Being a statesman is an art that is lost, rather was never even born in our politicians (and generals alike). It is fine to hurl accusations against each other regarding individual or party sponsored corruption, crime and misappropriation, but when it comes to international affairs, I would assume that politicians and generals would use common sense and limit themselves to ‘behind closed door’ or off-the-record discussions.
Most recently, Gen Shahid came out with his side regarding the Kargil issue, and in it, he made a lot of statements that should be classified as state secrets. In response, yesterday, Musharraf came out with his version of the events, again saying a lot of things that should have been kept under wraps. However, he did make it a point at certain stages to mention that ‘this is a state secret and I will not talk about it’, but regardless, he was pretty open, perhaps in his vendetta against Nawaz Sharif. And then this morning, Ch. Nisar holds a press conference, again claiming to know this and that and the other regarding Kargil, and that how he was present in closed door meetings between Musharraf and Nawaz Sharif, and how he will release that information in due time.
Imran Khan was asked about his views on Kashmir the other day by Najam Sethi, and in response, Imran mentioned his meeting with 3 former foreign ministers, who told him about the negotiations going on with India during their tenures, and how Kashmir was this close to being resolved. Upon being asked what those negotiations were, Imran said that they are state secrets, and not to be mentioned unless they are implemented, hence he couldnt talk about them. I appreciate that stance, and this is the least anyone Punjabi, Sindhi, Baluchi, Pathan, Kashmiri or Fauji can do for Pakistan.
I am pretty sure opening up about such classified information is treasonous, and there must be a law to tackle that as well. But these days, it seems like we always have to wait for a suo moto from the CJ to get any law implemented.