 "Nasir Khan Janjua")
In Pakistan, it is not only the content of graffiti that is significant; it is also on which wall it is written. Recently, people living near the Karachi Cantonment saw some rather strange wall writing. It read: "Go go Nawaz Sharif''. But then it said: "Thank you for Zarb-e-Azb. Raheel Sharif, we love you". (Zarb-e-Azb is the Pakistan Army's operation against Islamic militants in North Waziristan district). It was taken down the next day and no one knew who had written it. But several Pakistani journalists noted it and tweeted the pictures: Because it could be a turning point. It indeed was.
Earlier this week, source-based reports including one by Reuters announced National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz, who is also foreign affairs advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, was being replaced by a former lieutenant-general of the army, Nasir Khan Janjua, who retired only a few weeks earlier.
At 88, Aziz could be considered past his prime, no longer as agile as he used to be. But why did the army need to assert itself by Janjua's appointment? Or was it Nawaz Sharif's way of buying peace from the army to be able to live to fight another day - given the kind of protest he faced from Imran Khan a year ago (reportedly with the tacit support of the army)?
This much is clear - some faction is asserting itself and it isn't the civilians in Pakistan. Janjua's appointment is yet to be publicly announced (reports said he would accompany the PM to the US to do some tough talking with US President Barack Obama but that didn't happen). Maybe it was all for the best: A Pakistan lieutenant-general could never have been heard telling the US President that Lashkar-e-Taiba would be brought to heel!
Is this the first step in suborning the elected civilian government in Pakistan? The last military man who "assisted" a civilian government was Major-General Mahmood Ali Durrani during the prime ministership of Yousuf Raza Gillani. He did not last long. He was appointed in 2008 and dismissed in 2009 soon after the Mumbai attacks when he acknowledged in public that Ajmal Kasab was a Pakistani national.
Janjua headed the southern command of the Pak army before retiring from military service. He also headed the XII corps based in Quetta that is trying to stem the rebellion in Balochistan and was praised for his handling the situation by the PM himself.
In 2012, Janjua was president of National Defence University, the army's higher education institute and premier think-tank on national security matters. He also worked on Azm-e-Nau, a military preparedness exercise to face the challenge from India. Prior to this, Janjua served as chief of southern command and vice-chief of general staff at general headquarters, Rawalpindi. He also served in Swat valley, quelling the rebellion by Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan.
What does all this mean? When Nawaz Sharif was elected and small changes were effected in the relationship between the civilian leadership and the army, Pakistani MPs were elated by the fact that a parliamentary standing committee would now have oversight of the military. It has taken only one appointment to crush that. With rising corruption, ineffectual management of the economy and the general disaffection in society, the army is clearly running out of patience. The blade is being sharpened but how close it will cut to the bone remains to be seen.
