All is well that ends well. Dawn Leak controversy that caused an implosive situation between Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government and the military has been defused by a retreat by the army.
What had come to be "Tweet-ul-Fissad" has been withdrawn by a glum-faced DG ISPR with an announcement that Pakistan army is totally supportive of and subservient to democracy. That's definitely a good news and adds another feather in the cap of our confrontationist Prime Minister who never hesitates to take on the praetorian institution whenever it challenged the civil authority. However, this is for the first time he forced it to retreat.
Head of Iranian army alleged Jaish-al-Adl, a Sunni militant group, had shot its guards, fired from Pakistan in the border area that has been since long festered by unrest from both drug smuggling gangs and separatist militants. "We cannot accept the continuation of this situation," Major General Mohammad Baqeri, the head of the Iranian armed forces was quoted as saying by the news agency IRNA.
Jaish-al-Adl is a Sunni militant group that is reputed to have carried out several attacks against Iranian security forces with the aim of highlighting what they say is discrimination against minority Sunni Muslims in Iran, where the majority are Shias. The group claimed responsibility for attacks that killed eight border guards in April 2015 and 14 border guards in October 2013. Pakistan summoned Iranian ambassador in Islamabad to the Foreign Office to lodge a protest against the strong language used by the Iranian army head in warning Pakistan.
India was already at it. While accelerating its military operations inside Kashmir against what Delhi calls Pakistan backed revolt by the Kashmiri youth, its diplomats had been put in top gear to malign Pakistan with the objective of seeking its diplomatic isolation.
While the situation had shown no signs of de-escalation, trouble broke out on our western border. On May 5, 2017, Afghan border security forces carried out unprovoked firing across the Chaman border killing 11 Pakistani civilians including one Frontier Corps (FC) soldier and injuring 50 people. This attack took place when national census teams accompanied by FC troops were busy carrying out national population census in two Pakistani villages in Chaman area that Kabul was already informed of. Kabul had given full assurance of cooperation. As if this attack was not enough, Afghan forces continued the offensive across Torkham border. As a consequence Pakistan had to close the Bab-e-Dosti Chaman border gate as well as Torkham gate. The situation continues to be tense.
Despite the praise of British generals for Pakistan's successes in war against terrorism and good-goody meetings that our Ambassador Aizaz Choudhry has had recently in Washington, the fact is that one must not be optically eluded and be pragmatic. Pakistan needs to review its foreign policy objectives, take corrective measures internally to have a better and more forceful presentation of the country that has suffered enough for the so-called friends.
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