Most people in Pakistan would rather not remember the humiliating surrender of 90,000 Pakistani troops to the invading Indian army in December 1971 but those terrible days need to be recalled to discuss how the country ended up in that terrible situation and who was responsible.
Of all the institutions of state, the military is the most powerful in Pakistan. Regrettably, it has interfered in politics since the very beginning even though it played no part in the creation of Pakistan. We examine its disastrous role in civil affairs.
Dark clouds hover over Pakistan's political landscape. Chief of Tehrik-e Insaf, Imran Khan has threatened to lay siege to Islamabad while Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif faces growing pressure on many fronts including corruption charges stemming from Panama leaks and tense civilian-military relations. The former army chief, General Mirza Aslam Beg, sees parallels between this and the 1977 agitation that led to Bhutto's overthrow by the military.
1The military regime in Pakistan has enough egg on its face over the Nawaz Sharif episode to feed a battalion. But those who expected it to behave differently should have known better.
There was poetic justice in the conviction of Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari on corruption charges by the Ehtesab Bench of the Lahore High Court on April 15. Each was sentenced to five years in jail and fined US$8.6 million
