Pakistan has a new Army Chief. In Pakistan’s scheme of things, this is a very consequential appointment. Two former Indian army generals (retd.) offer their asssement about the change of guard at the Rawalpindi General Headquarters.

LITTLE ELSE CHANGES: The incoming chief will adhere to the prescriptions by the Deep State but should avoid personal wars of his own, especially towards the end of his tenure

Nawaz Sharif has the dubious distinction of a fractious relationship with all five Chiefs of Army Staff he has worked with, including the three that he chose himself.It started with his first handpicked choice of General Waheed Kakar (superseding four senior officers) in 1993 subsequently reneging and pressurising Nawaz Sharif to tender his resignation as the Prime Minister. The next General that Nawaz Sharif had to deal with was General Jehangir Karamat (choice of the previous Benazir Bhutto government), and soon the irreconcilable disagreement between the two flared up, leading to the general’s premature resignation. Having burnt his fingers, Nawaz wanted to play absolutely safe. He superseded a ‘pliant’ Mohajir Gen Pervez Musharraf. He soon demonstrated his independent adventurism with Kargil and finally Nawaz Sharif was bumped off and exiled in a bloodless coup. In his third return to power in 2013, Nawaz had to ‘manage’ a cold and unpredictable Gen Pervez Kayani (chosen by his bête noire, Gen  Musharaf in 2007). After he ‘hung his boots as promised (after an  extension), Nawaz quickly pounced upon the opportunity to make his third personal choice in Gen Raheel Sharif.Bobby (Gen Sharif’s pet name), like the new chief, was not the frontrunner and therefore seemed a ‘safe’ choice who could oblige! Except, Bobby too, would prove otherwise. He had lived his fairly illustrious military life in the shadow of his brother’s legacy, the late Major Rana Shabbir Sharif (recipient of Pakistan’s highest gallantry award, ‘Nishan-e-Haider’ in 1971 war). Bobby was always struggling to ‘live up’ to the proud legacy of his elder brother, who incidentally was the batch mate of Gen Pervez Musharraf. Belonging to the proud martial stock of the Janjua clan, Gen Raheel Sharif was the quintessential Pakistani general – barrel chested, plain speaking and perceptibly nationalistic. Soon, he would follow the independent streak that typifies the generals in the ‘Army House’ in the manicured cantonment town of Rawalpindi, as opposed to the despised politicos in Islamabad.Expectedly, General Raheel Sharif came into his own and decided on the national narrative by taking on homegrown terror (after the Peshawar school massacre) and started defining the contours of foreign policy with dashes to Kabul, Riyadh, Washington, Beijing etc. on briefs that went beyond military matters. A hapless Nawaz Sharif was often left suffering the indignity of  making political retractions (post Ufa summit), policy flip-flops (with India) and getting lectured on domestic corruption (after ‘Panamagate’) by his Chief of Army Staff. Today, with the ensuing ‘selective’ war on terror, the ‘Panamagate’ expose and the flaring volatility on the LOC, made the Pakistani armed forces and Gen Raheel Sharif in particular, the real McCoy in Pakistan. By keeping his word on retirement, Gen. Sharif has further strengthened his legacy, and importantly of the Pakistani armed forces. Bobby won all the battles against the politicos, and built-up the relevance and favourable perception of the parallel institution, the armed forces. Bobby ensured that he could indulge in leisurely game hunts, whilst, the institution retains the glint in its bayonets, without having to resort to unnecessary formality and complexities of a military coup d’état.   Gen Bajwa is the fourth time Nawaz Sharif has made a selection on his own. Unsurprisingly, his supposed apoliticalness and low profile ensured that he too, hopped over four generals. His credentials are eerily similar to those of Gen Raheel Sharif — both were ‘dark horses’, both were IG (Training and Insp) before elevation, both are of Punjabi stock and supposedly, apolitical. However, a careful analysis of the Pakistani military history bears out the deep institutional truth, of a close-knit decision-making network that operates through a guarded and consultative grouping of corps commanders, which toes its own line. The military institution is larger than the individual, and the institution takes care of its own – the brazen freedom afforded on Gen Musharraf is a testimony. Clearly, Gen Bajwa does not carry the operational scars of the Indo-Pak war (he joined the Baloch Regiment in 1980) or suffered a personal angularity like that of Gen Raheel Sharif’s family in the `71 war. However, his familial credentials of military upbringing are impeccable, with both his father and father-in-law having served in the Pakistani Army. Gen Bajwa is the veritable inheritor of the well-oiled Pakistani military juggernaut, with carefully selected military men well ensconced in sensitive positions like the NSA (Lt Gen Nasser Khan Janjua) and the ISI chief (Lt Gen Rizwan Akhtar) to oversee the seamless continuum of operations.The present arrangement of an ostensible civilian government, with the reigns firmly in the hands of the burly military men works perfectly fine for the institution of the Pakistani armed forces. No perceptible change of strategic track is envisaged by the strategists in New Delhi. Nawaz Sharif has personally punted thrice before and got it terribly wrong. Gen Bajwa is the fourth time Nawaz has thrown the dice in a perennial power struggle that he has always lost, so far.The writer is a former Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry

INTERESTING FACTS

• Pak has appointed 16 Chiefs including Bajwa but the first two were British.
• Gul Hassan was sacked after the `71 defeat. Zia and Asif Nawaz Junjua died in harness. Karamat was eased out.
• Three took over the reins — Ayub Khan, Zia and Musharraf. Ayub made himself Field Marshal. Yahya Khan became President after Ayub.
• All three Pak Army Chiefs who took over the reigns remained COAS, some preferring Army House over President House.
• The longest tenure was by Gen Zia (12 years) and the shortest by Gul Hassan (less than 3 months).
• Most were from Infantry with Armored Corps having three (Gul Hassan, Zia and Jahangir Karamat) and Artillery two (Tikka Khan and Mushraff).
• Nawaz appointed five while his move to appoint Ziauddin to replace Mushraff was scuttled.
• Baloch Regiment has given the maximum of four Chiefs (Yahya, Aslam Beg, Kayani and Bajwa)

Jaipur, November 28

A former Army man died today while standing in a bank queue to withdraw cash in Ladnu city of Nagaur district. Veteran Prahalad Singh, 70, who had queued up at State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur’s Ladnu branch at 9 am, fainted and died soon after the bank opened, Ladnu SHO NM Kumawat said.On November 19, former servicemen Ratna Ram, 75, died in a bank queue at Pilani. With today’s death, five persons have lost their lives so far in Rajasthan following the demonetisation decision. Meanwhile, ‘Bharat Bandh’ against the demonetisation evoked a poor response in the state capital as big businessmen did not support the Opposition parties’ call.Pradesh Congress Committee chief Sachin Pilot said the party was just supporting the cause and not participating in ‘Akrosh Bandh’. No untoward incident was reported so far in Rajasthan, a senior cop of the police headquarters claimed. — OC

Parrikar says, “We don’t itch for a fight.” File photo

Panaji, November 26

Union Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said India did not seek war, but would “gouge out eyes” of the enemy if provoked.”We don’t itch for a fight, but if someone looks at the country with evil eye, we will gouge his eyes out and put them back in his hand, we have that much power,” he said while addressing a rally in Aldona Assembly constituency in Goa.Goans can tell the world that they had sent a man to the Centre who had slapped the enemy across the face, he said.“There was no firing on the border for the last three days because if they (Pakistan) fire once, we fire twice at them. We are giving tit-for-tat response, and when they realised it, they approached us, seeking to stop it,” Parrikar said in an apparent referrence to the request by Pakistan for DGMO-level talks three days ago.Asserting that, Armed Forces were fully prepared, Parrikar said his mother had taught him that “even if you are going to hunt a rabbit, be prepared to kill a tiger”. — PTI

Five soldiers hurt in Manipur ambush

Imphal: Five Special Forces personnel of the Indian Army were injured in an ambush by militants in Chandel district of Manipur on Saturday. An IED blast was triggered during a combing operation followed by light arms fire by the militants. The incident occurred at Sajik Tampak in Chandel district, close to the Myanmar border. In 2015, 18 soldiers were killed in an ambush in Chandel, while in May six personnel of Assam Rifles died in the district. PTI

CAUGHT IN TRAP The complainant went with meet the accused with a CBI official, where they recorded the conversation in which the accused demanded `44,000 bribe for senior garrison engineer

PANCHKULA: The assistant garrison engineer, Western Command, RS Verma, who was arrested on Thursday red handed while accepting `25,000 as bribe at Chandimandir, was seeking bribe for his senior officer too. This fact has been revealed in the transcript of conversations recorded by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The transcript of RS Verma and the complainant was submitted before the court on Friday.Meanwhile, the CBI did not press for RS Verma’s police custody and the court sent him to Ambala jail.

The transcript revealed how bribe needed to be paid for getting completion certificates and how contractors are being threatened in the name of blacklisting.

Surender Sharma, a resident of Hisar, who is one of the partners in AR Construction Co, had not only complained against RS Verma but also against his senior BM Verma. He had alleged that both the garrison engineers were not clearing his 3 bills amounting to `10 lakh, `14 lakh and `2 lakh.

He had told CBI that for clearing bills, RS Verma was seeking `60,000 while for BM Verma he was asking 10% of a tender of `44 lakh, ie `44,000.

Sharma gave the complaint on November 23 and the same day he went with CBI’s recorder to meet RS Verma. After the conversation was recorded, the trap was laid on November 24 where he was arrested with `25,000 as bribe.

The CBI told the court that RS Verma directed Sharma to arrange as much as he could and hand over the same to him.

As per the recordings, BM Verma was not present in his office, so Sharma couldn’t go and meet him. The CBI told the court that verification of demand of bribe by BM Verma couldn’t be done on this account. The CBI also told the court that when Sharma asked RS Verma that whether he should call BM Verma on phone to verify his demand, he suggested him to meet him in person.

“Unfortunately, he couldn’t be trapped. My work at Chandimandir cantonment was related to fencing, tiling and other maintenance work,” Sharma told HT.

Western Command chief Lt Gen Surinder Singh calls on Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in Jammu on Thursday. Tribune Photo

Tribune News Service

Jammu, November 24

Lt Gen Surinder Singh, Army Commander, Western Command, called on Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti here today and briefed her about the latest situation on the border as a result of continuing cross-border shelling.The Chief Minister asked the Army Commander to extend all possible help to the civil administration in border areas for the rehabilitation and safety of people living there.The meeting between the two took place two days after three soldiers were killed in the Machil sector. India has since lodged a strong protest with Pakistan against the killing and mutilation of their soldiers and militarily responded to violations of the ceasefire.The Army launched a major fire assault along the LoC in Kashmir, causing “substantive damage” and disrupting Pakistani army’s movement in the Neelum Valley.

The Director of CSWT, Indore, IGP Pankaj, posing with the pistol of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. Photos: Jupinderjit Singh

Jupinderjit Singh

Tribune News Service

Indore, November 22

Lying in oblivion for almost half a century as just another of the 294 relics at the Border Security Force’s Central School of Weapons and Tactics in this Madhya Pradesh town, Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s pistol is finally getting revered status here.Till recently, Assistant Commandant Vijendra Singh, who imparts briefings on the history of weapons to trainees, would talk about a US-made .32 Colt rimless and smokeless pistol as a small chapter in the growth of weapons from 1531 onwards.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)All that changed after a four-part series by The Tribune — based on the findings of an Indian historian in Lahore — and subsequent reportage on the possible whereabouts of the freedom fighter’s pistol.The weapon was used in the killing of British police officer JP Saunders in Lahore on December 17, 1928, and played a pivotal part in the Lahore conspiracy case that saw Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev being hanged and attaining legendary martyr status.Assistant Commandant Vijendra now devotes a lot of time talking about the weapon and its rich history while the trainees, including a group of DSPs on a refresher course, vie with each other to get photographed with it.“I am overcome with emotion as I hold the great martyr’s pistol in hand. I have held so many weapons in my long career but none like this one,” says IG Pankaj, who is the director of the BSF weapons’ school.“No one here had any idea that the pistol belonged to Shaheed Bhagat Singh,” he admits candidly.After The Tribune furnished details of the pistol to him to look for in the BSF records, a team found an entry in an old register but an obstacle came up next to locate the exact weapon. For preservation purposes as well as for better display, all weapons in the museum are painted black. The staff had to remove the paint to find the real one. “We removed the paint and to our great joy, the number 168896 came out clearly on the barrel with matching details.”Commandant HS Bedi and other officers of the BSF confide that the discovery of the pistol in their museum was news for them. “It is amazing. It was always here and no one knew it,” he says.Such is the craze that the museum is witnessing an unprecedented footfall. The weapon is now kept separately in a glass case on a pedestal. But the description about its importance is yet to be displayed alongside.“We are preparing a special place for displaying the pistol along with Shaheed Bhagat Singh’s portrait and documents at the new museum building that is under construction. We would prepare a gallery of the documents, including clippings of The Tribune that brought the weapon back from oblivion,” the IG says.In Chandigarh, publisher Harish Jain, who has penned several books on Shaheed Bhagat Singh, can’t hide his excitement. “No photograph of the pistol is available anywhere. This is the first time it would be in public domain.” Co-author and historian Malwinderjit Singh Waraich says it would be a dream come true for him to see the pistol.

Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Pak PM

Simran Sodhi

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, November 16

The next round between India and Pakistan might play out in Amritsar in early December as indications suggest that Sartaj Aziz, Pakistan Prime Minister’s adviser on foreign affairs, is likely to travel to the city to attend an international conference.Amritsar will host ‘Heart of Asia Conference’ on December 3-4, which would provide an opportunity for India and Pakistan to resume dialogue that has remained suspended since the September Uri attacks. Speaking to a Pakistani TV channel, Aziz said his visit could be a “good opportunity” to “defuse tension”. Aziz said he was not yet aware if he would be meeting his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the conference.(Follow The Tribune on Facebook; and Twitter @thetribunechd)India has not yet responded to the comments of Aziz and sources in the government here said for India, this would have to be a careful decision. If India decides to hold a meeting with Aziz, it could be construed that India had compromised on the tough position it had taken post-Uri, said sources.Since Uri, the government has tried to isolate Pakistan globally and its biggest success was the cancellation of the SAARC Summit in Islamabad. Led by India, SAARC member nations boycotted the summit citing that the atmosphere was not “conducive” for the event. 

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 13

Offices of the Defence Accounts Department (DAD), which is closely involved in all aspects of defence planning and functioning, have been cautioned against the leak of sensitive military information from its staff.The Directorate General of Military Intelligence (DGMI) had recently reported that sensitive information was shared by some of the DAD’s field officers with unauthorised persons, prompting the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) to issue a cautionary note to all its establishments.The DAD deals with all military matters having a financial bearing and is associated with scrutiny and vetting of all proposals pertaining to procurements and defence works, processing of payments as well as audit. DAD officers are also integrated with military formations and establishments at various levels to render financial advice to commanders and conduct local audit.Referring to DGMI’s reports, the CGDA’s notepoints out that local audit offices are vulnerable and can be targeted for information pertaining to movement of units and formations, names of commanders and other operational details.Moreover, information pertaining to weapons or equipment being procured, works being executed like building defence structures such as bunkers and bunds or revealing gaps through audit has a serious bearing on national security. The CGDA has cautioned that communication of sensitive information to unauthorised persons would attract disciplinary action.