Pakistan army gets a liberal look

By allowing two of his closest associates - General Mahmoud and General Muzaffar Usmani to retire prematurely - Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf has in one stroke changed the image of the Pakistan army.

With this move, the army has moved from the image of being "potentially fundamentalist" to one with a liberal and moderate face, run by a high command which has "normal, dynamic and level-headed" officers at its helm, The News said in a report yesterday.

It confirmed the generally-held view that the changes brought about in the army on Sunday night, shortly before the U.S. and British forces launched their air strikes on Afghanistan, were actually part of a screening process because both the outgoing generals were regarded as pro-Taliban.

General Mahmoud, as chief of the powerful ISI intelligence network of the Pakistani military, and General Usmani, known for his religious views, were probably creating problems for Musharraf in the execution of his Afghanistan policies. However, army sources would not confirm this was so.

The newspaper said that if the late General Zia-ul-Haq is remembered for altering the moderate character of the Pakistan army, Musharraf has taken a quantum jump to restore this characteristic and, in the process, make it friendlier to the big powers and their defence forces.

Analysts say that Musharraf's historic decision to reverse Pakistan's blind support for the radical Taliban movement and to make key changes in the military hierarchy for a whole-hearted implementation of this crucial policy shift, represents a major leap in his resolve to restore a readily acceptable image of Pakistan and its military services.

"General Musharraf is keen to dilute an impression in some Western countries that Pakistan was running the risk of being taken over by Taliban-like extremists who, with the possession of nuclear weapons, could become a global threat," stated a source who has known the president since he joined the army in the early 1960s.

"During Field Marshal Ayub Khan's time, the Pakistan army was considered a moderate crucial ally of the West, yet it was an Islamic army," the same source noted.

Officials and analysts have noted that only officers holding moderate views and lifestyle, have clinched key assignments in the reshuffle that has been described as epoch-making and the biggest since General Musharraf took over as the army chief in October, 1998.

Continuing the reshuffle that began on Sunday night, the Pakistan army's adjutant general, Lt.-Gen. Ali Jan Orakzai, was appointed corps commander for Peshawar. Being a tribesman from the Orakzai tribe of the NWFP, he is known in the army for his experience and knowledge about the tribal terrain and culture.

As major-general, Orakzai has also served as director general Frontier Corps (Northern Areas), an assignment that provided Orakzai with a working experience of the security and strategic affairs facing the sensitive Northern Areas of Pakistan.

Another new appointee and successor to outgoing Lahore Corps Commander General Aziz, Maj.-Gen. Zarrar Azim, director general of Pakistan Rangers, Punjab, is an armoured corps officer who had always remained in the good books of Musharraf.

Senior army sources say Zarrar is known in the army as one of the finest field officers who is highly regarded both by officers and men. Friends and associates describe Zarrar as a "normal, moderate honest individual".

The new corps commander Quetta, Lt.-Gen. Qadir Baloch, is also considered a level-headed moderate officer who created history of sorts when Musharraf promoted him as the first ever three-star Baloch general in the army early this year.

Baloch is from the coastal area of Balochistan and is known to have wide contacts among the influential Pashtun tribal leaders of Balochistan. Like Zarrar and Orakzai, he has liberal tastes and habits.

The new ISI chief, Lt.-Gen. Ehsan-ul-Haq, a Pashtun officer with well-known balanced views, brings with him fresh ideas to make Pakistan's policy shift on Afghanistan successful.

A senior official noted that it was absolutely essential to have someone like Gen. Ehsan heading the ISI, to meet government and international expectations for a crucial ISI role in the establishment of a Pakistan-friendly broad-based moderate government in Afghanistan.

The appointment of Gen. Mohammad Yousuf as the vice-chief of army staff is also aimed at giving a wide hint that besides professional excellence, moderate views and personal outlook would also count and contribute towards the selections of officers for higher appointments in the Pakistan army.

Musharraf's preference for Yousuf, known as Joe to friends and close associates, for the post of vice-chief had become evident early last week when he ordered that Yousuf, in his capacity as the chief of general staff, oversee the crucial negotiations that the Pakistan army had with a team of visiting U.S. military officials to explore the possibilities of Pakistan-U.S. cooperation in their military strikes against Afghanistan-based terrorist bases.

Yousuf superceded the deputy chief of army staff, Lt.-Gen. Muzzaffar Usmani, who was also a frontrunner for the slot of vice-chief. New major generals have been posted as director generals for the Frontier Corps in Balochistan and Northern Areas.

A new division commander was posted in Kohat in the NWFP.