“Auld Lang Syne” is a popular song, particularly in the English-speaking world. Traditionally, it is sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. By extension, it is also often heard at graduations and as a farewell or ending to other occasions”, including farewell to arms by officers and soldiers. Pakistan Army has extensively played this tune on farewells and passing out parades of officers at Pakistan Military Academy Kakul.
As Pakistan meanders through its everlasting challenges, it says goodbye to its Army Chief, who, unfortunately, had to bear the brunt of a barrage of criticism by friends and foes, there is a need to reflect on his legacy and contributions. A look through hindsight to reflect upon challenges faced by Pakistan in the past six years would be a good parameter to Judge General Bajwa’s role in helping Pakistan through a storm of instability and chaos.
Immediately after he was appointed as Army Chief on 29 November 2016 by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, on 6 December 2016 Hindustan Times ran a story about his ability to understand India with the title “Pakistan’s new army chief Bajwa ‘knows a lot about what India thinks”, the throwaway comment suggested General Bajwa, who has served on the LoC and once commanded the Rawalpindi-based X Corps that is responsible for operations along the ceasefire line, could adopt an approach different from that of his predecessors. According to former colleagues, Bajwa’s keen interest in India went back to his days as a young major serving on the LoC in 1992. That was when, they say, he began reading about India and discussing developments in the neighbouring country and the region with other officers.
Highly decorated within and without Pakistan, Gen Bajwa has the distinction to receive international awards from friendly countries and the United Nations, this includes the UN MONUC (Congo) Medal, the Turkish Legion of Merit, The Order of Military Merit by Jordan, GUSP Medal For Merit of the Russian Federation, The Order of Bahrain, 1st Class, Order of King Abdul Aziz (1st Class) by KSA and Order of the Union Medal by the UAE govt. The international span of these awards indicates his ability to project Pakistan’s case in the field of military diplomacy and forge relationships with friendly countries to help Pakistan advance its interests.
On his assumption of command, Pakistan was faced with the dual triple security challenge of a destabilised Afghanistan, hosting US and NATO forces on one side and an everlasting hostile India on the other. Internally Pakistan was passing through the mopping-up phase of the War against Terror which manifested into a grand operation under the name of Operation Radd-ul- Fasaad under command of Gen Bajwa.
On the eastern front, Gen Bajwa’s biggest challenge came on the night of 26th February 2019, when the Indian Air Force, pushed by RSS head honchos, undertook a misadventure across the international border. Taking a cue from our piece published in the prestigious Express Tribune on 19 Oct 2019, the February 27 counterstrike by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), which shot down two IAF intruders, including Wing Commander Abhinandan (some social media activists call him “Abhi none done”), shattered many myths regarding the Indian armed forces and the false aura they had created in the past 20 years.
With the Balakot tree strike, which killed a brave Pakistani crow and injured 10 trees, Indian politico leadership started a blitz of lies and deceits, and as “Abhi none done” was “undone” by the PAF and was escorted across the Wagha border in shame, this charade of lies and deceit became a shameless cover-up. Unlike the head of any professional force, former IAF chief Dhanoa was forced to become the face of this cover-up. Despite all the twists and fake stories telling the brave intrusion of Abhinandan and the shooting down of a PAF F-16, the international experts on air warfare did not buy the Indian charade of lies and Dhanoa had to do a catwalk with Abhinandan till the last day to keep up the IAF’s morale.
Gen Bajwa had a leading role in developing a military response to any misadventure by the Indian Military and making sure that Pakistan maintained the dominance of the escalation ladder throughout the crisis. Later his astute military expertise came into play when Pakistan disallowed India to go up the escalation ladder; this was made possible by sane advice by Gen Bajwa who advised the political leadership to display magnanimity and courage and parried Indian efforts to up the ante.
Many of the strategic challenges faced by Pakistan were overtly and covertly handled by Gen Bajwa and his team; political leadership was given the credit for leading Pakistan, with a quiet backup by the Pakistan army, of course maintaining a subtle balance due to limits imposed by the constitution.
The Army, despite inflationary pressures and high dollar rates, maintained austerity in spending to help lessen the burden on the national exchequer. Over the past fifty years, Pakistan’s Defence budget as a percentage of GDP has gone down, drastically, from 6.50 percent of GDP in the 1970s to 2.54 percent in 2021. According to SIPRI, India’s military spending of $76.6 billion is ranked third highest in the world. This was raised by 0.9 percent from 2020 and by 33 percent from 2012. The Indian defence budget is 9 times that of Pakistan’s defence budget.
On policy input Gen Bajwa’s team helped the NSD to develop the first National Security Policy, Pakistan`s approach to National security was redefined to accommodate the symbiotic relationship between the economy, human and traditional security. The document is a milestone achievement and will serve as a guide in pursuit of long-term development and achievement of national policy objectives. Pak Army remained intimately involved in the process and provided institutional input on matters related to National security.
The Army also offered its expertise in settling internal disputes, which directly impacted Pakistan’s reputation and economic health. The Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim dispute settlement is one of the examples of Pakistan Army efforts for the economic welfare of the State of Pakistan. Similarly, due to the Army’s countless efforts under the leadership of COAS, Pakistan was saved from the $11 billion penalty in the Reko Diq case and reconstituted a project aimed at excavating huge gold and copper reserves from the site in Balochistan.
General Bajwa’s relentless efforts to help Pakistan get out of the FATF Grey list don’t need any discussion; it was his objective to see Pakistan get out of this list before saying farewell to arms.
The Army remained committed to helping Pakistan through thick and thin throughout his command, CPEC security, fighting sneak raids by terror groups, agile response to Covid pandemic, settling Afghanistan and helping Americans for a safe exit, and more recently raising to the occasion during massive floods this year, the list is almost endless.
While we sit down in our cushy drawing rooms and pass slurs and taunts on the Army and its leadership, let’s be objective in acknowledging General Bajwa’s services for Pakistan.
Adeela Naureen and Waqar K Kauravi
The authors are freelance journalists. They can be reached at adeelanaureen
@gmail.com
and waqarkauravi
@gmail.com
