Self-accountability

Asem Mustafa Awan

The director general Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) has informed a press conference the other day that such steps have been taken that would strengthen the tradition of self-accountability in the Pakistan Army.

ISPR Major General Ahmed Sharif said that the institution has taken strict disciplinary action against 15 officers including a lieutenant general, three major generals and seven brigadiers for neglecting their duties at the time of the May 9 tragedy.

He said that on May 9, the families of the martyrs were harassed. He claimed the May 9 incident was planned for several months. In response to a question regarding the hearing of cases in military courts, he said neither the May 9 tragedy would be forgotten nor those involved be forgiven.

Strict action will be taken against those obstructing the completion of this process. The ISPR DG said that 102 people are being tried in military courts, but the accused have all legal rights and can appeal to the Supreme Court.

According to the DG, the purpose of the May 9 incidents was to provoke the army to take immediate action whereas military showed restraint and responded to the protestors with tolerance. He reiterated that there is no distinction of rank or social status in the accountability process of the army.

Undoubtedly, the tradition of self-accountability in the armed forces is strong and because of this, the people of Pakistan look up to the army in emergency situations.

Socialites in Pakistan must also promote self-accountability. If the ruling class exhibits self-accountability as did the army, it would have a swift trickledown effect on the entire society up to the grass root level.

When the senior army officers are being punished for negligence in duty, the civil administration responsible for the maintenance of law and order must also be questioned accordingly for the blatant security laps at the highest level.

The question becomes even more important as the police were chasing the protesters with batons and gas shells till the day before. Army spokesman gave satisfactory answers on his part. Rather than explaining the security lapse the police are rather raiding the ordinary citizens’ houses and extorting money by telling them that they were involved in the events of May 9.

It is a tragic chapter in the political history of Pakistan that political parties defame the armed forces to achieve their goals. Political leaders also fall short of their stature with allegations of criminal activities, corruption, abuse of power, and so on and so forth. And when they are taken to task, they claim that were being victimized by their political opponents.

Army, an organised, organization is effective because no one’s crime is forgiven despite having a high rank. The events of May 9 demand attention from several aspects.

In the press conference, the rule of law was discussed and the behavior was condemned which caused chaos, but since this has emerged from the political level, the government and political parties can be questioned whether they have learned any lesson from these incidents or not.

The government should answer the questions with the same patience as shown by the director general in the press conference.

The writer is a journalist based in Islamabad and writes on a wide range of issues.