Why Bajwa must act on Jadhav’s petition : The Tribune India

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Why Bajwa must act on Jadhav’s petition

ODDLY for a democratic country, the Chief of Pakistani Army, General Qamar Bajwa is the last word in reviewing the Kulbhushan Jadhav mercy petition, even though the COAS is officially at level/article 6 in the official Pakistani "Warrant of Precedence".

Why Bajwa must act on Jadhav’s petition

QUALITY OF MERCY: Friends of Kulbhushan Jadhav hold a photograph with Jadhav in the Mumbai neighbourhood where he grew up. Will the Pak army chief of army staff Gen Qamar Bajwa showcase the nobility of a just soldier and not be a politician?



Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh (retd)

ODDLY for a democratic country, the Chief of Pakistani Army, General Qamar Bajwa is the last word in reviewing the Kulbhushan Jadhav mercy petition, even though the COAS is officially at level/article 6 in the official Pakistani "Warrant of Precedence". Ostensibly re-reviewing “evidence”, that was earlier rejected by Bajwa's own borough, the Field General Court Martial (FGCM) under the Pakistan Army Act. The chances of General Bajwa overruling previous tribunals and standing up against the "manufactured emotions"are dim, and therefore the fears of a premediated formality, without sincerity. Constraining General Bajwa's individual discretion is the unsubtle reality of the institutional turf-wars between the troika elements that rules Pakistan — the Military, the Politicos and the now temporarily reigned-in, clergy. The self-combusting tinderbox of the inegalitarian Pakistani society is struggling with its “self-image”, an image that got historically shaped and regularly provoked by the competing elements of the troika, for legitimising their own relevance.  

The troika furiously competes with each other on religious piety, India-centricity (especially Kashmir) and on feeding existential fears. So, even the Pakistani Army subsumes the larger religio-politico sentiment in its motto, “Iman, Taqwa, Jihad fi Sabilillah” (Faith, piety and struggle in the way of God), in a sharp contrast to the very functional, "Service before Self" as the defining-DNA for the Indian Army. The contours of the Pakistani armed forces meander expansively into the realm of diplomacy, commerce, civilian policies and the overall, national governance. 

Unsurprisingly, 35 out of the 70 years of Pakistani independence has seen the Generals ruling officially, and in the remainder 35 years, the files for mercy petitions are still not culminating at the Aiwan-e-Sadr (President House in Islamabad),  in the garrison town of Rawalpindi. This extended political mandate for the Pakistani Army disallows "letting-down" the nation, as the Kulbhushan Jadhav case feeds the pathological wantonness of a captured "Indian spy"! This algebra of governance and institutional one-upmanship, has saddled the Pakistani existence with a costly legacy of deep-rooted religiosity that is emerging in frankensteinian outpourings like the Tehrik-e-Taliban, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi etc. who are now consuming their own progenitors. The militant mutations of the Pakistani palace intrigues has led to collateral damages internally, in the realm of sectarianism (the Shia-Sunni divide), regionalism (Baloch movement) and even on religious schools (Barelvi-Wahabbi divide). Ultimately, the Pakistani army is left to undo the pet projects of the past, through bloody military operations like Zarb-e-Azb (which officially killed nearly 500 Pakistani military personnel and nearly 3,500 “militants”). This cause-effect of the past policies is silently acknowledged by the Pakistani military, while the politicos remain brazen, discredited and mired in the “Panamagates”, while the clergy remains temporarily “in-check,”though thriving in the narrow alleys amongst hungry believers. Amidst this cauldron of modern Pakistan, the critical introspection by the still-deified Pakistani military (especially after the horrific Army school attack in Peshawar), offers the only glimmer of hope as it is the sole institution, publically capable of redrawing the narrative of Pakistani policies and governance, without fear or compunctions of either losing the votes (as feared by the politicians) or the puritanical adherents (as feared by the clergy). 

The Pakistani military is slowly retracting from its past, albeit, still very selectively and partially. For General Bajwa, dismissing the Kulbhushan mercy petition would be the easiest perpetuation of the existing morass and “sameness”, whereas any possible “refuting”, “staying” or even “pending-the final-ICJ decision”, of the mercy petition could herald a radical change. General Bajwa's fair honouring of the mercy petition wouldn't be an act of fear, but a fearless step to invoke, imbibe and institutionalise the internationally accepted norms of jurisprudence. 

From the infamy as the “safe haven for terrorism” to finding Osama bin Laden on the periphery of a garrison town, the Pakistani military could shed its shady past, and actually walk the talk of its hallowed Jihad-fi-Sabilillah, amidst which, a verse aptly states, "Oh, ye who believe stand out firmly for God as witness To fair dealings, And let not the hatred of other people to you make you swerve to wrong and depart from justice". Ironically, the Indian request is only for a free and fair trial and not a 'pardon' — it is therefore incumbent on the General to honour the sworn commitment to "justice" — a behavioural trait that is not expected from a politician or a mullah, but de rigueur from a professional soldier!

General Bajwa has the choice to define himself in the mould of Generals' Zia-ul-Haq and Pervez Musharaf, or, be the befitting leader of an apolitically professional army like General Asif Janjua or even the more recent, General Raheel Sharif. The infantry officer from '16 Baloch' (“Ghazi ya Shaheed” Regiment, or “Victorious or Martyr”), owes his soldering instincts, codes and ethos to overcome the crisis of morality, political-duplicity and existential “purpose”, to showcase the nobility of a just soldier in himself, and not succumb to the bloodlust of a populist politician or the bigoted zealot, in trying to appease to the masses. Soldiers are meant to fight, and India and Pakistan have fought many times — we had 90,000 Pakistani prisoners-of-war in 1971, but we chose to treat all in strict accordance  with the Geneva Convention, rule 1925. The Pakistani General may chose semantic technicalities of a POW versus a “spy”, but the international concern on the Kulbhushan Jadhav as stated by the International Court of Justice, may be the lodestar for General Bajwa to reconsider dispassionately, along with considering the tragic outcome of Pakistan's past policies and politics, very passionately.

The writer is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar 

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