Imran at peril over standoff with Deep State

Maroof Raza
Strategic Affairs Analyst

The discord between Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan and military commanders, especially the army chief, General Bajwa, could have only one victim — even if Pakistan’s past isn’t a precedence, when prime ministers were shown the door — and that would be Imran Khan because Khan has been widely referred to as a ‘selected’, and not an elected, prime minister.

And the man who ensured his selection was the very army chief, General Bajwa, whom Imran seems to be now standing up to. Their apparent disagreement is about the tenure of the current ISI chief, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, who ran into trouble with his military bosses in the GHQ, Rawalpindi, when he had rushed to Kabul in September — without the knowledge of the army’s brass hats — to ensure that the ISI-orchestrated takeover of Afghanistan had a ‘happy’ ending (for the ISI) when the Taliban’s government was sworn in.

General Hameed not only had the Taliban’s PM-aspirant Mullah Baradar beaten up by the hoods of the Haqqani group, but he also ensured that more than 20 out of the 33 cabinet appointees of the new Taliban regime were the men whom the ISI had control over. But that wasn’t all.

The Pakistan army’s unending denials about its role in Afghanistan, when the US and NATO forces were at a loss on how to succeed against the challenge posed by the Taliban, was finally a secret no more when Lt-Gen Hameed was spotted having tea with the Pakistani envoy at a Kabul hotel where many foreign journalists were staying.

Moreover, General Hameed had cockily, on that occasion, also responded to a journalist’s question about the future of Afghanistan, saying: “Don’t worry, everything will be okay.”

This incident was duly photographed and it laid bare the Pakistan army’s overt role in the Taliban’s victory march into Kabul. The military brass hats were visibly upset — as their great game was exposed — at General Hameed’s reckless behaviour. He was summoned to the GHQ, Rawalpindi, the ISI flag was removed from his car, and he was marched up to the army’s Adjutant-General and issued a ‘show- cause’ notice. Hameed was asked to submit an unconditional apology to the army chief or face disciplinary action.

As any military man would know, you can’t challenge the military’s hierarchy — especially so in Pakistan — and get away with it. He apologised.

But he soon received a posting order, with Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum being appointed as the new chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Lt Gen Faiz Hameed being posted out as Commander of the Peshawar-based Corps XI, where he’ll still remain relevant for Pakistan’s great game in Afghanistan.

But this is where Imran Khan comes in. In Pakistan, stated custom and procedure requires the prime minister to approve the appointments of the army chief and the DG ISI. All other military appointments are left to the wisdom of the generals in the GHQ, Rawalpindi.

So, Imran has asked for Lt Gen Hameed to continue as the DG ISI, but the army’s brass hats want him posted out as General Hameed’s tenure has been marred by controversies — even before he undertook that cavalier visit to Kabul, and this had often kept the ISI under the media’s spotlight.

In fact, there were concerns about his behaviour dating back to his days at the ISI as head of internal security. It can be argued that Imran is trying to hold on to the DG ISI to prevent being browbeaten by General Bajwa.

Historically, whenever the two — the army and the ISI chief — have worked in cohesion, they have quickly put an end to the prime minister’s tenure. But even if a prime minister tries to use one against the other — as Nawaz Sharif did when he removed General Musharraf as he was flying back to Pakistan from Colombo, briefly replacing him with Lt Gen K Ziauddin Ahmed — the army chief prevails, as did General Musharraf. Nawaz was booted out of office and was lucky to get away without being hanged!

So, if Imran Khan hasn’t learnt from history and has become a victim of delusion or the hushed whispers of his advisers — and he assumes that he’s now happily saddled in his seat — he could be repeating history to his own peril.

Imran claims that Lt Gen Hameed must stay on as the DG ISI for reasons of national security, arguing that Hameed knows the players and the situation in Afghanistan rather well. But in any army, nobody operates in isolation — not even the army chief — and hence, any other DG ISI could be educated in the agency’s deep, dark secrets very quickly.

But the generals in Pakistan are apparently behind Bajwa on this count as many postings are linked to Hameed’s move. Moreover, the Pakistan army says that Hameed must command a corps to be in contention to be the army chief after Bajwa.

Coincidentally, General Bajwa was given an extension in his appointment as army chief by Imran by citing ‘national security’ concerns. This had upset the ambitions of a few contenders for Bajwa’s post and though they were placated with post-retirement appointments that were prestigious and lucrative, nothing comes close to being Pakistan’s army chief.

As for General Bajwa, now he has gone through the charade of meeting the prime minister to convince him that his stand is upsetting the brass hats. But those watching the standoff closely, like Pakistani opposition leader Maryam Nawaz, have said that Imran is holding on to Hameed to prevent being ousted.

No wonder this civil-military controversy has made some of Imran’s cabinet ministers nervous and has led Imran to reassure them by stating that ‘aap ne ghabrana nahin hai’, and that there was good institutional cooperation between his government and the army.

This was followed by a press briefing by Pakistan’s information minister Fawad Chaudhry, who reassured the public that all was well between the PM and army chief, though he smartly skipped questions on who would be the next ISI chief and what might happen if the controversy is unresolved. All that Chaudhry could do was to reiterate that the appointment of the DG ISI was the PM’s prerogative.

But that’s the problem, not the solution. Unlike India, Pakistani prime ministers serve at their army’s approval, not vice versa. And, Imran Khan should know it.