When Pakistan’s army chief General Raheel Sharif on Wednesday publicly renewed support to the country’s democratic fabric, it was just too easy to misread his words.

Standing before close family members of Pakistan’s army officers and soldiers who laid down their lives in the line of duty, Sharif’s words during the annual martyrs’ day ceremony outside the army’s general headquarters in Rawalpindi were aimed at a cross-section of society. They ranged from the rank and file in uniform and former army men to the broader public.

Pakistan’s political leaders immediately concluded that with Gen Sharif’s remarks, the army had fallen in line behind the country’s civilian elected leaders. In an ideal world, there could not have been a better outcome for a country that has lived through military rule for almost half of its 67 years of existence as an independent state. Yet, Pakistan lives far from that ideal environment though a democratic framework has returned to the nuclear-armed South Asian country.

In the past year since Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is not related to Gen Sharif, was elected, Pakistan has witnessed the arrival of a democratic regime that appears eager to consolidate relatively young democratic rule. In that eagerness, Sharif who was removed in the 1999 military coup led by former president General Pervez Musharraf, seems keen to exact revenge.

In sharp contrast with many among Pak-istan’s opinion makers who have publicly called for the former general to be allowed to head abroad, the prime minister is so far determined to block Musharraf’s exit.

The tensions between the two men have grown since Musharraf was recently indicted on charges of high treason related to events in 2007 when the former general ruled Pakistan.

For the moment, Sharif shows no signs of lifting restrictions on Musharraf’s travel abroad to visit his ailing mother in the UAE.

Seven years after the events in 2007, Sharif’s presence as the prime minister is nothing short of a political miracle. Yet, the prime minister appears locked in the 1999 dispute and is keen to seek revenge against his former nemesis.

On the face of it, the Pakistan army seems to have put its foot down against Musharraf’s trial reaching a conviction. The resistance from the army to Musharraf’s prosecution is widely seen as a step driven by concerns over a precedent being set to prosecute more senior military generals in future.

While many pro-democracy supporters are clearly opposed to the army’s position, there is a broader point which is easily being missed. Pakistan is indeed caught in the eye of the storm as it prepares for what could turn out to be a major battle against Taliban militants and their supporters in the not too distant future.

Viewed with suspicion

At the same time, Sharif’s controversial pursuit of peace negotiations with Taliban militants will indeed be viewed with great suspicion by the army.

Gen Sharif and other key military commanders will likely find it hard to stand up before their rank and file to defend the peace negotiations having already seen thousands of officers and soldiers lay down their lives in conflict.

Even if Gen Sharif and others in the Pakistan army’s high command stepped up to support the already controversial Sharif versus Taliban peace talks, the army’s ability to support a conciliatory end to this process will indeed remain in doubt.

The scars of the fight with Taliban militants were not visible during Wednesday’s event in Rawalpindi. More notably, the army is known to have graphic video accounts of its officers and soldiers who were taken captive by Taliban militants and subsequently killed in an extremely brutal manner.

In sharp contrast, Sharif’s government has already lost precious time that could have been used to attack Taliban militants while the winter remained in force and the Taliban were stranded in valleys surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

With the advent of the summer months, many Taliban militants have reportedly moved to higher locations in the Pakistani areas along the Afghan border. Having gained the strategic advantage of the higher ground, the militants are now in a better position to fight the Pakistan army with the consequent danger of more Pakistani men in uniform being sacrificed in the battle ahead.

Last but not the least, Sharif’s grip on Pakistan’s affairs leaves an awful lot to be desired. In the year since the premier returned to Islamabad, his government has eagerly built its foreign exchange reserves and stabilised the once runaway rupee among its other economic initiatives.

But across Pakistan, there is widespread evidence of mounting inflation, poverty and unemployment while almost 40 per cent of Pakistan’s population of almost 200 million lives in abject poverty. Additionally, there are signs of popular restlessness over widespread electricity shortages.

With riots likely to return to Pakistan’s streets as the scorching heat from the tropical summer builds up, the country’s stability is at stake.

Gen Sharif’s renewal of a commitment to democracy aside, Sharif is faced with an increasingly tough question: Is Pakistan’s government capable of keeping the streets calm while it tackles a growing crisis surrounding a democratically elected framework that is widely seen to have failed so far to rise up to the public’s expectations?

Farhan Bokhari is a Pakistan-based commentator who writes on political and economic matters.