“I can never forget the moment when the young men in uniform were pointing guns at my innocent husband. There is no sorrow if someone does non-oppression. It was their own, so it is a pity.
This claim is from the wife of an ex-army officer who was telling about the night when her house was raided.
Over the past two years, the fear and panic among ex-servicemen and their families has grown to such an extent that they now shy away from speaking to the media.
This woman also does not want her husband’s name to be written. She claims that her husband is one of the ex-officers who have been accused in the mainstream and social media of ‘former and current army chiefs, the alleged interference of the army in politics and the role of the army in recent political manipulations, against the PDM parties. And warned not to speak in support of Imran Khan or PTI.’
Her husband said that “I was told not to give a statement or analysis in favor of Imran Khan.” An officer of a government agency said that you are our senior, we don’t like to send you daily notices and keep you here, but we are forced. We are told to keep him sitting from morning till evening.
The former army officer held important positions in the army during his tenure and was considered close to the military leadership for many years after his retirement.
He claimed that he was also ‘messaged’ by a civilian government official to stop criticizing the military establishment and ‘defend’ its policies.
He claims that he said that you should stop talking for Imran Khan. I would tell them that I am not speaking in favor of Imran Khan, nor am I speaking against the army. I am only against the policies and interference of a few people who are destroying this country.
According to him, institutions like FBR, FIA and NAB (i.e. National Accountability Bureau) send notices to them every day.
This ex-military officer also claimed that on the occasion of a similar summons, a senior officer of one of the government agencies gave him a threatening ‘ultimatum’ and said, ‘After that, the next step is your arrest. It is This I tell you now.
He is not the only ex-army officer who has been continuously harassed by various state agencies and is now forced to remain silent.
In order to know more about the situation, BBC has spoken to several retired senior military officers.
“I was called to GHQ and told that people respect your opinion. You support the Army Chief (General Asim Munir). I said I will not talk anywhere. Our families are threatened. Phones are tapped, monitored. The situation has worsened. Never thought so.
The claim comes from a former army officer who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity.
Another senior ex-military officer who retired a few years ago, known for his tough stance, had these words when contacted: ‘After talking to you, I hope you can meet me after a few days. Will have to come to jail.’
When and why was the opinion of retired military officers important?
The military establishment in Pakistan is considered to be the strongest pillar of the state and they are accused of not only interfering in political affairs but political manipulation is done on their cues.
Military officers themselves are not authorized to publicly express opinions on public or political matters, and the country’s constitution prevents them from taking any action that would give them the impression of favoring a political party. Defending their policies and communicating with the public, these tasks have usually been carried out by off-duty military officers.
This is why retired army officers are often seen defending military policies, actions and decisions in newspapers and on TV screens. According to the law, any military officer can not only express his opinion on political matters but also participate in politics like any ordinary citizen after the expiry of three years from his retirement.
On the other hand, like other armies of the world, the senior and retired officers in the Pakistani army are looked upon with respect within the army. A large number of retired officers attend the swearing-in ceremony of the Chief of Army Staff and the Chief of Army Staff also holds meetings with these senior retired military officers from time to time.
There are also organizations of ex-officers who liaise with serving officers to resolve the issues of retired officers and youth. Apart from this, what is the narrative of the army and what are the policies of any army chief, the same ex-officers are also seen defending them.
Senior journalist and analyst Nusrat Javed spoke to the BBC about this and said that in the past such a large number of ex-servicemen were not seen commenting.
According to him, ‘retirement in the past meant complete retirement. Some of them used to write books after retirement. He used to write fiction about his military days, Kakul Academy and generally related to wars. I don’t remember such a large number of X-Servicemen commenting on newspapers and TV channels. This series started after 2008, 2009.
This trend has spread so much that the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) issued a list to journalists and news channels in 2019 containing the names of more than 20 analysts and retired officers on various issues, especially But it was asked to take opinion for political matters.
A few days before the release of the list, media watchdog Pemra had also issued a directive to TV channels saying that any ex-servicemen should seek permission from ISPR before inviting them for analysis. will The directive also said that for discussions on security matters, the guest should be introduced as a defense analyst, and for discussions on any other matter, he should be introduced only as an ‘analyst’.
Pemra said that the reason for this was that the discussion often turned to political issues and that these officers were not fully aware of the latest security policies due to their long retirement, but the situation has changed rapidly in the last two years.
A number of former officers included in the same list faced alleged sanctions and even had to go to jail.
When did the military leadership and retired officers disagree?
If you go back a decade, there is a vigorous campaign in favor of Imran Khan, the former prime minister and founder of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf, first on TV channels and then on social media.
Even in the year 2011, there was a campaign going on in his favor on social media. For example, if you look at the Twitter (X) data at the time, trends like ‘Ek Tsunami, Ek Tofan, Imran Khan, Imran Khan’ were common but after the 2013 elections, this narrative intensified.
Apart from the PTI leaders, most of the retired officers included in the list were also seen supporting Imran Khan’s projection narrative.
Senior journalist and analyst Nusrat Javed believes that the ex-military officers that we have come across as analysts in the past decade have been systematically brainwashed.
He says that ‘I think he was programmed by the institution for many years to think that all politicians are corrupt. Certain news channels, newspapers and anchors were banned in their cantonment. This is called ‘conditioning’. At least ten years of constant mindset that all politicians are corrupt and rule in turn.
According to Nusrat Javed, “During this time, Imran Khan, who was an outsider (in Pakistani politics), was projected as if he was the solution to all our problems and the answer to all our questions.”
But (after 2018) they also failed to deliver. So the leadership of the army decided that not even Imran Khan, but the people whom they had spent at least a decade in their minds, could not back down from this ideology.
All this happened when Imran Khan and General Qamar Javed Bajwa came face to face.
How to accept the narrative that Nawaz Sharif is not corrupt?
The disagreement between Imran Khan and General Qamar Javed Bajwa over the appointment of the ISI chief in October 2021 exposed the cold war between Prime Minister House and GHQ to the public.
Then in April 2022, when the no-confidence motion was looming, Imran Khan openly blamed the ‘US’ and then the military leadership for this ‘conspiracy’. His narrative was accepted by a large number of the public as well as by most ex-servicemen on the ISPR list (and not).
These former army officers openly opposed the alleged military intervention, after which operations were launched against them. It is rare in the history of Pakistan that ex-servicemen themselves raise their voice against the policies or actions of the army.
Nusrat Javed says that the changing policy of the military leadership put these former officers in trouble.
“The army decided to use these retired officers to convey their position and narrative to the public, so they were used, but now when they are asked to sell a different narrative to the people, it is for them. It became difficult that yesterday I was saying something else, today how can I start defending the person whom I used to call a corrupt and incompetent politician till yesterday.’
Former Lt. Gen. Amjad Shoaib, who was part of various programs and analyzes in support of military policies, was arrested. Responding to a question regarding his arrest and complaints of pressure from former army officers, DG ISPR Major General Ahmed Sharif said that retired army officers are ‘assets of the army but above the law’. No’, however, organizations of retired military officers should not ‘wear the cloak of politics.’
Nusrat Javed says that the narrative of the military leadership and Imran Khan being on the same page and the alleged corruption of the leaders of the PDM parties in the opposition was so strong that when they tried to bring about a change, the biggest blow was perhaps It was for ex-military officers.
Speaking to the media, a former army officer, on condition of anonymity, said that since the nineties, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was strongly disliked in the army and this impression is still there.
“Now when suddenly the message from the military leadership (the then Army Chief General Retired Qamar Javed Bajwa) started to be received that ‘Nawaz Sharif is not corrupt’, how can this be accepted?”