A Letter from Prometheus
On 29 April 2017, the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sacked one of his colleagues who sacrificed his whole career for the PML(N) and went through unimaginably rough times during Musharraf’s Martial Law (that is never mentioned as Martial Law by official documents of the state of Pakistan). The sacked ally was then Information Minister Pervaiz Rasheed. The list of sacked officials also included the names of special advisers for Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi and Principal Information Officer (PIO) Rao Tehsin.
A campaign against Tariq Fatemi and his family was already on the social media. Fake documents about his daughters and other fake information were flooded through paratrooper journalists who were allegedly launched by the military establishment in the market. However, there was nothing in sight against Rao Tehsin and Pervaiz Rasheed. Their sacking was big news indeed. When the tenure of Pervaiz Rasheed ended as Senator and he tried to contest the next elections of the Senate of Pakistan, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) on February 18, 2021, rejected his nomination papers, stating that he was a defaulter of the Punjab House in Islamabad and his nomination would be accepted only after he cleared the dues. He said he was ready to clear his dues but the Returning Officer accepted the objection to Rasheed’s nomination and said that he failed to provide evidence regarding having cleared the dues. Pervaiz Rasheed termed the development an “engineered attempt” to keep him away from contesting tne Senate polls. He moved to appeal where his review application was rejected by Justice Shahid Waheed after the arguments in the case were finished. Since then Pervaiz Rasheed is working without any official status but stands with the party as a rock-solid wall.
Rao Tehsin was a very promising, popular, and professional official of the Information Cadre and everybody thought he could be Secretary of Information before his retirement. Alas, his professionalism was dangerous for those who wanted to slice the PML(N) government into small pieces of the same size.
This all happened due to the famous (actually infamous) Dawn Leaks fiasco. “Dawn Leaks” was portrayed as a great conspiracy against Pakistan, its military establishment, and the people of Pakistan.
Now recently, during a conversation with journalist Shahid Maitla, the former COAS Gen (retd) Qamar Bajwa confirmed that Dawn Leaks was never a serious and big issue and Bajwa’s conversation with Maitla showed that Dawn Leaks was an engineered crisis for getting an extension given to former COAS Gen Raheel Sharif. According to part three of an interview with Shahid Maitla, General Bajwa indirectly indicated that the Dawn story published in October 2016 was deliberately played up by General Sharif, in an attempt to argue for an extension from the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The English-language newspaper, Dawn, in October 2016 published news about a high-profile security meeting in which military and civilian leadership allegedly had an exchange of hot conversation and it was claimed that information was leaked to the Dawn reporter by Pervaiz Rasheed, Tariq Fatimi, and Rao Tehsin. An inquiry was conducted and the inquiry report confirmed the alleged involvement of the above three personalities in leaking the information.
However, this inquiry report had never been shared publicly by the conductor of the inquiry but all three members of the PML(N) government were not only sacked, rather they ended up in hot waters. The then Interior Minister Ch Nisar Aliallegedly played a part in disgracing Pervaiz Rasheed, Tariq Fatimi, and Rao Tahsin. However, Ch Nisar has always denied these allegations.
Politicians should understand that war has only one ethic and that is winning the war. During Dawn Leak, several instance gestures came from the other side that things had cooled down between then PM Mian Nawaz and the Army, but we forget to remember that deception is the tool for success in defeating enemies. Trojan horses were installed within the close circles of Mian Nawaz for gathering knowledge about his next move and he succumbed to statecraft and propaganda. The phase started with Dawn Leaks and finally ceased with Nawaz’s departure from the power corridors.
I as a journalist could understand that the removal of Pervaiz Rasheed and Rao Tehsin was the need of the day because they had been mitigating the media campaigns that had been launched against the PML(N) since the 2014 Islamabad Dharna. Engineers of the campaigns against the PML(N) government were frustrated and Dawn Leaks was the best chance available to remove both who were considered as “irritants” allegedly by the military establishment. Once they were removed, the PML(N) was ruthlessly exposed to the media brigade of the PTI. Since then, the PML(N) has yet not come out of the media defeats it faces almost every day in social media as well as traditional media arenas because more than five years were enough to create a big slur brigade targeting the PML(N),, and dismantling this brigade is not an easy job now.
Removal of allies by the then prime minister Mian Nawaz Sharif was an indicator that Nawaz wanted to continue working with the military establishment, but the response that came from the other side was not promising, and later Mian Nawaz Sharif was sent home through court orders for not getting monthly salary from his son while he was shown as an employee for a firm of his son for getting UAE Iqama— an employment document that is useful for travelling frequently to UAE without getting through the visa process.
The Dawn Leak saga helps to understand several points including that once politicians start retreating from their position, then there is no end to it, and later or sooner they are thrown out of the arena. Another lesson learned is that weak control of the civilian government over media helps non-civilian actors to manipulate media against civilian governments. Mian Nawaz Sharif had faced the situation twice before he was thrown ut the third time but even then he wanted to avert the situation and thought he could mend fences with the military establishment. Finally he understood that no goodwill gesture works once the men in uniform decide to go ahead with their project.
Politicians should understand that war has only one ethic and that is winning the war. During Dawn Leak, several instance gestures came from the other side that things had cooled down between then PM Mian Nawaz and the Army, but we forget to remember that deception is the tool for success in defeating enemies. Trojan horses were installed within the close circles of Mian Nawaz for gathering knowledge about his next move and he succumbed to statecraft and propaganda. The phase started with Dawn Leaks and finally ceased with Nawaz’s departure from the power corridors.
Arthashastra is written by Hindu Philosopher Chanakya (c. 350 – 283 BC) who was a professor of political science at Takshashila University which was established around 3000 years back at Taxila Valley. Chanakya was the teacher, guide, and mentor of the great King Chandragupta Maurya whose empire extended as far as Central Asia. Chandragupta Maurya and Chanakya overthrew the Nanda Empire in 322 BC. Chanakya injected fears, hopelessness, and trust deficit between the population and the Royal family of the Nanda Empire and spread information that Chandragupta was the son of gods and had come from the skies to rule the earth and that he (Chandragupta) was undefeatable.
The same history was repeated in the last two years of the end of the PML(N) government in 2018. Fears, hopelessness, and trust deficit between the population and politicians were promoted through paratrooper anchors and writers and every screen television was stating that Pakistan had been stolen by corrupt politicians. Imran Khan was raised as a saviour and a kind of Avatar who sacrificed his life in Europe to bail out the poor nation of Pakistan, and that Imran Khan was the only honest person available and could not be defeated. At last, Project Imran was successfully placed in PM Office, and the result the entire nation is watching today.
