While some of the critics in the full article are old news, Durrani has only recently started criticising Musharraf while Hamid Gul (who ironically wrote some of his ACR’s) has been at it for sometime now..but Talat masud and now Kiani are both well respected and their criticism is a surprise.
It is time to heed counsel of retired generals
By Ansar Abbasi
In Lt-Gen (retd) Talat Masud’s view the Dargai incident is an extremely dangerous sign. He demands that the government must focus on the political solution and prefer reconciliation to confrontation. Lt-Gen (retd) Jamshed Gulzar, the former corps commander, Rawalpindi, lamented that the military regime has exceeded all limits to attain America’s objectives.
Gen Talat Masud said that the Dargai attack is the first-ever major incident of insurgency directed against the institution of Pakistan Army. He has no doubt that it happened in retaliation to what had occurred in Bajaur last week. He said that Pakistan Army is seen as an extension of the US and Nato forces operating in Iraq and Afghanistan. This perception, in Talaat’s view, is an extremely dangerous sign.
He asked the government to take a serious note of the situation and resort to political solution. He said that the government must go for reconciliation and should understand the reasons as to why the tribals are alienating.
General Jamshed Gulzar Kiani, who was said to be one of the vocal voices in the then military elite against toeing US post 9/11 policy, said that the government has too far exceeded the limits to recover easily from the sorry state of affairs the country is finding itself right now.
“When you start using state of the art weapons against your own civilians then the latter could only resort to the Dargai like suicide attacks,” Kiani said, adding that a suicide bomber does not need training. Terming the Bajaur killing as the most condemnable and unjustifiable, he said, by killing 83 persons there the government has actually produced innumerable suicide bombers in the 83 affected families.
About Dargai, he said, apparently it was case of lax security in an environment that requires extraordinary security. In a vitiated environment, he said, the military must not expose itself to become an easy target of terrorists. He lamented that the Army that is supposed to protect the lives and property of its citizens failed to protect itself.
Like others Kiani too has no doubts that the Bajaur carnage was carried out by the Americans. However, he failed to understand the rationale behind the Pakistan Army taking the blame of the carnage on itself.
Referring to President Musharraf’s resolve to hit hard against terrorist in reaction to the Dargai attack, Kiani warned that severe military action would result in severe reactions. He said that the Dargai attack is most condemnable but there is a need to see the reasons behind the attack.
He said that fear and threat of army have gradually eroded so use of force is no solution. He pressed for reconciliatory initiatives and said that Governor NWFP’s peace deal in Waziristan has produced great results. He criticized that the missile attack on a Madrassa there busted a similar peace deal in Bajaur.