The optics are awful – or are they? Has the military stormed back in politics – or are the top generals gritting their teeth to clean up the political mess created by their politicking predecessors? Caretaker PM Kakar’s actions in the coming days and weeks hold the answers to these and similar questions.
By Ahmer Kureishi
The optics are awful: After days of dithering, the country’s political leadership has named its choice of caretaker prime minister to head the transition through the next general election, and the name they picked is a known asset of the deep state.
Related: Balochistan Senator Anwaarul Haq Kakar appointed as interim PM ahead of polls
The names that were thrown around in the days and weeks ahead of the announcement towering political figures like Shahid Khaqab Abbasi and Ishaq Dar, included squeaky clean retired judges like Maqbool Baqir, Khalil-ur-Rehman Ramaday, and Tassadaq Jillani; and upright former bureaucrats like Fawad Hussain Fawad and Ahad Cheema.
And yet, as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sat down with Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Raja Riaz to make the final important decision of his term, they settled on the name of Kakar, a Senator representing the Balochistan Awami Party (BAP). What could be worse?
And yet, as always, there is another way of looking at the matter. Notwithstanding the aggressive campaign of harassment allegations mounted by former Prime Minister Imran Khan since his exit in a vote of no confidence in April 2022, the discerning among observers know that the PDM-led coalition government in power since has resolutely steered clear of hardball tactics against him.
In fact, on occasions, there have been reports of PML-N figurehead and former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and PPP supremo and former President Asif Ali Zardari leaning on the coalition government to go easy or desist from use of force.
It seems the stalwarts of Pakistani politics are in no mood to shoulder the burden of strong-arm measures necessary to clean up the mess created by yesterday’s deep state. This in fact may have helped keep Khan’s fortunes buoyant beyond his shelf life.
This is precisely why – while Khan’s faction may have harboured a misplaced hope of relief from the caretaker setup – PDM partisans expected the corruption cases Khan to gather momentum with the advent of the caretaker government – a necessary evil because there is no way the nation can move forward without cleaning up this mess.
And yet, if a political loyalist of the ruling coalition were to be brought in to clean up these augean stables, the responsibility for any strict measures would inevitably become their baggage. It seems the coalition therefore decided to rotate strike to the military.
Incidentally, if this indeed be the genesis of this move, it would track with Nawaz Sharif’s continued insistence that the military must clean up the mess of its making and take back the gift (“saughat”) it bestowed on the nation’s politics.
At another level, this is also an opening for the military to prove to the nation where it stands. The populace is deeply sceptical of the claims by Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Asim Munir and his top colleagues that they are sworn to staying within their constitutional mandate. This scepticism is understandable based on the history of generals’ meddling in politics.
But Kakar flying right as the caretaker Prime Minister and steering the nation’s politics towards constitutionalism and civilian supremacy through a free and fair election can potentially prove their claim almost incontrovertibly – because he is a politician known in his former life to be a protege of the military.
If, on the other hand, the generals want to play other games, now is their time to lean on their man and try whatever they would – and bear the brunt of the responsibility for their actions. Thus, PM Sharif seems to have thrown down the gauntlet for the military to show its hand for everyone to see.
The long and short of it is that the nation will know soon enough which way the wind is blowing – by closely watching the words and deeds of PM Kakar.
If caretaker PM Kakar wants to fly right at this pivotal moment in the country’s political history, he has his job cut out for him. His first order of business is holding Khan and his cronies accountable for their actions – from corruption to subversion of the constitution to acts of mob violence targeting military installations to threatening and attacking courts and judges.
The accomplishment of his first order of business is primary to his second order of business and his formal job description: Holding a free and fair general election, ensuring a level playing field for all legitimate players.
Any words of actions on Kakar’s part that betray his lack of commitment to these tasks will be a dead giveaway he is a Trojan horse. What options the country’s political leadership has against that eventuality remains to be seen, but it is fairly certain it will have options.
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