ISLAMABAD: The gap between the civilian government and military in decisionmaking process has hurt the country in the past and the situation remainsequal today, said Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shrieen Mazari onFriday.
While addressing the launching ceremony of book ‘From Kargil To The Coup’written by country’s renowned journalist and anchorperson Nasim Zehra, thePTI lawmaker said that the strain in civil-military ties had hampered thepace of development in the country.
“We have not learnt from the past mistakes and blunders. Today, the countryneeds civil-military unity to move on,” said the PTI lawmaker.
People from various walks of life attended the ceremony, which was held atthe Islamabad Club, and appreciated the Nasim Zehra’s work on the unraveledKargil war that led to a long military coup followed by unfinished war onterror that had been threatening the stability of the country for the pastmany years.
Present among other keynote speakers were Lt General (r) Amjad Shoaib,former ambassador Riaz Khokar, writer and analyst Ayaz Amir and OppositionLeader in Senate Sherry Rehman.
Ayaz Amir said that no one could ask from GHQ and Foreign Office about theevents happened during the Kargil war. “We always make decisions withoutproper consensus. The Kargil war was a secret at that time and even thecorps commanders were unknown of what was going there.”
Lt Gen (r) Amjad Shoaib said that removal of Jehangir Karamat at that timestirred misconception within the country. “When Indian patrolling and laterkilling of them was observed during the war the Indian newspapers publishedthat they were killed by Kashmiri zealots and we were satisfied here thatwe were not to be blamed for. But this was not a positive approach.”
He added that the military coup at that time was a blunder by General (r)Pervez Musharraf.
In his address, former ambassador Jehangir Qazi said that when the thenIndian prime minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, informed the then Pakistaniprime minister, Nawaz Sharif, about the LoC violations, the latter was notaware about the situation.
Riaz Khokar praised the researched work of Nasim Zehra and called it amother of all books on the Kargil event. He added that the then primeminister was not aware about the intensity of the situation. “When hesmelled a rat he rushed to Washington to inform the US about the possiblemilitary coup. But Bill Clinton was not happy with Pakistan and NawazSharif because of the May 28 nuke explosions. “Kargil was nothing but amilitary misadventure,” he added.
In her concluding remarks, Opposition Leader in Senate Senator Sherry said.We should learn from our mistakes instead of pointing finger at each other.Blaming one another won’t serve the country.”
She continued: “We were not aware what was happening in Kargil at thattime. The Indian media was a source of information for us.”