Three Questions for General Kayani
By Rais Khan
Fremont, California
Gen.(R) Pervez Musharraf recounted his early days in the army and expressed his personal experience vis-‘a-vis discipline of his mother organization in unsavory words on page-49 of his book entitled “In the Line of Fire”. He wrote, “I was given a number of punishments on different occasions for fighting, insubordination and lack of discipline. When I became army chief, my military secretary showed me my service dossier and naughtily asked me to look at my discipline record. It was shocking indeed. Entries in red ink were overflowing the total allocated space. The consolation, however, was that I was never punished for my lapse of character or for moral turpitude. My annual confidential reports were always very good - only my lack of discipline held me back”
The write-up of the former Chief of Army Staff raises some very pertinent and important questions. The nation would like to ask the present incumbent of COAS office to ponder over the following questions:
1. Is there any mechanism in the Army Service Rules & Regulation to identify and penalize officers displaying tendency towards fighting, insubordination, indiscipline and moral turpitude while in uniform?
2. Subordination, discipline and high morality are the core values of any regular army in today’s world. Are these values applicable to the officers of the Pakistan Army?
3. Can someone relishing such negative traits as enlisted by the former COAS in his book, dodge the Pakistan Army Code of Ethics and Discipline and make his way up through the hierarchal pyramid?
If his answers to these questions are in the negative what steps he proposes or has taken to improve the situation in this vital institution of the nation. If, however, the answers are ‘yes’ what are his plans to remove the blemish inflicted by his predecessor on the Army institution and COAS office?
