Pakistani minister Mushahidullah Khan has resigned after giving an interview to BBC Urdu in which he accused a former intelligence chief of having plotted against the country’s leaders. Information Minister Pervez Rashid said Mr Khan’s claims were “irresponsible and contrary to the facts”. Mr Khan said that a former head of the Inter-Services Intelligence agency had encouraged street protests last year. A military spokesman said the allegations were “totally baseless”.The allegations date back to last year’s street protests against the government, led by the opposition Tehreek-e-Insaaf party and cleric Tahirul Qadri. Mr Khan – who served as climate change minister – said that at that time, the then head of the ISI, Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam had spoken about a plot to unseat the country’s military and civilian leadership. Mr Khan said a recording existed of Gen Islam inciting protesters to cause chaos and attack the residence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Information Minister Pervez Rashid flatly denied this. “No such thing ever happened,” he said. “No tape was listened to or played,” he added. Claims of Mr. Khan once again exposed the fragile balance between the civilian elected government and the powerful military. That relationship has been steadily tilting against the government since last year, in what some have described as a ‘creeping coup’. Perhaps to bring to a grinding halt the rumour mills, Pervez Rashid has attempted to reassure everyone that the civil government and military were totally one in fulfilling the critical task of combating terrorism. All institutions, he reiterated, were performing their role in accordance with the constitution. In answer to a question from reporters, he underlined that there would be no compromise on the Karachi operation. This question and the minister’s answer can be located in the context of one set of speculations that the whole Mushahidullah fracas was an attempt by the government to bring pressure to bear for an easing of the Karachi operation in order to facilitate bringing the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) members of parliament who had resigned back to the Assemblies. It is good the information minister has categorically refuted any such kite-flying that could potentially have fed into perceptions of the civil and military sides diverging on the ways, means and objectives of the Karachi operation against terrorism and crime. With the resignation of Mushahidullah Khan, it would not have been unreasonable to expect that the matter would be laid to rest. However, given that the story, even if untrue, casts the PTI in a poor light as collaborators in subversion of and a coup against an elected government, their spokespeople are now demanding a commission be set up to investigate the allegations. This is pie-in-the-sky since the government would dearly like to close this chapter to avoid any further friction with the military, which too has been besmirched by the allegations. It was no surprise therefore, that Pervez Rashid rejected the suggestion out of hand. The veracity of the story retold by Mushahidullah Khan had never been established. He stands accused therefore of an error of judgement so serious as to have cost him his cabinet seat. Irrespective of the story not holding water, however, the whole affair has once again cast the spotlight on the perceived shift in the balance of power towards the military in foreign policy as well as some domestic areas.
pk.shafaqna.com
