Troika, reformed

In the December issue of Newsline, Zahid Hussain considers what the future could hold for Pakistan’s “chain-smoking” 14th chief of army staff,

General Ashfaq Kayani: “Analysts maintain that the army would continue to back him as a bridge between the armed forces and the future civilian government. But power could gravitate more towards General Kayani in the event of any political instability. The change of guard also signals the return of the troika rule that dominated the country’s politics in the 1990s. The political role of the military in the country’s power structure has already been formalised by Musharraf through the formation of the National Security Council. The Council includes the chiefs of the three services: the army, the navy and the air force. This will make General Kayani an important member of the power structure.”

Herald magazine, too, in its December issue wonders about General Kayani. Massoud Ansari reports that just a day before Musharraf stepped down as army chief, “when he called a conference of the corps commanders, rumours spread in the federal capital that the meeting had been called to replace the then vice chief of army staff, General Kayani, with someone more ‘trustworthy’.” Nonetheless, now that Kayani is army chief, writes Ansari, he’s “the strongest player on the political scene”: “Though at the moment it is not clear to what extent the views and visions of the two will converge, Kayani may have to end up playing the mediator between Musharraf and the political forces at some point.”

... contd.