Pakistani opposition leader warns against concentration of power in military establishment

Pakistan’s opposition leader and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has warned against the growing concentration of political and institutional power in the military establishment, saying an imbalance among state institutions could threaten the country’s stability.

Addressing a public gathering in Punjab’s Multan district on Friday, Mr. Rehman said Pakistan could function effectively only when the military, bureaucracy and elected institutions operated within their respective constitutional domains.

“The powerful forces that are taking more and more authority onto their shoulders will soon reach a point where they themselves will be crushed under the weight of that power,” he said, in an apparent reference to the military establishment.

His remarks came days after President Asif Ali Zardari, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s cabinet, imposed emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 11, removing the provincial government led by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf.

Mr. Rehman had criticised the move as an attack on democracy and vowed to oppose it through democratic means.

Mr. Rehman also accused Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s government of lacking an electoral mandate, calling it a “fake government” of “powerless rulers”.

“We have chosen the path of Parliament, and today the people of Pakistan and the world can see which force is sabotaging parliamentary politics, democracy and politics rooted in the people. This is no longer hidden,” he said.

He also targeted the Pakistan Peoples Party, questioning its democratic credentials and criticising President Zardari over the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa decision.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz reacted to Rehman’s statements and said his comments about Army Chief Field Marshal Gen Asim Munir had “hurt every patriotic Pakistani”.

She accused Mr. Rehman of supporting those responsible for what she described as incompetence, mismanagement and corruption in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa instead of holding them accountable.