New challenge

The tradition of ignoring the seniority of army generals began more than 62 years ago in Pakistan. In a controversial move, the former prime minister, Liaquat Ali Khan, appointed Ayub Khan as commander-in-chief on January 17, 1951, ignoring several senior officers. It took Ayub seven long years to dethrone a legitimate president, Iskander Mirza, in 1958 in a bloodless coup. Ayub then assumed the office of president in military uniform. The military circus had begun in Pakistan.

President Ayub, unlike Pervez Musharraf, discarded his uniform to make way for Muhammad Musa Khan, a Shia of Hazara tribal descent, superseding three major-generals. It was during Musa’s 8-year tenure that the army’s operations, codenamed “Gibraltar” and “Grand Slam”, failed, leading to Ayub’s downfall.

Ayub departed, but not before installing another favourite, Yahya Khan, to continue the martial rule over a still-to-be-divided Pakistan by its preferred gang of Punjabi army generals. Following the trend, Yahya too bypassed two of his seniors — lieutenant generals Altaf Qadir and Bakhtiar Rana — to bag the post.

Understandably, after Yahya’s appointment, it was clearly established that neither seniority nor merit could henceforth be a guarantee to win the chief’s post. Otherwise, Yahya should have been punished for his miserable command failure of the 7th Infantry Division during “Operation Grand Slam” in the Akhnoor sector. According to sources in Pakistan, Yahya resorted to an “ignominious retreat from Akhnoor river bridge”. Yet, his mentor , Ayub, the then president, promoted Yahya to the rank of deputy army commander-in-chief for a few months and, thereafter, as the army general in 1966.

Unprecedented humiliation and disaster struck Yahya Khan and his forces during the war with India in 1971. It is evident that the discriminatory rules that governed the army were squarely responsible for the military debacles. Soon after becoming the first civilian ruler, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto attempted to clip the wings of the Punjabi military apparatus.

Bhutto struck by sacking lieutenant general Gul Hassan Khan. He thus earned himself the dubious distinction of being the shortest serving army chief. Interestingly, Gul Hassan’s dismissal was also the first time that humiliation had been heaped on a military chief — traditionally held in high esteem — by a civilian leader. Bhutto’s overconfidence reached sky-high as Tikka Khan, known as the “butcher of Bengal”, was made the army chief for four years. Like previous military dictators, Bhutto was intoxicated with power. His reply to a query on the surprise selection of Tikka as the army chief can be best described as contemptuous: “I picked him because I know he will follow my orders.” Bhutto was right; Tikka followed the diktats of his civilian boss as Bhutto interfered with and closely monitored the army’s promotion policy.

But the rosy days of civilian supremacy over military commanders were too good to last. After Tikka came Zia ul-Haq who succeeded him as the army chief. To Bhutto, he appeared quiet and pliable. Zia jumped over the heads of seven senior generals to win the crown. Bhutto dug his own grave the day Zia took over the reins of the army in Pakistan. Soon, he dethroned his mentor and president. After a sham judicial trial, he sent Bhutto to the gallows.

But nemesis caught up with Zia in 1988. After a 12-year stint as the army chief-cum-state head, he restored the ‘seniority’ criteria and anointed Mirza Aslam Beg as the chief of the army. Beg faced two prime ministers during his tenure; Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. Expectedly, he clashed with both. Sharif totally disagreed with him on the US-led Gulf War in 1991. Sharif, who loves to project himself as the ‘decisive, strong Punjabi’, reverted back to the tradition of ignoring seniority. He appointed Asif Nawaz as the army chief,ignoring the senior-most serving officer, Shamim Alam. Since Asif Nawaz did not survive for long, it was again time to appoint a new chief for the army. It was now the turn of the Pakistan president, Ghulam Ishaq Khan, to appoint Abdul Waheed as the army chief. Ghulam Ishaq Khan was chosen by ignoring the advice of Nawaz Sharif and over the heads of several senior contenders.

Soon Nawaz was gone, Benazir arrived, and Abdul Waheed retired. It was time to appoint another army chief. An intense tug-of-war between Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and President Farooq Leghari ensued, the outcome of which was the restoration of the seniority principle. Jehangir Karamat became the army chief of Pakistan. But the return of Nawaz Sharif as the prime minister curtailed Karamat’s scheduled tenure. Karamat was succeeded by Pervez Musharraf as the 13th army chief of Pakistan. Again seniority was given a short shrift. Nawaz Sharif considered the Delhi-born Musharraf to be a safe bet. This was because Musharraf was perceived as someone without a strong base and was expected to be a puppet in Sharif’s hands. What happened thereafter is too well known to be recounted.

Musharraf ruled from 1999 to 2008. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was appointed the army chief in 2007 by Musharraf, who had lost much of his political clout by then. The Afghan cauldron, a weak-kneed Asif Ali Zardari, and the rotating prime ministers meant that Kayani earned for himself a three-year extension which will end soon. There is considerable speculation on who will succeed Kayani. Nawaz Sharif has promised that the seniority clause will be maintained. But that seems to be a very daunting task. The first vacancy comes up in October, but that will be a simpler job owing to it being the post of an ornament general. The real challenge comes in November when Kayani ends his tenure.

Nawaz Sharif, reportedly, prefers his Punjabi biradri (fraternity). And that could be one of the main considerations surely. For a change, the prime minister has managed to strike a rapport with the army chief. Given a chance, he would have loved to give him an extension. But that is unlikely at present as the situation remains grim and complicated. Resentment among generals on account of ‘blocked promotions’ and a high attrition rate are two major stumbling blocks that confront the armed forces in that nation. Nevertheless, it will be surprising if Nawaz Sharif manages to appoint the senior-most officer as Kayani’s successor.