The civil-military relations are strained after the deadly suicide Lahore massacre last month, forcing Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to call off his crucial US visit with a view to discussing the situation with his family and close aides, well informed sources in the PML-N told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity.
The Prime Minister’s decision to cancel his scheduled visit to the US to attend the Nuclear Security Summit was not due to the Easter massacre in Lahore but due to the military decision to launch an operation in Punjab, defence analyst Lieutenant General Talat Masood (Retd) said, which sent a clear message that the performance of the government was not up to the mark.
“The Sharifs did not want any operation in Punjab against the militant hideouts and when the Lahore incident took place, the military gave the go ahead without even consulting the government, which shows how good civil-military relations are,” he added. To a question, he maintained that relations between the Sharif administration and the military had deteriorated well before the Lahore incident as other priority issues facing the country notably the Karachi operation, Fata reforms, delay in implantation of the NAP have not been the government’s priority.
Lieutenant General Talat Masood (Retd) said that there is a clear divide between civil and military relations as the establishment has consistently been sending a clear message to government as well as other political parties that they must learn to survive through performance.
According to him, the military was unhappy with the government over the delay in implementing the National Action Plan (NAP) and the Lahore massacre further widened the divide with the army high command feeling that they were left with no option but to kick off an operation in Punjab, he added.
The military is also unhappy about the seeming focus of the Sharif administration on Punjab and ignoring all other issues in other provinces including implementation of the NAP, Fata reforms and the Karachi operation, Lieutenant General Talat Masood (Retd) said. The arrest of Indian RAW agent in Balochistan with the Prime Minister yet to speak openly against Indian involvement in creating unrest inside Pakistan, has simply added further fuel to the strain in their relations. He regretted that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) despite being the largest political party has remained Punjab centric, which reflects the party is more focused on prolonging its power rather than serving the masses. http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172:pakistan/32852:what-actually-led-to-cancellation-of-pms-visit-to-us/?date=2016-04-06
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