Even though this took some doing for an SSG officer, that Pervez Musharraf never heard a shot being fired in anger before, during or after any of our wars and semi-wars was no fault of his. His postings put him at the wrong place at the wrong time in both 1965 and 1971, that continues to weigh heavily on his mind and actions thereof. As COAS Musharraf's promotions beyond Brigadier's rank studiously avoided promoting those with combat experience (except in Lt Gen Masood Aslam's case), loyalty being preferred over merit. This badly compromised the capability of the senior military hierarchy. Combat veterans have a bad habit of speaking up, Musharraf was simply putting his own survival before the professionalism vital at that level. Or was it simply a matter of an inferiority complex? Musharraf never once visited his troops fighting in the field as COAS in Swat and FATA from 2003 to 2007 even once. I will be more than happy to apologize if I am wrong.
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