ISLAMABAD: General Raheel Sharif is not like some other ex-generals who had become politicised; General Raheel is apolitical. Some other ex-generals had baggage; General Raheel is a free agent (free agent is a person who does not have any constraints that restrict his actions). Some other ex-generals were on extension; General Raheel has to honour the two Nishan-e-Haiders in his family. Some other ex-generals could be bargained with. They had reasons to be flexible, pliant, pliable, vulnerable, yielding and wobbly. General Raheel has reasons to be firm, unpliant, unpliable, secure, unyielding and steady. Some other ex-generals were status quo. General Raheel broke the status quo in North Waziristan, the status quo between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the status quo between Pakistan and the US. On March 11, the political status quo in Karachi was also broken. Karachi’s status quo is all about the overlap between politics and crime. On the face of it, the new GHQ wants to break that status quo.The ground reality in Karachi is that the state’s law enforcing apparatus and the administrative machinery are absolutely dysfunctional. The PPP, MQM and ANP are all convinced that the government has neither the ability nor the will to protect them against an attack. This lack of trust in the government’s ability leads the PPP, MQM and ANP into a spiralling cycle in which members of Group A mobilise and arm themselves to deter an attack from Group B. Group B, in turn, views the mobilisation threatening and arms itself to deter an attack. Fear leads to bloody conflict—and the resulting overlap between politics and crime. The MQM justifies the use of extreme violence because the ANP is doing the same, and vice versa. This spiralling cycle has to be broken.On the face of it, the new GQH is neither against democracy nor against politics. But, the new GHQ seems bent upon separating politics from crime. The PPP has a nation-wide votebank, 6.9 million voters in 2013. The MQM also has a solid urban-Sindh centric votebank, 2.4 million voters in 2013. To be certain, a large majority of PPP and MQM voters would also want a separation of politics and crime. President Zardari needs to recognise that the new GHQ’s new goals of separating politics from crime happen to converge with the desires of PPP’s own voters. On the face of it, bargaining with the new GHQ is not going to work. The best way out for all political parties would be to admit their mistake of mixing up politics and crime—give up crime and keep politics. There also is the possibility that the new GHQ may expand and then go after the overlap between politics and business. The best way out for all political parties would be to admit their mistake of mixing up politics and business—give up business and keep politics.Someone intelligent once said, “Crime does not pay, as well as politics.”
