The Catastrophic Demise Of Project Imran by Shama JunejoA conversation in 2015 with a general was still in my vivid memory when we argued about the recklessly enthusiastic launch of “Project Imran”, I refused to support that idea and PTI. I also warned him that I could foresee some disastrous outcome of this project within a decade and that it would be published in the US military’s “Catalogue of Catastrophe”, that why a military has to remain apolitical.

I argued that despite the success of the ‘Thank You, Raheel Sharif” narrative, this project was risky because of no risk assessment on the probabilities of failure; or the measurements about the causal relationships of “what and if” scenarios.

I would then share my articles with him and others on the terrible precedents of populist politics, which, in my opinion, Pakistan could not afford as a security state. Of course, the Generals would disagree, as they were blindly hopeful and a fan of the charismatic leadership of Imran that he would make Pakistan a corruption-free country.

However, what happened later is history and will definitely be published in the “catalogue of catastrophes” in the coming years. That is why Finer, Huntington, and many others will stand tall over the civilian control of military theories. My series of columns from 2014-2021 is also part of the history of repeatedly warning.

However, that is not the issue of writing this article during Imran Khan’s speech today in Rawalpindi. I want to correct some facts as per my knowledge since I read many articles and saw some vlogs on the latest military leadership.

It is rightly revealed that Zardari wanted General Aamir as Joint Chief to send Faiz home. President Zardari had his political reasoning that the presence of General Faiz would continue the political conspiracies; therefore, some junior, such as General Aamir, must be elevated as JCSC to supersede him. His advice had a mutual consensus until the very early evening when the military establishment decided to give a respectful exit to their notorious general instead of superseding him.

The composition of the Pakistani military structure is to save the institution from any external prototype imaging or infiltration, and whatever grave internal accountability and liability concerns are within the institution, they ought to remain within. The Pakistani military has never allowed and never wished to be persecuted by the judiciary or civilians, which is a set precedent from Yahya to Musharraf.

Therefore, a silent agreement was reached in the last hours to appoint General Asim Munir as COAS (already settled) and appoint General Sahir Shamshad as JCSC. Once these appointments were notified, then General Faiz would announce his retirement. I was astonished yesterday when General Azhar announced his retirement but not General Faiz because he was also supposed to announce his retirement. Therefore, I tweeted that General Azhar has announced his retirement; however, General Faiz will continue his services as corps commander, Bahawalpur.

As apparent, there was a disturbance and whispers. However, today General Faiz announced his retirement, which shows that the current guys are men of their word. We should appreciate that the mistakes have been admitted for the first time in history. General Bajwa did not ought to admit the catastrophic outcome of the Hybrid project; however, he was made to admit it, and it must not be taken for granted.

The civilians should console it. They must not forget that the fundamental policy of the armed forces is to save the institution from all kinds of prototype imaging which Imran Khan successfully ruined by completely thrashing the Army leadership by calling them names and through an unprecedented malicious campaign from his party and leaders like Azam Swati. So, even though Bajwa admitted the mistake of his Bajwa Doctrine and vowed that the military would not repeat any such adventure.

However, that would not end the latent control of the military on national security issues which will remain within the constitutional framework to demonstrate the Apolitical professionalism of the Pakistani army. I must quote Kohn that civilian control is a process rather than a fact, and Pakistan has a long path to complete that process. The demise of Project Imran needs a proper funeral where the ashes need to be burnt instead of buried.

In my assessment, since the military establishment has taken full responsibility for the catalogue of the catastrophe, they have to send another General home, who was also an active character since Dawn Leaks Scandal. If they are committed to cleansing the institution of political pollution, they must demonstrate it in good faith by obeying the constitution.
Courtesy: The Friday Times

Shama Junejo
Latest posts by Shama Junejo (see all)

Facebook comments

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR