Strange are the ways of our elites. As political and military leaders they refuse to recognise or talk to each other, but confide in an “alien” ambassador regarding our internal matters and differences. They do not trust each other and avoid direct talks because that hurts their inflated egos. And the ambassador would happily listen to them because it advances her country’s interests among the players in the power game.
There are some aspects of interstate relations which are kept away from the public for understandable reasons. But all such interactions are not meant to imperil one party’s interests in the equation. The Wikileaks saga discloses that our political and military leaders would readily sacrifise national sovereignty and prestige at the altar of self-interest. In public they would criticise the US and blame each other for appeasing it at the cost of national interests. However, these blames were mere allegations until what was recently proved by Wikileaks. The leaks exposed leaders of all hues and confirmed that, like past rulers, our current leaders have placed personal interests above national interests. In this regard, the revelations sight no difference between our leaders of the left and the right. All are found to be competing for US attention on matters that have consequences for the country. As such, they have actually taken the ambassador for a viceroy of this land.
The leaks have caught both our generals and civilian leaders off guard. Publicly they appear bearing with each other, but privately they loathe each other when they are in the presence of the US ambassador. The symbol of the federation and supreme commander of the armed forces is weary of his general who in his view may “take him out”, while the latter dislikes Zardari for “corruption” and “bad governance”. Zardari also derides and degrades the Sharifs. In this endeavour he even confides to the US ambassador that Shahbaz Sharif informed LeT leaders to empty their bank accounts in view of the impending ban on the group for its suspected role in the Mumbai attacks. He alleged that Nawaz Sharif intended to have A Q Khan elected as a senator from the PML-N platform.
The US ambassador’s cables describe the PPP government as the best bet for the US agenda in the region. She believed that Zardari and Gilani were better suited for the job and therefore recommended US support to help them complete their term. In this context, Gilani’s duplicity in supporting drone attacks during meetings with US emissaries and condemning the attacks in public has also been laid bare. The “deceit” stems from an understanding with the US that the PPP government will earnestly continue the war on terror. Gilani had informed the ambassador his party would create an uproar in parliament on the issue but forgot it afterwards. Despite such commendable services to the US, the cables cast Zardari and Gilani as equally “unreliable”. Other cables disclose that the US has not yet chosen a “trustworthy” Pakistani leader for its agenda in the region.
All political leaders publicly critical of the war-on-terror policies have forgotten their stances during meetings with American interlocutors. Nawaz Sharif’s assurance that he is friends with the US is pragmatic. Like other political and military leaders of Pakistan, he knew that the PML-N could not form a government without American assistance. Even if he managed to do that, he would not be able to run the country without the US. Like Gilani, the PML-N leader’s public criticism of drone attacks and the war-on-terror policy is meant only for public consumption.
The same is true for Maulana Fazlur Rehman. The Maulana requested the US ambassador to support him as candidate for prime minister. He also offered the services of JUI-F members if he received a good price. The revelations have exposed our democratic leaders as trusting US support more than votes from the people. For this very reason they least care about people’s interests.
After the return of democracy, Gen Kayani had taken pains to rehabilitate the army’s image. He was considered a professional soldier trying to keep away from politics. But Wikileaks disclosed that politics is not anathema to the general. The general spoke his mind before the US ambassador, saying that he had no liking for Nawaz Sharif and Zardari. He told the Americans that the army disliked Zardari for corruption and bad governance. He had no good words for Nawaz Sharif either. The top general thought of removing Zardari from presidency if the agitation for restoration of the chief justice took a bad turn. He had a contingency plan of installing Asfandyar Wali Khan as president in case he needed to “persuade” Zardari to step down. These thoughts were confided to the US ambassador quite frankly.
Anne Patterson’s cables have added to the civil-military divide by reinforcing the lack of trust and confidence between these forces. Evidently, the generals show contempt for the political leaders and hate to be subservient to civilian control. On the other hand, politicians consider the generals the most portentous threat to civilian government, who they think can only be thwarted by US goodwill. For survival and power, the civil and military leaders are not likely to cease inviting US interference for personal or institutional gains. The internal disconnect may well lead to another dictatorship in the long run. Meanwhile, the US will grab every opportunity to further its agenda in the country and wider region.
Whatever our political future, it is an unfortunate fact that 170 million Pakistanis figured nowhere in the power game of our “elite” and will surely not figure in it in the future.
Wikileaks Shame
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