By COL. RIAZ JAFRI (RETD.)
Friday, 19 December 2008.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan—First it
was Arsalan Iftikhar, then Farah
Dogar and now something has surfaced against Mariam Nawaz Sharif.
This takes me back to General Zia era, when a politician close to him had requested him
for the favor of admitting his daughter in the Army Medical College which had sixty seats.
Zia sent her
application to General Mirza Aslam
Beg – then VCOAS with the remarks to accommodate her, who forwarded it to
Major General Waheed Kakar
the then Adjutant General (AG) for the ‘necessary action’. Gen Kakar, however,
returned the file with the remarks “Regret, she doesn’t come up to
the merit”.
On
his next routine visit to the GHQ, Gen. Zia just
walked unannounced into the office of the AG and confronted him with the
application saying, “I am sure, there must be a way out to admit
her”. Gen. Kakar, true to his reputation, stood
his ground saying, ‘Sir, under the rules I cannot. However, if you order
it, I will admit her”. General Zia, probably
resigning to the inevitable, started moving slowly towards the door but before
reaching it turned back and asked where she stood on the merit list. “Sir, she is 79th and we
have only 60 seats”, answered the AG.
With
a flash rising to the occasion, he ordered, “Increase the intake to 80
from this year” and walked out triumphantly. Rules were not violated and
yet the ego vindicated.
Col. Riaz Jafri
(Retd) is based in Rawalpindi. His commentary is appears
frequently in several national Pakistani dailies. He can be reached at jafri AT rifiela.com
© 2007-2008. All rights reserved. AhmedQuraishi.com. & PakNationalists
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