Thaindian News

Islamabad, Dec 28 (IANS) A Pakistani daily Wednesday asked the military not to define “national security”, saying this had led to the 1971 birth of Bangladesh and the disastrous 1999 Kargil conflict with India.

The last thing Pakistan needs now “is institutional infighting”, said an editorial in the News International.

It said Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s remarks about a “state within a state” had caused a sensation in political circles.

“It looked as if the premier’s indirect reference to the military and the ISI was a challenge to the establishment,” it said.

After Pakistan Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani clarified that the army was cognizant of its constitutional obligations, Gilani ruled there was no clash between the government and the military.

“It is important to read between the lines… Tensions may have been defused but there are some questions that were left unanswered,” the daily said.

“In Pakistan, ‘national security’ has always been defined by the military even though in any modern democratic state, it is defined by the government in consultation with its subservient military.

“The military in Pakistan considers itself a state within a state and uses the jehadist networks to defend its national security paradigm,” it said.

The editorial reminded the military that its definition of national security had led to the breakup of Pakistan in 1971 and Bangladesh’s birth and “to a disaster called Kargil”.

“It is time to allow the democratic government to define what constitutes national security instead of making one blunder after another…

The last thing this country needs is institutional infighting,” it said.