Earlier this month, there was a sudden deluge of news about former army chief Gen Bajwa’s alleged ‘double game.’ Several analysts claim that Gen Bajwa, the former army chief, played all sides before his retirement and tried to get another extension in his tenure. By varying accounts, it’s now being claimed that Gen Bajwa tried to get a six to eight-month extension, so he could salvage his battered public image by overseeing another election, a key demand of the PTI after removal from office in April this year, and repair the broken ties with Imran Khan.
The playbook of the double game involves squaring off all sides against one another while keeping the leverage to extract maximum benefit. It’s the classic divide-and-rule strategy.
The speculation about Gen Bajwa’s double game grew stronger after Chaudhry Moonis Elahi, the son of the Punjab chief minister, made a disclosure that the decision to join Imran Khan was based on a nudge by the former army chief.
Gen Bajwa is also accused of restraining the coalition government in arresting Imran Khan after the April vote of no-confidence. This allowed Imran the space to extend his protest campaign, hog TV and mobile screens, and build on his narrative of being a victim of a grand conspiracy. The freedom to act culminated in his electoral wins in several by-elections and dented the ruling coalition’s mandate to govern. It is true that soon after taking over the government early this year, several PML-N leaders, notably Mian Javed Latif, publicly expressed frustration with the way their hands were tied in dealing with the PTI.
The public defense of Gen Bajwa by the Chaudhrys seems to be an attempt at damage control. It punctures the narrative of PTI about Gen Bajwa being the sole villain but paradoxically, it still paints the former chief in a questionable manner. Was he merely advising the Chaudhrys in a frank, selfless manner, or was he playing all sides for his own advantage?
The double-game interpretation provides a simplistic version of the events that took place in the last couple of months. The reality can be rather complex — even contradictory. All sides indulge in skulduggery and subterfuge, as happens in power politics. And, competing forces do not necessarily overlap all the time.
Punjab primarily fell into the lap of PTI in July after the Supreme Court’s decision on the vote count. And there was a lot of unease in powerful quarters about the court’s verdict, which was deemed contradictory and an overreach by the justices.
Gen Bajwa in the last leg of his long six-year tenure was substantially weakened and faced growing pressure, criticism, and opposition from within the top brass.
There weren’t many takers for yet another extension. The idea was essentially floated as a last-ditch ploy by Lt Gen Faiz Hamid, the powerful former spymaster and discernibly the most ambitious aspirant for the army chief’s position. But the real aim was to ensure that Gen Faiz himself stayed in the run for the chief till April 2023.
Gen Faiz was unlike his predecessors, and comparatively speaking, proved to be a more resilient and deft intel operator. For example, Lt General Rizwan Akhtar, one of Faiz’s predecessors, failed to get an extension for his boss. Faiz, on the other hand, managed to get one for Gen Bajwa in 2019.
Much of Faiz’s mystique and reputation is owed to his long stint at the ISI and his way of dealing. Sharp and incisive, he was not shy of coming to the forefront and taking matters into his own hands. His dealmaking, though, was questioned by his critics, who accused him of reneging on agreements without batting an eyelid. Critics also said Gen Faiz had a peculiar way of dealing with his opponents: he would almost crush them and then cut a deal.
And yet, despite his reputation as a go-getter and a master strategist, Gen Faiz remained unable to turn his ambition to be the chief into reality. Partly it was because his ambition had become too public and forced his opponents into action. He did shake up politics like never before. There is speculation now that he would enter politics after the two-year ban to take part in public activities since retirement is over. But it remains to be seen if he really wants to relegate himself to the rigmarole of one electoral constituency after wielding so much power as DG ISI.
The relationship between Gen Faiz and Gen Bajwa has been most curious. Gen Faiz continued to serve former prime minister Imran Khan’s interests till Oct 2021 despite the apparent orders of his boss. He dabbled in politics even after the vows of the top brass to remain apolitical. Still, Gen Bajwa remained unwilling or unable to keep him in check. Some described the inaction to be the result of both being partners in the ‘original sin.’ Some people have even speculated that both, in fact, played a masterful double game. They cultivated an image of differences in the public, but in private continued to shield and protect one another’s interests.
Gen Bajwa, however, didn’t really have the wherewithal to force another extension. The domestic political and international environment did not allow him to go all in. His best bet was to have a chief of his own choice. But this attempt failed to see the light of day, as both Sharifs and Asif Ali Zardari were wary of the continuity of the ‘Bajwa Doctrine’ and resisted all attempts.
A strong group within the Establishment had also had enough with the way the army, under Bajwa and Faiz, had been dragged into muddy politics and wanted a clean break. The run-up to Nov 29, the day Gen Bajwa doffed off his uniform, was a game of nerves and prime minister Shehbaz Sharif holding the authority to appoint the new chief was really the ace in the pack.
Post-script: The new army chief General Syed Asim Munir has made the right start since assuming office. He has shunned personal publicity, has ordered the projection of matters related only to official engagements, and aims to extricate the army from its recent controversies. It is a welcome beginning.