The Pakistani army claims to be professional but one way in which it is not is how its chiefs stick to their seats once their tenure expires. Pervez Musharraf as army chief kept extending his tenure. Ashfaq Kayani won a three-year extension. Raheel Sharif tried but Nawaz Sharif said no. And the current chief, Qamar Bajwa, too got a three-year extension.

Extensions at the top destabilize the entire structure of the army. A fresh wave of chief wannabes are denied the post; they have to retire with their desire unrequited. The serving chief becomes much older than the next crop of generals. The Pakistani prime minister has almost no control over the army. The only time he wields control is when selecting the next chief. If the chief is already on an extension, then he is a lame duck and the prime minister can override his choices.

If the chief has served only one three-year tenure, like Raheel Sharif had done, then the PM is under pressure to give him an extension. Nawaz Sharif was a relatively strong PM and he didn’t bend to pressure from Raheel Sharif. If you are the president of the country as well as army chief, as Musharraf was, you can keep giving yourself extension upon extension.

Qamar Bajwa has a year to go on the job. He is certain not to get another extension; therefore he has already become a lame duck. Three star generals are already fiercely jockeying for the position of army chief. The man they are jockeying to is Imran Khan. Not only is Bajwa old by the standards of a regular chief, he is fast becoming powerless. The Director General Inter-Services Intelligence is considered the second-most powerful post in the country. Some even consider it more powerful than that of the army chief. If some army officers launch a coup against the army chief, it is a sine qua non that they will rope in the DG ISI.

The ISI is almost unique amongst national spy agencies in that it is headed by a serving army officer. Both the CIA and RAW are headed typically by civilians. The ISI chief normally has no training or experience of intelligence before he’s plonked into the job. He is expected to start functioning from day one.
The DG ISI is a three-star general. As a serving army officer, he reports to the army chief. There is no more hierarchical an organization anywhere than the army. Even a small amount of insubordination can result in a court martial and termination. Orders are a matter of life and death and have to be obeyed.
Consider what Faiz Hameed, who was until a few days ago DG ISI, is supposed to have done. The Taliban took control of Kabul on August 15. Shortly thereafter there was a picture of Hameed in Kabul, doing sajda (namaaz) with the Taliban. He was apparently back in Kabul a few days later. He cut a dapper self in his civilian suit. This time he was in Kabul to help the Taliban form its government. But reportedly, he had come to Kabul without the knowledge of his boss, Bajwa.
A former American joint chiefs of staff has called the Haqqani network a veritable arm of the ISI. The Haqqanis became notorious for launching the most dreaded attacks on the Allies, attacks that the Americans haven’t forgotten. Hameed made sure that the new government was loaded with Haqqanis, with one even getting the powerful interior ministry. Many of the Haqqanis are UN-designated terrorists, some with million dollar and more bounties on their heads.

Bajwa was furious when he learned what Hameed had done. He pulled him up. Hameed sought forgiveness. Bajwa pardoned him. But the Americans are terrified by the hardline composition of the new Afghan government. They must have read the riot act to the Pakistanis. Wendy Sherman, the US deputy secretary of state, is in Pakistan. There was absolutely no way that Hameed could keep his ISI job while she was in the country.

Bajwa might be ageing and a lame duck, but he still retains the right to fire whoever is in the Pakistani army. The way the Pakistani army is structured is that there are about four or five corps commanders, all three star generals, with operational command. The remaining five or six three star generals have staff jobs. Without being a corps commander, a general cannot ascend to the post of army chief.

Hameed had never been a corps commander until Bajwa made him one very recently. He therefore has given Hameed the stripe of corps commander that he was missing and allowed him to stay in the mix to become army chief. This is strange. Instead of being punished for insubordination, Hameed actually seems to be getting rewarded.

The Peshawar corps has become central to Pakistan’s future. The Pakistani Taliban, which has vowed to institute sharia in the country, is from the area. It would be Hameed’s number one task to beat the Pakistani Taliban. If he can do so, he will become a national hero as Raheel Sharif did (for the same reason), and a strong contender to become army chief.

The Americans are also talking about their over the horizon counterterrorism abilities, which they say includes drones, planes, missiles from ships, and special forces. The Americans are sure to want to get back at the Taliban, especially the Haqqani network. His stint as DG ISI made Hameed bond with the Haqqanis. As Peshawar corps commander, he will have enough space under his belt to provide safe havens to the Haqqanis and the like.
Pakistan is a strange country and strange things happen there. The world would be able to watch with amusement if only the happenings were not so toxic.

The writer is an expert on energy and contributes regularly to publications in India and overseas.