... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf...
's government and the army led by Gen Raheel Sharif, may have begun receding when Sharif presided over the passing out parade at the Pakistain Military Academy (PMA) in an important symbolic gesture.
But Sharif's appearance at the prestigious event in the Kakul suburb of Abbottabad
... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden....
, dedicated to graduating cadets heading to begin their army careers as second lieutenants, hardly marked a permanent end to the discord.
On the face of it, ruling politicians and army generals have seemingly been at odds recently over the fate of retired Gen
Pervez PervMusharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...
, the coup maker of 1999 and the prime minister's former nemesis.
But the divide has not been helped by so far futile and controversial peace negotiations between Sharif and the Taliban -- a force fought by the Pakistain army for more than a decade.
Visitors to the annual late-April event hosted by the army in Rawalpindi to remember its deaders, easily become aware of the scale of casualties taken by Pakistain's army-led security services following the 2001 US invasion of Afghanistan.
It is not hard to imagine the many young officers and soldiers who have returned from the front lines along the Afghan border after active combat with the Taliban, now find it hard to reconcile to a grinding of the peace processor with their foes.
As Pakistain grapples with the worst security crisis in its 67-year history, divisions between ruling politicians and the men in uniform will hardly serve anyone except the violent groups who seek to take charge of the country through brute force. Yet, bridging that gap may be easier said than done.
The prime minister's own history with the army and vice versa creates elements of underlying distrust which will not go away easily. Sharif made a visibly historic comeback just last year following the 1999 coup led by Gen Musharraf. The prime minister has indeed acquired a place in Pakistain's annals of history, becoming the first politician to return to Islamabad for the third time as head of an elected government.
That is no mean achievement in a country where prime ministers historically rode through turbulent and ultimately short-lived tenures. Hair-splitting aside, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
...9th PM of Pakistain from 1973 to 1977, and 4th President of Pakistain from 1971 to 1973. He was the founder of the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP). His eldest daughter, Benazir Bhutto, would also serve as hereditary PM. In a coup led by General Zia-ul-Haq, Bhutto was removed from office and was executed in 1979 for authorizing the murder of a political opponent...
, the only popularly elected democratic prime minister to complete his tenure to date, eventually went to the gallows in 1979 and left behind divisions which haunt a part of Pakistain to this day.
While democracy indeed returned to Pakistain in 2008 with the departure of Gen Musharraf, the return of stability to this nuclear-armed nation located in a tough neighbourhood is far from assured.
To unlock the riddle of stabilising Pakistain, Sharif and the ruling structure need to work on many fronts with a single-minded focus. Notwithstanding Finance Minister Ishaq Dar's oft-repeated claim of coming success driven by a stabilising rupee, the chartered accountant-turned-finance ministry czar risks failing to appreciate the superficiality of his claim.
Among Pakistain's 200 million people, anywhere up to 40pc live in abject poverty. Economic success will remain a distant prospect unless the poorest of the poor feel a so far visibly absent difference to their lives.
Ultimately, solving the riddle of stabilising Pakistain must begin with tackling the worst internal security nightmare to ever confront the country. In the coming months as US-led Western troops depart from Afghanistan, the threat to Pakistain is likely to sharpen from an increasingly emboldened Taliban on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistain border.
Going forward, an increasingly aggravated internal security environment will follow an apparently futile peace initiative with the Taliban.
As a multi-pronged crisis surrounds Pakistain, Sharif and the army clearly need to be on the same side. Though there are assurances from the army against a repetition of Pakistain's dangerous history of civil-military tensions leading to another coup, ultimately just actions will speak louder than words.
While Sharif needs to lead as the elected top overseer of Pakistain, he must recognise that an antagonised army creates the risk of alienating a key institution just when the battle ahead will likely become bloodier.
Ultimately, the consolidation of Pakistain's democratic and civilian institutions will set the pace for overcoming the many acute challenges surrounding the country's all too obvious and divided domestic fabric.
Yet, that end result will come only after the fight against militancy has been won conclusively.
Clearly, Sharif has the opportunity to stabilise Pakistain. But the first step on that road must be a resolution to the civil-military discord. Short of that, Sharif's hope of gaining space with his appearance at this year's parade of graduating army cadets will just become a badly squandered initiative.