LAHORE - Commenting on the statement issued by the DG, ISPR after the corps commanders’ meeting directing the political government to resolve the current political crisis without recourse to violent means, Lt-Gen (r) Talat Masood justified this intervention saying that Pakistan was a country with a history of army’s involvement in civilian matters.
“This won’t happen in a normal country. But Pakistan is not a normal country. It has a history of military interventions,” he said while talking to The Nation.
He added that this happened mainly because of politicians’ inability to settle political disputes on their own. This is a poor reflection of the state of democracy in Pakistan,” he observed.
Masood was of the view that current state of affairs was also indicative of the fact that politicians had not learnt lessons from the history. This is unfortunate, he said.
Asked what would have the generals done if there was an attack on the GHQ and they were advised by some one to deal with the attackers without recourse to violent means, the retired general laughed and only contended to say: “Well, it is good one”.
Noted lawyer and former President of Supreme Court Bar Association, Asma Jehangir said that no where in the world the generals would direct a political government how to settle a certain dispute. This happens only in Pakistan, she said.
She further commented that apart from telling the government to resolve the present crisis without use of force, the generals should also have given some formula to resolve the matter.
They should also have told the PTI and PAT leaders to remain within reasonable demands and avoid attacking the important buildings, she said.
Asma opined that if it was inevitable to show their concern on the issue, they should have advised the prime minister privately to tackle the issue in a certain way instead of making a public statement. She, however, saw a good message in the ISPR press release that army was supportive of democracy.