders who know nothing but to deprive people of their money, belongings and etc.
Guys Wake up don't criticize that you people always say but never do let us help the General who has finally given us the opportunity to do something.

This is the time to Rise again and let the world know that is not a corrupt country it still has the same people who can do wonders. I ask every Pakistani a question why do we people work so hard when we go abroad but when we are here in we take it so lightly. We are the same people who can achieve wonders abroad but when here we are lethargic, who can only comment and can do nothing else.
I salute General for taking such a step and under so much of pressure. Only a man of with nerves of Steel can take such a step and let the world know that Ok think whatever you think of but we still have the ability to rise as one Nation that can even reach the Stars in no Time.

I have read a lot of articles on the web by Pakistani's living abroad who have commented against this . I thought a while before finally deciding to say a few things.

You people are watching and commenting from what you see in the CNN or the BBC broadcast. I wish you people were here to see how the politicians including the democratic Nawaz were shattering our country.

You say that He is no longer the chief fine who cares if he does what the elected should have been doing then its fine by us and nothing of this sort would have happened. People are in fact happy on this action by the army or removal what ever you might call it.

The people living abroad get the picture which is painted to them by the foreign and that’s why they are so misguided. Ok let me tell you why was all this so necessary.

1- The most important thing in this era is and believe me the was just not there whatever money people contributed for the so called schemes for self resilience was spent on the officials.

2- The prices were sky high and the middle class and the lower class were being crushed under it. You call this good so Allah Help us all.

3- The country was losing its integrity and its image was being shattered in the eyes of the world as one nation whose leaders are corrupt and can sell their nation for a mere few dollars.

4- After Kargil the blame was put all on the ARMY and it was made to look as we have lost the entire and our beloved leader goes to Washington to sell us off.

5- You have mentioned that the was played with, fine what good is a when it is there and has no effect and carries no meanings so it is better to just tore it apart.

6- You say it was illegal tell me is it morally legal to first extend a persons tenure as Chief of Army staff and then retire him when he is not even in the country and is on an official visit to another country and then ask the pilot to land the plane in either or crash it.

7- Tell me guys what you would have done in these circumstances when you are watching the institute that you are leading getting politicized and rifts being created in it.

8- I have also read about people saying that 65% of the generals are corrupt, ok fine but the other 35% is not. Let us give them the chance to do something and then we should see what is going on.

Finally I tell you guys that it was just not one person who has done it all, the whole of the ARMY and the NATION was behind the Army Chief for taking such a brave step.

If you people have heard his speech then let me tell you that if he is able to achieve what he has said in his address then You will see that one day we will all be proud of calling our selves Pakistani's.

Now is the time to join hands and forget what has happened in the past and start a new Millennium with hopes, Dreams and a pledge that we will make a power that we should have done years ago but now lets just do it. Its not too late but we should not reach the point where we would have nothing left and what use will it be then to say that it would have been better if we had done this before.
I that you people will agree with me and I request you all to forget our differences and just for once lets work together for a change and make how it should have been. Lets say goodbye to foreign aid and rely on our own resources.

I Salute the General and wish that May Allah give us all the same courage, bravery and self-devotion towards as the General has.

ZINDABAD.


May Your ‘Intellect’ Rest in !
Rules of a game are applicable only during the course of that particular game. If one has a bat in hand and wants to hit you, you'd be a damn fool to remind him of the proper way to hold the bat, after all, he is not playing ! The same is analogous to the Army in . Will someone inform me what was so 'Constitutional' about Nawaz's regime? Is it in the to put to risk the lives of your ? People like Batlay and Saeed better keep shut since their 'Intellectual' minds can never ever accept what is 'Un Westernly'. We, the Muslims have the example of our caliphs, who feared that Allah would hold them accountable even for the of a dog at the hands of hunger. And here our 'Amir ul Momineen' was to kill 238 people on board the PIA flight carrying Gen. Musharraf back home!

I'd like to put a simple question to all those 'Intellectual Minds', Someone is elected to rule the country with the biggest ever 'Mandate' in the country's history, and when after just two and a half years or so, he is overthrown, not even a single procession/demonstration is held anywhere in the country. From 140 Million Pakistanis, not even 140, (yes, One Hundred and Forty only!) took to the streets to protest. And believe me, there is no uniformed personnel’s on the streets to stop or harass away the protestors. You have to see to believe it. There is no fear, no reservations in the mind of the people, that's why army had to take no pains in taking control of the country. Come to and you will see that even in Nawaz's hometown, people are still distributing sweets.

Despite all this, I'm absolutely sure, that those 'Intellectuals' will keep on crying for a Nawaz. They will show no sympathy towards 341 self immolators, who put themselves to fire because they could not face their hungry families, or could not get from anyone; but their tears for a man who is a defaulter of 90 Million dollars, who owns 23 factories, and whose tax payments during 94-98 total only Rs. 477, w8ill never dry up!

Pakistanis DISOWN you! TO HELL WITH YOUR INTELLECT! Do whatever you wish, say whatever you like, but don't mislead the world by calling yourselves PAKISTANIS!

Long Live , Long Live the Well Wishers of , Long Live Army, the thorn in West's eyes because of its Islamic Ideology!

Khuda Hafiz to all brother Muslims!

An intended eye opener for those pro-western 'Intellectuals' who have 'WEST IS THE BEST' written in every cell of their brains!

in
I'm gratified to see the multi-faceted monitoring of the new developments in our country courtesy . This reveals a commitment of our educated people to the ideals of ; fairness and social emphasized by but consistently ignored/violated by the believers exercising power, almost allover the Muslim world.
While I am a great believer in constitutional Govt, I also know how a Govt functions in . No COAS can take any extreme step against a civilian Govt now if it follows the in the conduct of public affairs. Unconstitutional conduct whether by way of , crony-ism, political witch-hunting, or inept governance erodes the authority of the govt. I am not theorizing as a political scientist. I have learnt it with 35 years of experience as a civil servant.

Mr. Nawaz Sharif appears to have had a strange obsession for power, Storming of the supreme court while it was hearing cases of against him, Nadirshahi in Send, Neutralization of the President, 14th amendment, lawlessness because of total demoralization of bureaucracy and judiciary and blatant interference with almost all important legal processes, demolition of all major institutions will give him notoriety in the pages of history. There was no trace of in the running of the govt. The system was so personalized that you could get a secretary' job only if you had had a good connection with Nawaz Sharif or, at least, Saeed Mehdi. I was Secretary Interior in 1995-96.Thereafter I was made an OSD for no reason. There were many other honorable colleagues who shared this experience. I am not saying this because of personal consideration. I am illustrating the personalized governance of NS.

The CE has a case for what he was obliged to do. This country can't prosper/march into the new millennium unless we wake-up as a people & develop democratic ethos. The army can help by enforcing unqualified accountability of the 200 influential families who have acquired all kinds of power during the last 40 years to the detriment of & the people through hook or crook. Competent authorities should examine injustices done to all persons expeditiously. Relief should be provided so that we promote the spirit of fighting against unlawful actions. Loan Defaulters for more than 30 years should be made to pay-up within a short time frame. About a dozen top corrupt officers in civil/ bureaucracy should be subjected to due process of expeditiously to restore confidence in the bureaucracy & to get back the looted wealth. I had suggested the last 2 items to Malik Meraj Khalid but we all know what happened!

Dear Pakistanis keep monitoring the effort of the CE to clean the Augean stables. Give him support if he proceeds on the right lines. We have to remain watchful, as failure to rise to the occasion would leave us with the dreary prospect of ending up like /Somalia in the fast-approaching new Millennium.

Pak Army Zindabad
Hi this is Aamir.

This has been really a great news that our esteemed army
Took the control of and I salute the courageous effort general pervaiz Musharraf and I just pray to Allah that he helps them out in all the aspects of governing the country.

Thank u army


Anatomy of the Pakistani Generals
A lot has been going on in lately, to say the least. finds itself in the middle of a turbulent storm; perhaps even a . All of us, friends or foes, are waiting anxiously to see on which side of the political fence, the country will fall. In a way, we are watching history being made. At this juncture, perhaps it is important to try to understand and analyze the motivations, thought processes, and capabilities of the generals of the . After all, they are the ones who currently hold our collective destinies in their hands. In this article, I will attempt to describe in detail, based on my experience, what makes the Pakistani Generals (Army, Air Force and Navy) tick.

I spent twelve years in the , as an officer. This included my early training as a cadet at the Academy, of which I have very fond memories. My father, and both grandfathers were in the also. This would obviously portray me as a very pro- individual. However, my departure from the , five years ago, was in extremely unfriendly circumstances. I was nearly court-martialled. Most of my colleagues and friends in are still serving in the , as are most of the senior officers who tried to court-martial me. In fact, one or two of these senior officers might be involved in the current decision-making group, formed by the CEO of . In this sense, I have seen both the good and bad of the Pakistani . Hopefully, my views will be considered objective, and not subjective.

Before proceeding further, let me state that I do not personally know General Musharraf, and have never worked for him in any capacity. I do approve of the as a necessary evil, but very strongly oppose extended rule in . I passionately believe in for , but even more passionately consider the of Benazir and Sharif, as well as the current Pakistani political system, to be extremely corrupt.

The civilians in seem divided in their views regarding the institution of the . Many view the and its generals, as the cause of many of ’s problems; others view the and the generals as the solution. In my opinion, the has fallen into, and will continue to fall into both of the above- mentioned categories. It is by far the most disciplined, well- trained, and well-financed institution in . These factors also make it the most powerful institution in . So by default, a large portion of the overall executive authority of the whole country has ended up with the . Due to the disproportionately large size of the army, with respect to the Navy and the Air Force, this authority has traditionally been in the hands of the Army. Militaries are internally structured in a dictatorial hierarchy; hence all the power in the lies in the hands of its senior commanders, i.e. the Generals, Air Marshals, and Admirals (all hereby referred to as generals). Therefore even during civilian rule, much of the executive power of has actually been in the hands of the generals of the Army.

The average Pakistani general in the Army, Air Force, or Navy (this term applies to everyone from the equivalent rank of Major General and up) is in his early fifties. He holds a Bachelors degree from one of ’s three academies. A few of the generals received their cadet training in the British and American academies. The average general also holds a Masters degree from one of the Pakistani or foreign (usually , England) defense institutions of higher studies. These Masters degrees are usually in subjects related to Strategic Studies or International Affairs, with a few in technical areas like Engineering. He has had, at the very least; one extended overseas assignment, and has visited, and attended short training courses in the and/or Europe. The official of the Pakistani is English. So all his training has been in this , and he is thus quite proficient in it.

The history of the lies in the traditions of the British . Over the years, these traditions have combined with Islamic traditions of warfare to create a unique, "Pakistani" for the . This has had its influence on the Pakistani generals, as well. The initial group of Pakistani generals were very western oriented and were "more British than the British themselves." The current generals joined the in the above-mentioned, "Western" era. However they now fall into the, "Pakistani" era of the . In general, they are pro-West, because that is where they received all their foreign training. Also, most of the equipment they operate is manufactured in the Western countries. So they regularly visit Europe and North America. The average Pakistani general is a Muslim; although few of them are day to day practicing Muslims. The effect of the Islamic can be seen in their private lives, as well as within the old British traditions of the ; however in no way is the average general a , or even close to being a .

needs to be discussed here, also. The average Pakistani general is not nearly as ethnically influenced as the average Pakistani civilian. There are small very subtle ethnic groupings in the , but as a whole is almost a non-issue. The reason for this is that the officers join the as teenagers. Since that early stage of their lives, they are part of a group of colleagues from various different Pakistani ethnicities. They grow up within this multi-ethnic group, with very little exposure to the many ethnic issues that exist in . Also, officers are stationed all around , with complete disregard to their ethnicities. Although I am a Punjabi, I only spent three years of my in Punjab. Most of my time was spent in the N.W.F.P. This is true for all the generals, as well. The units that the officers are posted to are not based on their ethnicities. Hence a person from the N.W.F.P. could just as easily end up in a unit of the Frontier Force, as he could in a unit of the Punjab Regiment, or in a unit in any other regiment. Even though General Musharraf is from , I am quite sure he spent almost his entire stationed outside , and more than likely, outside the province of Sind.
Since the future of is currently at the mercy of these generals, it is important to understand their capabilities, as well. They are well disciplined and are very good at their jobs, i.e. warfare preparation. Amongst the militaries around the world, they are considered strong professionals. In fact, most Western commentators consider to be a third-world country with a first-world . The generals operate efficiently within the strongly hierarchical structure of the . However, in my opinion, the same qualities that make them strong commanders make them weak civilian administrators. Even though the generals are good leaders and administrators, they are not good managers. They are not used to handling different and disagreeing points of view. They are used to passing orders, which they expect to be obeyed. Hence, they cannot operate efficiently outside of the structured, well-organized of the . Although, they are all, "well-educated", very few of them are very highly educated. They are generally of average intelligence when compared to their counterparts in the Pakistani private sector. The reason being that most educated youngsters of above-average intelligence in , does not opt for the as a . Since the generals have rarely worked outside the , they lack in exposure. This lack of contact with the Pakistani civilian society has resulted in the , as a whole, being quite a bit less corrupt than the various other Pakistani civilian institutions. However it also results in a situation, where the generals lack the creativity and vision required to be the skippers of a third-world country’s political ship. So, even though General Musharraf has been able to carry out a picture-perfect textbook super-efficient , I he will prove to be even an average political leader, and manager (regardless of how honest and dedicated he may be).

Most Pakistani civilians, of my generation, who have not been exposed to the internals of the Pakistani , seem to use General Zia-ul-Haq as a window into the profile of the average Pakistani general. In my opinion, General Zia-ul-Haq was the exception, and not the norm. He was much more religiously oriented than the average general of the past, or present era. This is ironic, since his coincided with the, "Western" era of the Pakistani . As a private individual, I would place him in the borderline category. Although there are officers like that in the Pakistani at the moment, they are also the exception, and not the norm. Bhutto appointed General Zia-ul-Haq to the post of COAS, because the later considered him a, "weak" and non-threatening general. Sharif was trying to appoint Lt. General Zia-uddin as the COAS, for similar reasons. As the CMLA (Chief Martial Administrator) of , General Zia-ul-Haq’s religious motivations got the best of him, and he tried to turn the whole country into his personal view of an Islamic state. He also did not realize his own limitations as a manager. In my opinion, General Zia-ul-Haq represented the worst the had to offer, and not the best. He was a product of circumstances. Rest assured, he does not in anyway, represent the profile of the average Pakistani general. It would be unfair to use him as a benchmark.

A is only as good as its Chief of Staff. Keeping this in mind, a country under martial is only as good as its CMLA or CEO. This is why floundered under General Zia-ul-Haq, and his generals. It is also why will flounder under General Musharraf and his generals, if they do not hand over the control of the country to civilian professionals quickly. Past experience indicates if the current generals hold on to power too long, there is nothing to stop them from becoming as corrupt and inefficient as any civilian administration. This will also result in within the . At the same time, their to at the moment is higher than that of the current political leaders. So they are the best qualified, in the very short term, to handle the turbulent situation that finds itself in. After that, it must be, "back to the barracks" with some kind of a civilian administration in place.

It is fair to judge the effects of future extended governments in , in light of what governments have done to in the past. However, I do not think it is fair to judge the present group of generals running , in light of General Zia-ul-Haq, and his men. That would be an unfair generalization. At the same time, we must be careful and look at the other side of the coin. Even if General Musharraf and his crew turn out be ’s, "saviors and Messiahs", that still does not mean that a future group of generals will be equally good. Also, regardless of how good General Musharraf and his men are in the short run, they should not be allowed to rule in the long run, for reasons mentioned previously in this article.

There is a saying, "Best ; good czar, worst , bad czar; more bad czars than good czars." has had more than its share of bad czars. Let’s and pray General Musharraf turns out to be a, "good short-term czar."

Khilafah for
ARMY: DECLARE KHILAFAH AND TO LIBERATE MUSLIM LAND
GIVE THE AUTHORITY TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE U'LAMA TO ESTABLISH AL-KHILAFAH

In light of the good news that Nawaz Sheriff’s hegemony as Prime Minister of has to come to an abrupt end with a by the Pakistani army, the Islamic movements world wide and Al-Muhajiroun in particular urge the Chief of army staff general , all Muslim Generals, Brigadiers, Colonels, Majors, Officers and soldiers in to play their role NOW as the Army of the Messenger Muhammad (swt) and to hand authority to the Ulema of in order to implement the Khilafah, the only ruling system allowed by the Shari'ah i.e. Islamic , just as the Ansar handed authority to the Messenger Muhammad (saw) when he first established the Islamic State in Madina.

It is clear that putting our affairs into the hands of secularists will never bring Islamic to rather it will continue the hegemony of Man-made conveniently cloaked in the guise of such sound-bites as "Islamic " and "constitutional ".

, created for the establishment of , does not require an amendment to its Kufr , which gives (i.e. by man over man) precedence over the Shari'ah, but a which eradicates all emanating from any Man-made source, to be replaced by one leader managing the affairs of the people, both Muslim and non-Muslim exclusively in accordance with divine . It is inconceivable that a which bases itself on irreligious principles and
could ever find itself in a position to declare itself an Islamic state the very antithesis of its illegitimacy as a dedicated to its own profane existence as a secular state.

Enough is enough, let us be rid of these liars and oppressors once and for all.

Take the following action immediately:

1. Cease all embassies and foreign ambassadors immediately whether they belong to Western dictatorial regimes or other countries

2. Reject any intervention from foreign or international bodies such as the UN, OIC, EU, NATO etc…

3. Declare the Kufr of null and void and the supremacy of the Shari'ah alone as a khilafah system of

4. Do not aim your weapons at your Muslim brothers and do not target
Civilians rather aim your weapons at the occupying forces and whoever stands in the way of implementing the rule of Allah.

5. Declare the removal of all borders and the invitation to all Muslims to become of the khilafah i.e. the Islamic State. Unite our Muslim land of and to be the precursor of greater unity under the Khilafah.

6. Give authority to those to whom it rightly belongs. Let the Muslims through the general assembly of the U'lama (Juristic Islamic scholars) elect a brave Khalifah to rule by what Allah has revealed and who you know will declare against the enemies of Allah, his Messenger and the Muslims and who will rule according to the way of the Khulafah Rashidoun.

7. Carry the Islamic message to the entire world; we are an Ummah, which lives so that we can carry the message unlike other Nations who survive without any mission.

Indeed we are an Ummah of and beyond we have been chosen by to lead the whole world if we hold to his command i.e. His revelation. And Allah (swt) says that "you are the best Nation ever Raised for mankind" May Allah (SWT) be witness that we called you to fulfill your duty of establishing the Khilafah.

AL-MUHAJIROUN

The Voice, The Eyes, The Ears of The Muslims Al-Muhajiroun Publications, P.O.Box, 349, London N9 7RR

Telephone 0181 884 0074 - 0171 474 3746 Fax 0181 803 4541 Mobile 0956 920006 or 0956 600 569 or 0956 950 124 E.mail: almuhajiroun@yahoo.com - http://www.almuhajiroun.com or www.obm.clara.net