I was informed of this great honor by General Qamar Javed Bajwa himself, that my students from the Sir Syed School in Rawalpindi are still present in the 70th decade. Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa was also present at the coincidental meeting in Rawal Lounge. This is a reference to 2014 when Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa was the commander of the Rawalpindi 10 Corps and now, three years later, on the evening of April 29, 2017, a Sufi was found sitting in a burnt-out drawing room at Army House and the sound of the masterful thunder of the student’s room was echoing.”
“I have been stabbed in the back, and I feel a sharp pain in my back. I have been deceived and deeply hurt. I have been put in a difficult situation. How can I face my people now? Why did they need to do this after everything was settled? This note has caused great unease among the military leadership. You know how bad the situation was before my arrival. What have I not done to improve inter-service military relations? But the army is a very disciplined institution, and protecting the honor of our institution is my responsibility. If I am treated like this, how can I assure my people? The entire leadership of the army knows what was agreed upon and how the government has issued a statement to the contrary. This reaction was expected. Things cannot go on like this, and this matter is far from over. I had no idea that after signing the “Instrument of Surrender,” the government would turn the POW camp into an ammunition dump. General Aijaz Ahamad, who signed the document with me, was nowhere to be found, and I was left to face the music alone.”
When General Bajwa picked up his teacup a while later, during a break in the gunfire, I said gently, “May I speak now, or do you have more to say?” General Bajwa replied, “Yes, yes, please go ahead. I’ve said everything openly. I have a relationship of respect with you. If someone else were to become a government minister, they wouldn’t get the same opportunity to meet me today.” I thanked him and asked, “Can you tell me which recommendation of the inquiry committee was not implemented?” General Bajwa began to say, “Look, sir! The inquiry committee recommended that Pervez Rashid be dismissed and an assurance be given to that effect. There is no mention of it in the statement. The committee recommended that Fatemi be removed. The word ‘denotify’ was used in the statement, so why was the note function raised in the media?” It took me some time to believe that according to government statements, the Prime Minister approved paragraph 18 of the inquiry report, which contained four recommendations.
- Remove Pervez Rashid from the ministry.
- Dismiss Tariq Fatemi from his position.
- Refer the matter of Zafar Abbas, Sril Al-Maida, and Dan to the PNS.
- Take disciplinary action against Rao Tehseen.
Can you tell me which of these orders were not accepted? It could be a small issue of language or communication or some technical glitch, but was it some sort of anti-army rebellious statement that you gave that made you put a ‘Rejected’ stamp on it without even looking at it? I tried to address General’s concerns. Shortly after, the conversation became smoother. Holding a book in one hand and a bag of chalk in the other, I came in the form of a teacher and said, “Look General, you say that the Prime Minister should feel the difficulties you face, but have you ever thought that the Prime Minister may also have difficulties and constraints? Have you ever looked at it from the perspective that the Prime Minister’s political associates are his commanders? You had complaints from some people. You dismissed them. The Prime Minister also has complaints and reservations. Will they do what you ask them to do as they did for you? Will you remove the colonel who tweeted the insulting ‘Rejected’ on the Prime Minister’s order?”
The night was passing by. The announcement for dinner was made. Suddenly, General Ajaz entered and said, “I thought both of you should be given a chance to talk to each other openly.”
During the meal, I clearly felt that General Bajwa had shifted towards a defensive stance rather than an aggressive one. He must have also guessed that if there was any “advice” in the government note, it should not be turned into a mountain. At that moment, General Ajaz said, “Qamar, you should talk to Mian Sahib yourself. The longer we wait, the more the matter will worsen. Just like you were angry, Nawaz Sharif can also get angry. I know him better than you do.” Suddenly, General Bajwa said, “Sir, it’s possible that the Prime Minister might not take a phone call from our formal channel. If he can talk to them, let him do it.” I went to the control room and got the exchange number. I got through, but on the other end, it wasn’t the Prime Minister, it was Maryam Nawaz speaking. I briefly explained that I was at the Army House and that General Bajwa wanted to talk to the Prime Minister. Maryam said, “Hold on, uncle…” and a few moments later, she said, “Uncle Abu Okara had gone. He’s tired and wants to sleep.” I didn’t expect anything from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, that they would take the poison of “rejected” and swallow it silently.
Despite more than three hours of continuous negotiations, when I left the army house for Islamabad, my heart was still plagued by doubts and uncertainties. However, I did not even have an inkling of the storm that was brewing in the “Dawn Leaks” controversy, and how it was going to cause uproar and chaos. (Continued)
