IK started getting to know the intrigue that GB was doing but he kept quiet. Meanwhile, GB called reporters for a very long session of insight into Pak-India relationship a year ago. This meeting came post curfew and missing people in aJammu and Kashmir and amidst huge international pressure exerted on India via western media
Gen Bajwa spoke for hours in this meeting and made plans of going all friendly with India. According to eye witness account, all journalists were shocked to know that dialogue at MO level had already been innnitiated and GB had plans to take it further and hence wanted a "thaw" in the emotion of the opinion makers. There was one question asked by everyone, why now? Why at a time when India was under pressure by the western media post 5th Aug and IK's strong stance of calling Narendra Modi, Hitler and Hindutva regime of BJP as Nazi regime, which had successfully pushed India back on defensive. Why now go for a dialogue when it's India that would benefit?
GB told this long story of how his tanks were getting old and there was scarce money to buy new ones, and how we could fight for the rest of their lives and not get Kashmir back, like ever. Check article in UK's newspaper which says that the only person standing as hindrance and hawk between friendship with India in Pakistan was the then PM Imran Khan. IK has repeatedly said that he is not anti-India but because of bloodshed of Kashmiris, he cannot talk unless Kashmir issue is resolved. Journalists were shocked by this reality check by GB that Army wanted to be all friendly suddenly with India.
Following week, ISPR planned a friendly program with their favorite anchors and madethem do friendly appeasing shows for India from LoC. Seemed like GB was in a massive hurry. Meanwhile, a senior officer from PAF tells one of the reporters that GB is known in the western world as a General that will never go to war. Who benefitted with such image?
Two days after GB's longest interaction last Ramzan with journalists, IK called a few journalists at PM house and told them clearly that "there will be NO DIALOGUE" with India until and unless the heinous act of August 5th is revoked.
Message sent clearly not just to India but to his own Army Chief who could not wait
to shake hands with his Indian counterpart. Peace with India was a life long dream for General Bajwa. In his younger days, during one of his courses in a European country, he actually wrote a piece of friendship between India and Pakistan, making "certain quarters" taking notice. This dream of Gen Bajwa's of making history in his own way was exactly the same dream that Mian Nawaz Shareef had, since a long time. This time it was the General's dream vs IK's strong stance.
So IK had to be removed!
Meanwhile IK started getting too cosy with Chinese, GB travelled to China and ensured he got the news of his great welcome in China with guard of honor, printed and published in prominent places with help of his pet ISPR .
What happened in Afghanistan in August was with assistance of ISI, but when Gen Faiz made a silly mistake of becoming too prominent in Afghanistan by flashing his tea cup in the air and chiding a US reporter "that all will be well', this gave General Bajwa the much awaited opportunity to start turning his comrades against GF. The drama of DG ISI witnessed by all, in reality GB wanted a hand picked person at the all important position of DG ISI, who could help him cultivate his plan to bring Shareefs back into the political fold and not spill the beans of his plan to the prime minister as was consistently done by GF.
Meanwhile all the help IK got for legislation was via Gen Faiz hence his removal was inevitable and his transfer was announced without informing the PM. Maryam Nawaz did not even hide her pleasure at the departure of Gen Faiz as she stood with a kid in her lap for full media gallery at the convention of missing people and announced bad days would be over once GF will be posted out. It's all on record.
With one master stroke of his pen, GB isolated GF forgetting that Maryam Nawaz was the orchestrator of Dawn leaks, and it was Army vs PMLN and Maryam Nawaz not GF vs Maryam Nawaz. At some unfortunate moment in history, the COAS had narrowed down the larger chess board of the big battle of taking Pakistan further into future with no baggage from the past into personal clash of egos. The impression he gave to Army was as if it was GF vs GB. It never was. It was always Shareef's vs Imran Khan, old system vs new system. Purana Pak vs Naya Pakistan.
Gen Bajwa broke the nationalistic shield that Pak Army got in the form of firm patriotic PTI. One page was a problem for Pakistan's enemies. For years, Pakistan had tensions between civil military, giving a perfect opportunity to arch rival India to mock us through their anti Pakistan rants on electronic media.
It was after years that Pakistan had been working as a state much to the chagrin of Pakistan's enemies.
Once GF was gone, it was count down for IK. In the backdrop, another important development was taking place. Army leadership promised air bases to the US to help them keep an eye on Afghanistan, a tricky situation which could lead Pakistan right into the lap of terrorism which Pak Army had eradicated with utmost sacrifices (check stories in New York Times, Washington Post and Reuters – all suggesting those developments). It appears now, that Pakistan's chief executive PM Imran Khan was kept out of the loop.
Getting interesting, ain't it? Final Part-3 is on the way.
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