Ahead of the upcoming elections, Pakistani Army is trying to maintain a good rapport with judiciary to maintain its supremacy at any cost while keeping the possibility of early elections in mind amid the political turmoil in the country.
As all the political parties are happy to take on the Generals to reduce their own culpability in bringing Pakistan to the edge of multiple disasters, the Army will not let its authority slip away at any cost, media outlet, Al Arabiya reported.
The possibilities for the Generals to claim back power in Pakistan are- early elections and a tie-up with the judiciary.
Early elections would mean less mudslinging and better leverage over politics as they will keep Generals a notch above and would additionally break the unity among the political parties.
According to Al Arabiya, all political parties are happy to take on the Generals, including the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). This unity of convenience is a new threat to the Generals and can be broken once the elections are announced.
The army’s absolute way of making this happen is to keep the judiciary on its side.
The judges have been too eager to justify coups and various other licentious behavior of the Generals. For instance, the humiliation and hounding of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The judges and Generals joined hands to ensure that Sharif is hounded out of Pakistan and his name besmirched.
The judges offer the Generals effective instruments of coercion. The current Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif, and his son, Hamza Shehbaz, incumbent Chief Minister of Punjab, are awaiting indictment in a 16 billion rupee fraud case and several other cases. Other Sharifs are also in dock over cases, false or otherwise.
In any case, judges have a role in changing the scene if need be. The judges have done the bidding of the army in the past and can be relied upon to save the Generals this time around, the media outlet reported.
The Pakistan Army is becoming a lone opponent to the political class, irrespective of identities, with their respective public support, as all political parties came against them, a situation almost unprecedented.