Resignation of Jehangir Karamat

Last updated

On 6 October 1998, Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif relieved General Jehangir Karamat who was simultaneously serving as CJCSC and COAS from the command of the Pakistan Armed Forces for making public statements regarding and contradicting the policies of public administration. [1] In public and political science circles, General Karamat had popular support and occupied a prestigious image in the country for his role to promote a democratic process in the country. His dismissal remains a controversial topic in the field of civil-military relations and the move remains still questionable at the political science circles of Pakistan. [2]

Contents

A war veteran of Indo-Pakistani wars and former professor of political science at the National Defence University (NDU), General Karamat was an apolitical and professional military leader, but confrontation involving the Fourteenth Amendment and matters of principle of civilian control of the military was ingrained, which eventually led the relieving of General Jehangir Karamat from his command of the military by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in October 1998. [2]

Background

Nawaz Sharif

As scheduled, the general elections were held on 3 February 1997, which marked the return of Nawaz Sharif with an exclusive, two-thirds majority in the Parliament. [2] Just after days of re-electing for his second term, Prime Minister Sharif faced serious constitutional crises with the Supreme Court and the Presidency on the other side. Nawaz Sharif made very important Constitutional Amendments that inserted in the Constitution which introduced termination of the Eighth Amendment and passing of the Thirteenth Amendment, with the enaction of the anti-corruption bill in 1997. [2]

Sharif's constitutional moves were challenged by the Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and President Farooq Leghari; both were forced to resign by Nawaz Sharif on 2 December 1997. [2] After Sharif ordering the nuclear tests in 1998 and his unsuccessful attempt to pass the Fifteenth Amendment, a number of military officers publicly disagreed with the administration's policy over administration. [2] This confrontation led to the resignation of General Jehangir Karamat on 7 October 1998. General Karamat was replaced by General Pervez Musharraf. [2]

Jehangir Karamat

In stature and seniority, General Karamat was a foremost army generals in the Pakistan Military. [3] A son of civil servant and a highly decorated war veteran of Indo-Pakistani wars, Karamat was an academic who graduated with a top of his PMA Kakul class of 1961 and later fully tenured as professor of political science at the National Defence University (NDU) during most of the 1970s and 1980s. [3]

Karamat was a recipient of Pakistan's highest military and civilian honours as well as occupied a good image in country's public circles. [3] He had a distinguish combat career, and many of his students at NDU would ascended in prestigious combat assignments in the country's military science circles. [3] In 1995, Karamat gained national publicity after thwarting the conspiracy against Prime minister Benazir Bhutto, and his credentials would lead to him to be appointed simultaneously to four-star assignments, Chief of Army Staff and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee by Benazir Bhutto. [3]

Events leading up to the relief

Problems with Supreme Court and Presidency

The conservative mass led by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had come to the power with a two-majority as a result of 1997 general elections. Sharif established the Anti Terrorism Courts (ATC), Anti-Corruption Bill and passed the Fourteenth Amendment to the constitution, in 1997. [4] After criticizing the Chief Justice, the Supreme Court of Pakistan summoned Nawaz Sharif in Contempt of court and he appeared to court with party workers, members, chief ministers, and constituents to hear the proceedings. [5] Unruly party workers stormed into the Supreme Court, forcing Chief Justice Sajjad Ali Shah to remove the finding of contempt against PM Nawaz Sharif. [4] Hundreds of PML-N supporters and members of its youth wing, the Muslim Students Front (MSF), breached the police barrier around the courthouse when defence lawyer S.M. Zafar was arguing Sharif's case. [5] The partisans invaded the supreme court premises and intimated the senior judges at the supreme court; all of this actions were recorded in security cameras and television channels broadcast the event nationwide. [3] [5]

Chief Justice Shah wrote a letter to President Farooq Leghari to call the Pakistan Armed Forces to take action against Sharif. [5] However, the constant pressure of Farooq Leghari deteriorated his health which led to his resignation from the presidency. [5] Chief Justice Shah's tenured was cut short when Sharif appointed Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui in his place and his appointment was approved by the new president; Shah also resigned from the Supreme Court after hearing the news on television channels. [5]

Public statements and relief

After the nuclear tests in 1998, a Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) session was chaired with the Chairman and Chiefs of armed forces to overview the situation with India. [6] Problems arose with chairman joint chiefs and chief of army staff general Karamat in October 1998. [6]

While addressing the naval officers and cadets at the Naval War College, General Karamat stressed the re-creation of National Security Council (instead of DCC) [7] which would be backed by a "team of civil-military experts" [6] for devising policies to seek resolution ongoing problems relating the civil-military issues; also recommended a "neutral but competent bureaucracy and administration of at federal level and the establishment of Local governments in four provinces. [6]

This proposal was met with hostility and it succeeded all in accomplishing was pricking the Prime minister's highly inflated altered ego. [6] Nawaz Sharif's dismissal of general Karamat, [7] plummeted his mandate in the public circles and criticism he received from Leader of the Opposition Benazir Bhutto was rogue. [6]

Sharif summoned the Chairman Joint Chiefs and notified him of his relieving from the service. [8] On 6 October 1998, Nawaz Sharif dismissed and signed the relieving papers which were effective immediately. [9] Many in Pakistan became surprised of Sharif's moved since the dismissal of four-star general was never happened before in country's short history. [9]

Aftermath

Response and fallout

With Karamat's dismissal, it was widely felt in the armed forces that Sharif had ruthlessly established his control all over the country, including the military. [10] The dismissal of General Karamat was least popular decision in Sharif's prime ministerial ship, and his approval ratings plummeted. [10] Media Minister Syed Mushahid Hussain and later Prime minister himself justified his actions on national and international media:

In a democratic society, would a Chief of Army Staff and chairman Joint Chiefs talk about the Government like that? What happened to General MacArthur? Mr. Harry Truman did not waste much time. Pakistan is finally becoming a normal democratic society.

Mushahid Hussain, Media Minister in Nawaz Government, [1]

The relieve of General Karamat was a heated issue discussed even by his senior government ministers. [11] The most-senior and the former Treasury minister Sartaj Aziz gave vehement criticism and showed opposition to the Prime minister for making this move. [11]

Writing a thesis in his book, Between Dreams and Realities: Some Milestones in Pakistan's History, Aziz maintained: "Blunder of firing of General Karamatt; others will blame Nawaz Sharif for many mistakes he made. But in my view, the most serious of these mistakes was Nawaz Sharif's decision to remove General Jehangir Karamat as chief of army staff in October 1998". Aziz was extremely confident and certain that Chief of General Staff Lieutenant-General Ali Kuli Khan would be appointed as the Chief of Army Staff based on his seniority, merit, among a very competent officer, and next in seniority to General Karamat. [11]

It came to the conclusion that in relieving General Jehangir Karamat, Prime minister Sharif had committed a "blunder". He also failed to recognize that despite his heavy mandate, it was not advisable for him to dismiss two army chiefs in less than a year. In doing so he had overplayed his hands and effectively derailed the democratic process for nine long year...

Sartaj Aziz, 2009

In 1999, Nawaz Sharif later dismissed Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Fasih Bokhari to promote General Musharraf to chairman joint chiefs. [6] The following month, a failed attempt to dismiss Musharraf led to a military coup d'état against Prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 1999. [6]

Citations and references

  1. 1 2 CELIA W. DUGGER (20 October 1998). "Pakistani Premier Prevails in Clash With General". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Staff. "Nawaz Sharif becomes Prime Minister". STory of Pakistan. Archived from the original on 15 November 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Aziz, Mazhar (2008). Military control in Pakistan: the parallel state. London: Routledge. ISBN   978-0-415-43743-1.
  4. 1 2 Lieven, Anatol (2011). Pakistan : a hard country (1st ed.). New York: PublicAffairs. p. 114. ISBN   978-1-61039-021-7.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Cohen, Stephen P. (2004). The idea of Pakistan (1. paperback ed.). Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press. pp.  219–220. ISBN   0-8157-1502-1. 1997 attack on supreme court pakistan.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Abbas, Hassan (2002). Pakistan's Drift to Extremism. United States: Yale University Press. p. 66. ISBN   9780765614964.
  7. 1 2 Crossette, Barbara. "Coup in Pakistan – Man in the News; A Soldier's Soldier, Not a Political General." New York Times (13 October 1999).
  8. Staff (10 October 1998). "Karamat retired, Musharraf takes over as COAS". Dawn Archives. Retrieved 13 March 2013.
  9. 1 2 Gannon, Kathy (2005). I is for infidel: from holy war to holy terror in Afghanistan (1. ed.). New York: Public Affairs, Kathy. pp.  145–146. ISBN   978-1-58648-312-8. Dismissal of General Jehangir Karamat.
  10. 1 2 Daniel E. Harmon (2008). Pervez Musharraf: President of Pakistan . United Kingdom: Rosen Publications. pp.  65–66. ISBN   978-1-4270-9208-3.
  11. 1 2 3 Aziz, Sartaj (2009). Between Dreams and Realities: Some Milestones in Pakistan's History. Karachi, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. p. 408. ISBN   978-0-19-547718-4.

Readings and books

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pervez Musharraf</span> President of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008

Pervez Musharraf was a Pakistani military officer and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008. He also served as the 10th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs from 1998 to 2001 and the 7th Chief of Army Staff from 1998 to 2007.

The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan allowed the President to unilaterally dissolve the National Assembly and elected governments. The National Assembly of Pakistan amended the Constitution of Pakistan in 1985 and the law stayed on the books until its repeal in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nawaz Sharif</span> Former Pakistani Prime Minister (born 1949)

Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani businessman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pakistan, having served a total of more than 9 years across three tenures. Each term has ended in his ousting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pakistan Muslim League (N)</span> Conservative political party in Pakistan

The Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) (Urdu: پاکستان مسلم لیگ (ن), abbr.PML(N) or PML-N) is a centre-right, conservative liberal political party in Pakistan. It is currently the third-largest party in the Senate and the largest in the National Assembly. The party was founded in 1993, when a number of prominent conservative politicians in the country joined hands after the dissolution of Islamic Democratic Alliance, under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The party's platform is generally conservative, which involves supporting free markets, deregulation, lower taxes and private ownership. Although the party historically supported social conservatism, in recent years, the party's political ideology and platform has become more liberal on social and cultural issues; however, members have been accused of using Islamist populist rhetoric. Alongside the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan People's Party (PPP), it is one of the three major political parties of the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">President of Pakistan</span> Head of state of Pakistan

The President of Pakistan is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The president is the nominal head of the executive and the supreme commander of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The Presidency is a ceremonial position in Pakistan. The President is bound to act on advice of Prime Minister and cabinet. Asif Ali Zardari is the current President since 10 March 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghulam Ishaq Khan</span> President of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993

Ghulam Ishaq Khan, commonly known by his initials GIK, was a Pakistani bureaucrat, politician and statesman who served as the seventh president of Pakistan from 1988 to 1993. He previously served as Chairman of the Senate from 1985 to 1988 under president Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, and was sworn in shortly after Zia's death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farooq Leghari</span> 8th president of Pakistan from 1993 to 1997

Farooq Ahmad Khan Leghari, was a Pakistani politician who served as the eighth president of Pakistan from 14 November 1993 until resigning on 2 December 1997. He was the first Baloch to be elected as President.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muhammad Rafiq Tarar</span> President of Pakistan from 1998 to 2001

Muhammad Rafiq Tarar was a Pakistani politician and jurist who served as the ninth president of Pakistan from January 1998 until his resignation in June 2001, and prior to that as a senator from Punjab in 1997. Before entering politics, Tarar served as senior justice of the Supreme Court of Pakistan from 1992 to 1994 and as the 28th Chief Justice of Lahore High Court from 1989 to 1991.

The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan was a short-lived amendment to the Constitution of Pakistan, adopted by the Parliament of Pakistan in 1997 by the civilian government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. It stripped the President of Pakistan of his reserve power to dissolve the National Assembly, and thereby triggering new elections and dismissing the Prime Minister. The Constitutional Amendment was supported by both the government and the opposition, and was thus passed unanimously. With the enforcing of this amendment, Pakistan's system of government was shifted from Semi-presidential system to Parliamentary democratic republic system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Security Council (Pakistan)</span> Institutional and consultative body of the Government of Pakistan

The National Security Council is a federal institutional and consultative body chaired by the Prime Minister of Pakistan as its chairman. The NSC is a principal forum that is mandated for considering national security and foreign policy matters with the senior national security advisers and Cabinet ministers. The idea and inception of National Security Council was first conceived in 1969 under the President Yahya Khan, its functions were to advise and assist the president and prime minister on national security and foreign policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jehangir Karamat</span> Pakistan Army general

General Jehangir Karamat is a retired four-star rank military officer, diplomat, public intellectual, and a former professor of political science at the National Defense University. Prior to serving as a Chief of Army Staff, he also served as the 9th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1997 to 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1999 Pakistani coup d'état</span> 1999 military takeover of government in Pakistan

The 1999 military takeover in Pakistan was a bloodless coup d'état initiated by the military staff at the Joint Staff HQ working under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharraf. The instigators seized control of the civilian government of the popularly elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 12 October 1999. On 14 October, General Musharraf, acting as the country's Chief Executive, issued a controversial provisional order that suspended the Constitution of Pakistan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fasih Bokhari</span> Pakistani military officer (1942–2020)

Admiral Fasih BokhariNI(M) HI(M) SI(M) SBt PGAT was a Pakistani admiral who served as the Chief of Naval Staff from 1997 to 1999. He was a well-known pacifist and a prominent political figure as the Chief of Naval Staff from 1997 until his voluntary resignation in 1999, which stemmed from his staunch opposition to the then-Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf's instigation of the Kargil War with India, a conflict that Bokhari reportedly saw as an act of inappropriate and uncoordinated aggression from Pakistan and one that subsequently led him into a bitter dispute with Musharraf. Bokhari also served as the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, a Pakistani anti-corruption agency.

The Pakistan coup attempt of 1995 or Operation Khalifa was a secretive plot hatched by renegade military officers and against the government of Benazir Bhutto, the prime minister of Pakistan. The plotters aimed to overthrow the constitutional government and establish military rule in Pakistan. The plot was foiled after intelligence agencies tipped off the Pakistan Army. Despite the failure, the coup attempt would weaken Bhutto's government considerably in the aftermath.

Lieutenant General Ali Kuli Khan KhattakHI(M) is a retired Pakistani three-star rank general officer and former field commander of X Corps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Privatisation in Pakistan</span> Economic programme

The privatisation process in Pakistan, sometimes referred to as denationalisation programme or simply the privatisation in Pakistan) is a continuous policy measure program in the economic period of Pakistan. It was first conceived and implemented by the then-people-elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistan Muslim League, in an attempt to enable the nationalised industries towards market economy, immediately after the economic collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989–90. The programme was envisaged and visioned to improve the GDP growth of the national economy of Pakistan, and reversal of the nationalisation programme in 1970s— an inverse of the privatisation programme.

The Periods of Stagflation, also known as Stagflation in Pakistan or inflation and unemployment in Pakistan, are periods of economic stagflation in Pakistan's economic history, which has affected Pakistan's economic trajectory since its inception. Pakistan's economy is battling a state of virtual "stagflation", means that Pakistan is grappling with the challenging conditions of sluggish economic activity, rising unemployment and rising inflation.

The family of head of state and government in Pakistan is an unofficial title for the family of the head of state or head of government of a country. In Pakistan, the term First Family usually refers to the head of state or head of government, and their immediate family which comprises their spouse and their descendants. In the wider context, the First Family may comprise the head of state or head of government's parents, siblings and extended relatives.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Nawaz Sharif government</span> Governemnt of Pakistan (1997–1999)

The Second Nawaz Sharif government began on 3 February 1997, when Nawaz Sharif was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and ended without completing its mandated term on 12 October 1999. Sharif, a conservative politician who presided the Pakistan Muslim League from Punjab, took the office following a decisive victory in the primary elections held in 1997 over the Pakistan Peoples Party– a left-leaning political party. The second administration of Sharif ended with the precedence of Musharraf administration in 1999 when the military took over the control of the federal government and imposed martial law for the 4th time in the country’s history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Benazir Bhutto government</span> Pakistani federal government (1993-96)

The Second Benazir Bhutto government was formed on 19 October, 1993, following general elections the same month and dissolved on 5 November, 1996 by President Farooq Leghari. During the beginning of her second term Benazir Bhutto entered into a much stronger government than in her first term and had greater experience in administration and civil-military relations. This owing to Peoples Parties governments in Sindh, NWFP and Punjab, the election of PPP "loyalist" Farooq Leghari to the presidency, and greater relations with the Army under COAS Abdul Waheed Kakar and DG-ISI Javed Ashraf Qazi, who provided a conduit between the Army Chief and Prime Minister, as Benazir Bhutto respected the army's internal affairs and autonomy in her second term to avoid conflict. However, the government's stability suffered from economic mismanagement, growing instances of ethno-sectarian violence, increasing deadlock with the opposition PML(N), an antagonized upper-judiciary after Bhutto tried to "pack" the High Courts and later a political conflict with the President. The Army which previously remained neutral became concerned over the "fast deteriorating" economic and law-and-order situation, submitting the President a report warning of "economic disaster." By mid-October 1996 senior military officials no longer believed the government had the required competence, and therefore supported Farooq Leghari in the political conflict between President and Prime Minister. Prior to this Farooq Leghari had already met with Nawaz Sharif and discussed the dismissal of the government. Confident in military support and to pre-empt a PPP-PML(J) vote of no confidence in Punjab, as well as due to economic conditions the President dismissed the government of Benazir Bhutto on 5 November, 1996.