But for the first time in many years, the Pakistan Army did not have to defend General (retd.) Musharraf’s statements. Someone called the Director-General of the Inter-Services Public Relations for a comment on the remark. “Since this has been stated by the President and not the Pakistan Army, he alone is competent to answer this question,” said the ISPR’s Major-General Athar Abbas. The message was clear enough: we don’t do the President any more.

In the eight weeks since the control of the Pakistan Army has passed into new hands, there have been other indications that it is quietly but rapidly distancing itself from the political sphere. Earlier this month, the new chief of army staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, sent out a letter to officers asking them to desist from hobnobbing with politicians. The letter, parts of which newspapers published and were confirmed by the military spokesman, said the Pakistan Army had no role to play in politics. He asked soldiers to pay attention instead to their “professional” responsibilities, and officers to steer clear of politicians, warning them against calling politicians to the General Headquarters or having any other “direct or indirect” contact with them.

The other significant measure is a plan to recall serving army officers deployed in civilian government departments back to their units. Major-General Abbas, the military spokesman, told The Hindu that the number of serving officers presently in civilian departments was “around 250, certainly not more than 300.” Confirming that the policy to pull them out was “under consideration,” he said a detailed plan for this was being finalised.

These small steps have sent out the first positive signals about the Pakistan Army in a long time. For an institution that once had a cherished place in the heart of Pakistanis, 2007 marked a low point, perhaps its lowest since 1971 when it was held responsible for the break-up of the country. Already facing criticism for training its guns against its own people in the “war on terror” operations in the north-west frontier region, President Musharraf’s sacking of the Chief Justice in March, and the consequent agitation by the legal community, opened another front against it.

The unpopularity of Gen. Musharraf, then still the COAS, saw itself reflected in an unprecedented animosity towards the Pakistan Army. The streets echoed with slogans against the military. From being abused as an “American lackey” to accusations of unprofessionalism, the army saw it all last year. Despite several government warnings that no one must defame the military, spring 2007’s rallying cry of “Go Musharraf Go” had by summer turned into “Go Fauj Go.” One of the lasting images from that time is a pick-up van that used to pop up at all the processions and rallies, bearing on one side a cut-out of a military boot crushing a map of Pakistan with the words “bhukhe mar gaye mein aur tu, lut ke kha gaya GHQ (you and I have died starving, while GHQ has looted and eaten it all)” and, on the other, a banner demanding an 80 per cent cut in the defence budget.

Lt. Gen (retd.) Talat Masood, an astute commentator on the situation in his country, said he could recall no other time when the role of the army was debated so threadbare. Like him, those with strong bonds to the Pakistan Army, are palpably relieved that the new leadership is taking immediate steps to repair the damage and prevent it from being dragged through more mud.

Writing in The News, Kamal Matinuddin, another retired Lieutenant-General, commended Gen. Kayani for taking steps that would “help in reducing criticism of the army, which we so often hear in civilian circles,” and related a personal experience to show how much animus had developed against the institution in recent years. His telephone had been dead for days and his appeals to the telephone department to do something were falling on deaf ears. Exasperated, he called the office of the Pakistan Telephones chairman. He asked for the chairman’s name, and was told it was someone called Bajwa. Assuming this was another army appointment, he asked to be connected to General Bajwa, at which the assistant replied: “Yeh bach gaya (this position escaped).”

Lt. Gen. Matinuddin wrote that the latest developments “give us hope that we have now a professional soldier at the helm of the army,” and “it is only when the military concentrates on maintaining the highest standard of discipline and training and keeps away from activities that bring them in contact with civilians, that they would not be the target of their criticism.”

Lt. Gen Masood, a signatory to one of the earliest statements back in July 2006 by a group of retired military officers calling on President Musharraf to step down as COAS in order to prevent the entire institution from getting politicised said the new COAS was taking the army in a direction that was “most encouraging.”

According to him, it is more important than ever for the army to build bridges with civilians, as success in fighting extremism and terrorism is dependent on this. “He seems to understand the monumental challenge that the army is facing and what it has to do. He knows that the campaign against extremism cannot be fought without the support of the masses. The average Pakistani does not believe that this ‘war on terror’ is his war. There is so much confusion about it. We need clarity, and that clarity can come only with a democratic political process. Gen. Kayani seems to know this.”

Gen. Kayani’s first public statements after President Musharraf tearfully handed the baton to him reflected this. Within two weeks of his elevation to the top post, the COAS told officers that while the Pakistan Army was fully capable of defeating all manner of “conventional and unconventional” threats, it was the “harmonisation of socio-political, administrative and military strategies” that would bring long-term peace and stability to the country. “Ultimately, it is the will of the people and their support that is decisive. It is critical that Pakistan Army’s efforts are backed by the nation” he said.

According to Ayesha Siddiqa, author of Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy, Gen. Kayani faces an uphill task in getting the nation to back the army. His declaration of 2008 as the “year of the soldier” is an important step to increase the morale of a force hit by more than 800 casualties in the “war on terror.” But Ms Siddiqa predicts this may end up widening the army-civilian divide as welfare measures for soldiers increase and entail a larger share of the national pie for the military.

On the other hand, the main plus for the army is that it does not have to be apologetic about President Musharraf anymore. A crucial question is whether Gen. Kayani subscribes to the post-election “troika” formula of President Musharraf, in which the President, Prime Minister, and the COAS rule Pakistan together. Do the steps he is taking mean that the Pakistan Army is willing to subordinate itself to a civilian government, or does it want to continue pulling the strings from the shadows of its apparent retreat?

The answer to this is not clear yet. According to Lt. Gen. Masood, the army is consciously making the effort to pull back from politics “not necessarily to play a secondary role but to play its generic role, so that it earns the respect of the people in Pakistan, and of the international community, and to effectively fight the war on terror.”

But, he argues, in order to be successful in this, Gen. Kayani must not succumb to Gen. Musharraf’s troika concept, which prevailed in the 1990s during the years of the Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif democracies. That seeks to give the army a permanent role in running the country under the pretext of “stability.”

Much will depend on politicians themselves. It shocked many that Aitzaz Ahsan, one of the heroes of last year’s lawyers’ movement and an important leader of the Pakistan People’s Party, told supporters when he was released for a few hours from his house arrest during Eid last month that if the new parliament failed to restore the pre-November 3 judiciary, the lawyers would launch a massive movement, and “force General Kayani to undo all the wrongdoings of his predecessor.”

As Gen. Musharraf grows weaker, Ms Siddiqa predicts such statements will be made by more and more politicians. The first test for the army could come as early as February 18, when the general elections are scheduled. Pakistan is waiting to see what role, if any, the army and the intelligence services will play. That will provide enough tea leaves to read the future.

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