A leader that Pakistan needs

Lt. Gen. Mohammad Yusuf Khan, Chief of General Staff (CGS), and Lt. Gen. Mohammad Aziz Khan, Commander 4 Corps at Lahore were respectively appointed Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC). Both were promoted to the rank of General in keeping with their new appointments on October 7, 2001.

General Pervez Musharraf's tenure as Chief of Army Staff (COAS) had expired the same day but his retirement as COAS could have created a legal imbroglio due to the Supreme Court (SC) judgement mandating him by name to complete the democratic process before October 12, 2002.
A five-day gap between October 7 and October 12, 2002, necessitated an extension without a time limit instead of the "one year" mandated by the Constitution.

Gen. Pervez Musharraf's penchant for clearing the decks for battle and his timing thereof are both exquisite.

Very much as he did immediately on taking over as COAS in 1998, he removed the weak links in his chain of command. In a way he has used one crisis to control the other. In choosing Lt. Gens. Yusuf and Aziz to supersede Gen. Muzaffar Usmani and Gen. Mahmood Ahmed, Musharraf made an agonising choice as not only the leader of the Army, but as the leader of a country facing its gravest crisis since 1971.

Mahmood has been one of his closest friends and a regimental colleague from 16 Self-Propelled Regiment of Artillery. As Commander 10 Corps, Mahmood led 10 Corps troops into the PM's House, closely following SSG troops heli-lifted earlier from Mangla Airfield on the orders of the CGS Aziz on the fateful 12th day of October 1999.

It was Muzzafar Usmani as Commander 5 Corps Karachi, who took over the Airport to allow the PIA aircraft in which the COAS was travelling, and which was dangerously low on fuel, to land.
Usmani has again been his close friend and colleague for many years, first as a student and then fellow instructor in both Command & Staff College, Quetta, and the National Defence College, which was then at Rawalpindi.

Yusuf was probably the odd man out of the loop in Multan on the fateful day as Aziz, as the CGS masterminded the counter-coup which brought Pervez Musharraf back as COAS and de-facto ruler of Pakistan.

But when it came to replace Aziz, who needed experience as a Corps Commander, Musharraf chose Yusuf as CGS; arguably, the CGS-slot is the most powerful in the Pakistan Army after that of the COAS, particularly because the elite SSG Brigade plus is under his direct control.
Aziz was the one who denied control of GHQ to the new team hastily selected by then PM Mian Nawaz Sharif's COAS-designate Lt. Gen. Ziauddin Butt.

Some feel that putting Aziz , who is junior to Yusuf, as Chairman JCSC means that he is being kicked upstairs. In fact, it is quite the opposite, given the many changes in the JCSC's working that Pervez Musharraf has brought about in the two years of his incumbency, bringing the Armed Forces into an integrated command as envisaged in the creation of JCSC in 1976, 25 years earlier, at least in military minds if not in the political one of late PM Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who invented it more as an anti-coup device.

Musharraf had to ensure that the Armed Forces does not get tainted by corruption of any kind, and there have been calls for those who have shown any such inclination to be retired now. A few black sheep cannot be allowed to tar and feather the entire khaki community on the strength of the regimental tie.

Musharraf has been sincere about doing something solid and tangible for the country. The majority of his choices of close aides have been good but others have been less so. As a keen student of history Musharraf cannot afford that all the good he has done for their country is over-ridden because he looked the other way. The president must see to it that he does not allow his place in history to become hostage to those who put their own individual selfish gain beyond that of the country.

Ask Mian Nawaz Sharif about the indispensable Saifur Rahman! In the end such "loyalty" can become an albatross around the leader's head .

Continuity demands that Pervez Musharraf see out his full five year term as president starting from the day he leaves the office of Chairman Joint Chief of Staffs Committee and COAS. As president he still remains the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. Unlike Ziaul Haq who manipulated his subordinates appointments to remain in power, Musharraf is a self-confident product of his colleagues aspirations for a better Pakistan.

Does he need to hang onto various jobs out of a prime motivation of his own security? If one is not mistaken about the man's character he will not allow his colleagues and so-called friends to influence him to manipulate things very much as the late Ziaul Haq did. Instead he will boldly follow the full transparent route in processing the sanctity of appointments and tenures thereof in the Armed Forces. And in the appointment thereof he will chose professionalism over friendship, particularly when there is doubt with some reason about character and integrity.

The country's interests must supersede the regimental tie. Pervez Musharraf and the country are both at a symbolic crossroads of sorts, the nation's supreme interest demand some sacrifices on his part.

For the president, a man who has every reason to be confident about his own destiny, there is no choice, he has to choose the country over both friendship and self-interest. While Gen. Pervez Musharraf must continue as president, he must appoint people with merit to the posts he vacates. Country over self is what patriotism is all about.

For 50 years, we have been looking for a selfless national leader. We went to the extent of importing somewhat of a Jinnah look-alike in Moin Qureshi from the U.S. for three months whose famous last words as caretaker PM: "I will permanently settle in Islamabad".

The only man at the highest level before Pervez Musharraf who put country before self was the Quaid. A few hours before the new Army appointments were announced, Jalil Tareen, very impressed with Musharraf's performance, asked, is Musharraf the man we have been looking for? The only answer was the future crucial appointments in the Army will show clearly if he is that person.

When a person rises to a level where he forsakes his personal preferences in the national interest, he is definitely someone special.

Pervez Musharraf went the route of merit over friendship, answering this question quite unambiguously in word and deed.


Ikram Sehgal is Editor, Defence Journal, Karachi.