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By Seema Sirohi, ET Bureau | 3 Sep, 2014, 02.33AM IST

President Obama was frighteningly honest when he said last week, "We don't have a
strategy yet" for dealing with the threat of ISIS. He may as well add Pakistan to the list of
crises swirling around for which his strategy is unclear.
The White House in all likelihood is praying that the centre in Islamabad can hold by
whatever means necessary. Deals, compromises or straight out capitulation - it doesn't
matter so long as things don't fall apart.
Of the three As said to define Pakistan - America, it seems, is leaving it to Allah and the
Army. A pro forma statement in support of maintaining democratic structures in Pakistan
was duly issued last month just as the protestors began gathering.

The White House in all likelihood is praying that the centre in

Islamabad can hold by whatever means necessary. Deals,
compromises.

A soft coup - a Pakistani innovation befitting our complex times - is underway in full view.
Yes, those dour-looking "khakis" want to cut Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to size just as
they did Asif Ali Zardari for straying from the script.

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For daring to talk peace with India, for trying to treat Afghanistan as a separate country and
most importantly, for going after Pervez Musharraf, the general who ousted Sharif the last time in a "hard" coup to give Pakistan its most
recent bout of military rule.
The "boys" didn't appreciate a former general being charged with treason, nor did they like Sharif's less-than-obedient attitude. In short,
the recess is over. The next period is a stern lesson in clipping wings and dressing the remains as an acceptable dish.
Behold the tragic irony: the army is "mediating" between various political parties. Ugh. Pakistan's latest experiment in democracy is on
life-support, choked by tear gas and violent followers of two dangerous men.
Imran Khan, the handsome cricketer-turned-ugly politician, and Tahir ul Qadri, the flying cleric who makes an occasional foray from
Canada, have joined hands to demand Sharif's resignation, unleashing thousands of protesters on the capital.
The duo claims Sharif should go because last year's elections were rigged. Hello? Is "The Khan" so slow on the uptake that he decides
to chew Sharif 15 months after the dish was served? Or was the idea implanted? Incidentally, the two men are leading this revolution
from inside shipping containers safe from the tear gas.
So much for the I-amthe-Pathan-Khan who once said the world was divided into two - pathans and humans.The Obama Administration
by not strongly supporting Sharif only encourages more dangerous games by Khan, Qadri and their puppeteers, which means less
attention to Pakistan's real problems.
But then Obama seems to have little interest in managing the world. Everyone is out "playing" given the leadership vacuum. A key
reason the Pakistan army is merely directing but not acting in the film this time - under US law, a country with a coup is a country without
American money.
But of course, ways can be found. Remember the handwringing over General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's takeover in Egypt last year?
Washington fudged and dissembled but didn't call it a coup.
Some aid was suspended but restored in April this year. Pakistani generals know the game. Why should they endanger US funding
when they can exercise control by keeping Sharif off balance? They also know that Washington will not jettison them in the end because

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in the ultimate American analysis "Pakistan is too dangerous to fail."

They can support terrorist networks that kill US troops in Afghanistan and still not be denied American money and weapons. Those with
memory will remember the earnest, forceful declamations by US officials and the obedient op-eds that followed over the last two years
on how the Pakistan army had undergone a change of heart, turned a corner, a new leaf and wanted peace with India if only the Indians
would recognise it and reciprocate.

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A few self-serving words from former army boss, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, about resolving Siachin and Washington was singing
his tune - at least in public. But nothing really had changed on the ground and the firing now on the LoC is proof of that.
That the Pakistan army remains the biggest enemy of democracy is a truism but it bears repeating, especially when delusions about its
intentions remain entrenched in Washington. The crimes of civilian leaders - and there are plenty - come a distant second.

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