Pak military purge

IN a desperate bid to reassert its authority, the Pakistan army has sacked three officers, including a Lt General, and taken disciplinary action against three Major Generals and seven Brigadiers for their failure to protect key military installations during the violence that erupted on May 9 after the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. In all, more than 100 people are on trial in military courts in connection with the attacks on over 20 defence installations and government buildings, including the Lahore Corps Commander House, the Mianwali airbase, the ISI building in Faisalabad and the army headquarters in Rawalpindi.

The violence, allegedly perpetrated by supporters of Imran’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, had exposed disunity within the military, which has had a stranglehold on the country’s polity over the decades. The fact that pro-Imran protesters managed to storm heavily guarded premises left no room for doubt that some insiders were in league with them. The Inter-Services Public Relations Director General, Maj Gen Ahmed Sharif, has claimed that there is a system of ‘strict self-accountability’ within the military and action is taken irrespective of post or position. The thinly veiled warning is that defence officers or their family members whose sympathies are with Imran will not be spared.

With the General Election due later this year, the military and the Shehbaz Sharif government are going all out to defang Imran and his loyalists. Playing the victim card to the hilt, the popular ex-PM has alleged that he and other PTI leaders are being targeted because of his relentless tirade against the army. The military’s two-pronged strategy — a crackdown on the PTI top brass and a purge within its own ranks — could help it regain control. Or else, the ploy may backfire and tilt the electoral scales Imran’s way. In either case, the economically crippled Pakistan needs to brace itself for a long spell of political unrest.