Sir: I would like to request the Prime Minister (PM) to avoid confrontation with the army in the national interest of the country. Whether he likes it or not, the truth is that the army has become a powerful institution over the years and any attempt to tame it would only backfire. The only way to neutralize the power of the army in the eyes of the public as its sole benefactor is for the politicians to serve the people who bring them to parliament. Unless the politicians become the true representatives of the people there would always be room for the third force to fill the vacuum. Every PM has to understand that no matter how loyal he might think his handpicked chief of army staff is, he would never compromise on the perceived dignity of his institution. It is the army’s established tradition that even a serving general will respect a retired junior officer if he is older than him. It is not possible for the army to tolerate the treatment meted out to Musharraf by the government. Similarly the policy of appeasement of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in opposition to the army’s stance would serve no purpose. Unless a way out is found where the army and the government are actually on the same page, be it Musharraf’s case or the TTP’s, no government could survive in peace. Engr S T Hussain Lahore