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General (r) Pervaiz Musharraf had been the GOC in Okara and a role model in all respects. Training, administration, welfare or extra curricular, he was seen everywhere. In the evenings, he with his wife were a common sight, sitting at the bedside of patients and inquiring their welfare as also keep the hospital staff on toes. I remember my course mate Lt. Col Zia getting a cardiac arrest. The couple sat through the night outside the CCU and wept profoundly when his death was announced in the morning. His presence brought a big developmental and social change in the deserted garrison. He played sports with youngsters, took care of their professional development and was always considered a mentor. I remember him as a Corps Commander in Mangla, when he brought me his personal life jacket for surfing and looked after my family as a personal guest.He was a commander and leader who lived in hearts and minds.
I knew him close enough to be candid and tell him his wrongs on his face. He always accepted criticism positively and sometimes graciously conceded. The day he took over, he was obsessed with devolution. As a staff officer, I had to remind him through presentations that devolution and local self government were two different things. He never comprehended and kept vacillating between the two and thats when a rigidity in his mindset became apparent. Some of his immediate staff members like the DGMO did not persevere either. Had they been as apt as I was, things could have been different. Today, we see a renewal of this concept in devolution of Punjab.
I protested that Seven Points Agenda was Utopian and beyond reach. I wanted it to be reduced to Law and Justice at Grassroots, Education and Fast Track Socio Economic Development. I reminded him of Khalil Gibran who said that a day would come when even monkeys would disclaim kinship with us. As they gathered around him and we got isolated, he persisted that he could could power through all difficulties and achieve the impossible. Thats when the real Musharraf I saw as a GOC began to fade away.
I insisted through noting that we were a declared nuclear state and ought to manifest very responsible international behavior as also get Kargil off our backs. I was most vocal of the rising tide of militancy. Perhaps he still does not realize the damage it caused to Pakistan.
In a noting on 13 October 1999, I warned him to beware of Fly by Night Reformers as they would lead him off course. He entertained all of them with Shaukat Aziz in command. As he isolated himself from well wishing critics, a jingoist began to emerge.
I was weary of the CBR plans for Tax Reforms ( Value addition through Sales Tax). I told both the DGMO and CGS that Pakistan was economically doomed. Shaukat Aziz launched a strong protest for my removal. As of today, this reform has led to a berserk Sales Tax regime, more a levy than a value addition. It has closed small scale manufacturing sectors, discouraged growth and ushered consumerism.
I noted that the biggest test of his sincerity would be his honorable retirement on the due date. In the same note I also warned against the hazards of pro military political groupings. He underlined my comments and proceeded to make PMLQ.
There is a lot more but......................
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Comments on Brigadier Simons Analysis ( posted at the bottom) of
ReplyDeleteGeneral Musharraf
A.H Amin
i partly agree with brig simon.i was also in okara in 1992-94 and did see
musharraf in the squash court.he appeared better than many generals
but i ,perpetual sceptic that i am took him with a pinch of salt.he was
using the locating battery's generator radar to run his residences
electricity as standby ! not professional.
he drove his division hard which was a means to his advancement.
being son of a clerk of despatch section of foreign service later
promoted to officer rank he was a sharp social climber.extremely
ambitious and culticated contacts.it is said that he became friendly with
shahbaz sharif in order to get the chiefs rank.
his kargil adventure was rash to the point of being criminal and i said like
this in published article in NATION in 2003 when he was at height of his
power.
as happens to social climbers and upstarts he became obsessed with his
rise to power.power brought him women who would not have looked at his
face some years earlier.Expensive wines and whiskies far superior to the
pakistani stuff that he was forced to drink.Expensive armani suits which
he could not have bought in 1993.since he got all that he wanted he did
not give a damn if pakistan was thrown to the wolves.he sold his soul to
the americans and he was ready to sleep with the evils.the worst crooks
in pakistan became his best friends.musharraf the clever mamas boy who
sought to impress every one , junior or senior with his professionalism
and humanity had now got all.so to hell with everything.who cares.
he ridiculed and forgot his benefactors like general beg without whose
help he would have retired a brigadier.
although a pathetic failure he was better than the likes of ali
kuli,zia,kakar,karamat,asif nawaz.
a good tactician and operational strategist he was a strategic failure.this
is a general reflection of pakistan army which has tactical talent , a little
operational talent and nil strategic talent.
since i left the army in december 1993 i was not initially able to follow
his kargil adventure so i defended him in a letter published in dawn in
june 1999 and predicted that nawaz sharif will remove him.
however as i researched in 1999-2001 i learnt how he had blundered at
kargil.
off course windbags like shaukat aziz were pathetic people who were
deadly viruses for pakistan.
alas with all his failures he would be remembered as better than his
successors.what a sad reflection on pakistan army.an undoubted failed
organisation.