Who will replace him?

 

 

President Pervez Musharraf has to announce in the next couple of weeks the appointment of two four-star generals who will replace the outgoing Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and Vice-Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS) in early October.

Analysts say the appointment of VCOAS is more important because unlike the incumbent Vice-Chief, General Ahsan Salim Hayat, who is going to retire shortly, the new Vice Chief will replace Musharraf if he decides to doff his uniform.

The seniority list is as follows: Lt. Gen Khalid Kidwai, DG Strategic Plan Division (SPD), Lt. Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kiani, DG Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), Lt. Gen. Malik Arif Hayat, serving in GHQ, Lt. Gen. Tariq Majeed, Corps Commander, Rawalpindi, Lt. Gen. Mohammad Safdar, Chief of Logistical Services (CLS), GHQ, Lt. Gen. Ather Ali, DG at Joint Staff Headquarters, Lt. Gen. Wasim Ahmad Ashraf, Corps Commander, Gujranwala, Lt. Gen. Mohammad Sabir, Military Secretary, GHQ, Lt. Gen. Imtiaz Hussain, Adjutant General, GHQ, Lt. Gen Muhammad Afzal Muzaffar, Quarter Master General, GHQ, Lt. Gen. Hamid Rab Nawaz, IGT &E, GHQ, and Lt. Gen. Muhammad Salahuddin Satti, Chief of General Staff, GHQ.

But seniority is often bypassed in the hope that the incumbent would remain loyal to the highest authority though this has proved to be a farce. For instance, late Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto appointed General Zia-ul Haq as the Chief of the Army Staff bypassing several senior generals in the hope that he would remain loyal to him. Ironically, it was General Zia-ul Haq, who staged a coup against Bhutto in July 1977 and later hanged him. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chose General Pervez Musharraf, bypassing several senior generals hoping he would be loyal to him. But it was General Musharraf who ousted him from power and packed him to Saudi Arabia under a shady deal.

A story published in The New York Times on March 11, 2007 said the Vice Chief of the Army Staff, General Ahsan Saleem Hyat, is secular like Musharraf. The inference one could draw from this is that he would have had the same attitude towards Taleban as Musharraf had he succeeded him as the Army Chief.

Nobody knows who will succeed Musharraf but in all likelihood Pakistan will continue to play its vital role in the “War on Terror” because military supplies from the US are of utmost importance to Pakistan.

With trouble in North and South Waziristan and a full blown separatist movement in Pakistan’s largest province, Baluchistan, coupled with increasing striking power of Taleban in neighbouring Afghanistan, no Pakistani ruler can afford to have tense relations with India. More so because the US administration would not like any lapse in its “War on Terror.”

However, the relationship between Islamic fundamentalists and Pakistan’s security forces is decades old and in all probability the Taleban and Islamic fundamentalists would continue to enjoy cordial relations with a section of the benign, fundamentalist forces in Pakistan Army.