Daily Times editorial May 13, 2011

Inquiry controversy

A controversy has broken out about the kind of inquiry that should be conducted into the Abbottabad incident. Nawaz Sharif has come out with the demand that the announced inquiry by the Adjutant General would not enjoy public confidence since the military would be a judge in its own cause. Instead, he argues, a judicial commission should be set up comprising the Chief Justice of Pakistan and the Chief Justices of the four High Courts to thoroughly probe all aspects of the affair. The military’s ‘internal’ inquiry, which has been supported by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and the PPP-led government, has been rejected by Nawaz Sharif on the grounds that the fate of similar inquiries in the past did not lend it credence or inspire confidence. He in particular quoted the Ojhri Camp inquiry (and some have referred to the Kargil inquiry) to make the case that such exercises in the past never saw the light of day, let alone enlighten the public. His party’s leader Khwaja Saad Rafiq made the same demand from the floor of the National Assembly. Reportedly, the PML-N’s stance was only adopted after a heated debate inside the party’s ranks, in which some hawks were of the view that such a demand might annoy the powerful military and could end up nudging them closer to the ruling coalition. But the party chief went with the contrary view, arguing that it was time to rise above partisan party politics and institute a system of checks and balances once and for all, with implications for the civil-military relationship. In the meantime the Senate echoed with demands not to allow the US access to Osama bin Laden’s widows and that they should instead be repatriated to their countries of origin.
Indirectly, the PML-N call could strengthen the prime minister’s plea for the unity of all political forces to counter the threats to the country by bringing all political stakeholders on the same page as far as accountability of the military and intelligence services for the manifest failure is concerned. However, given the cautious (some would say weak-kneed) stance of the government towards any and every dissenting voice (whether the mullahs on the blasphemy law or the military where defence and security policy are concerned), it is unlikely the government will stick its neck out to challenge the military, accustomed as the latter is to immunity from public scrutiny. What might be in the back of the government leaders’ mind is the ‘Junejo syndrome’, a psychological paralysis based on the fate of general Ziaul Haq’s handpicked prime minister and the fate of Nawaz Sharif after announcing an inquiry into the Kargil fiasco. That, and the memory of how the Hamoodur Rehman Commission report into the East Pakistan defeat was buried from public view for decades, leaves even the advocates of a judicial inquiry indulging in wishful thinking more than recognising the ground realities.
The straitened Pakistan-US relationship needs a few band-aids. One such in the offing is Senator Kerry’s (much anticipated) visit to Pakistan to try and mend ties between the two countries. The redoubtable senator faces an uphill task in the present circumstances, especially since Pakistan, stung by its obvious humiliation, has called in the US ambassador to the foreign office to be delivered a formal protest for the violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by the invading SEALs team. Those with a calmer view of the importance of the bilateral relationship, the stakes for both sides, and the mutual interests that converge rather than the differences that divide them at this crucial juncture, can only welcome Senator Kerry’s efforts to apply a healing balm on the wounds opened up by the unilateral US action in Abbottabad.