Will Pak Army Chief Gen Asim Munir stand up? | World News

With neither Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nor Army Chief Gen Asim Munir in the country, unruly supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party chief Imran Khan Niazi attacked no less than 10 Army, Air Force and Services installations including schools on May 9 free for all riots in the Islamic Republic after Niazi was picked up from the court by Pakistan Rangers.

Facts collated from Pakistan media and news channels, the following institutions were attacked by the PTI mob:

· Jinnah House, Lahore Corps Commander Residence, Lahore

· General Headquarters (GHQ) Rawalpindi.

· Pakistan Air Force Martyrs Memorial, Sargodha

· Inter-Services Intelligence Sector Headquarters in Faisalabad

· Rangers Post, Karachi.

· Frontier Corps Base, Chakdara.

· Frontier Corps Barracks, Mardan

· Frontier Corps School, Dir

· Pakistan Air Force Base at Mianwali

· Services Hospital, Lahore.

Other important targets of vandalism were :

· Election Commission, Regional Offices, Peshawar, and Lahore

· Shehbaz Sharif’s private residence at Lahore

· Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) office in Lahore.

While Army Chief Gen Munir and his Corps Commanders after a special meeting on May 15 decided to invoke the Pakistan Army Act and the Official Secret Act to bring the rioters to book, the May 9 incident showed that government and army command and control had surrendered before the riotous mob on that momentous day. On that day, PM Shehbaz Sharif was in London and Gen Asim Munir was on an official visit to Oman. The two rushed back a day later after the Pak Army’s nose had been rubbed to the ground by the PTI mob on May 9.

The May 9 events pose questions on the leadership of PM Sharif and Gen Munir, who has been specifically targeted by Niazi time and again. It is learnt that Gen Munir was the choice of PM Sharif but the outgoing Army Chief Gen Qamar Jawed Bajwa wanted his successor to be Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, who is the current Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The total anarchy in Pakistan on May 9 showed the leadership of PM Sharif in poor light as the government had virtually abdicated its responsibility during the furious mob protest with the once powerful Lahore Corps Commander asking for forgiveness from the PTI supporters who had entered Jinnah House. Lahore is the seat of V Corps of the Pakistan Army with jurisdiction over the entire Pakistan Punjab. Even the statues of Pakistan’s past military heroes were targeted by the mob.

The total breakdown of law and order in Pakistan on May 9 and the subsequent bail granted by the courts in all cases to Imran Niazi including the Al Qadir Trust case shows the clout of the former cricketer in present Pakistani politics with the powerful Sharif and Zardari clans not being able to confront the PTI chief. In this context, the seemingly overt soft corner of the Pakistani higher courts and the Pakistani President comes as no surprise.

While the political football is on in Pakistan, its economy has taken the spiral down with IMF relief still not on the horizon and as a result of which the common man is being hit by huge inflation and costly imports due to the weak Pakistani Rupee against the US Dollar. The country today is sitting on the razor’s edge and unless Niazi and his supporters are not made accountable, the already radicalized Republic is headed for rock bottom. Already, the fortress Pakistan military, the last bastion of the Islamic Republic, stands breached.