Army, the real ruler of Pakistan

Pakistan’s political scenario has taken a new turn now as civil and military establishments have been tarred with the same brush as a result of that both have trained guns against each other.

In Pakistan, regimes may come and regimes may go, but the army rules forever.

Although Pakistan was founded as a democracy after its independence from British rule, the military has remained one of the country's most powerful institutions and has on occasion overthrown democratically elected civilian governments on the basis of self-assessed mismanagement and corruption. Political leaders of Pakistan are aware that the military has stepped into the political arena through coup d'état to establish military dictatorships, and could do so again.

The Pakistan army under a well-designed policy has generated a regional conflict and anti-India narrative that is giving them domestic hegemony to protect its strategic and business interests. The powerful Pakistani military calls the shots in the country, and the elected civilian government has almost no say in key policy areas. The international community, particularly the United States, has repeatedly accused the Pakistani army of backing Islamic militants in Afghanistan and India-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan's business community wants better trade ties with the neighbouring countries, including India but Pakistan's military runs several key businesses domestically itself. Thus the military doesn't allow helping the trade community because it would lose its grip on the country's political affairs. The business interests of the military and civilians are clashing more than ever. The military businesses had the upper hand in the form of tax exemptions and countless other benefits.

The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) is the key power holder in the armed forces and is also one of the triangle that runs the country, along with the Prime Minister and the President.

The military is forbidden constitutionally from acting independently of the elected political leadership in domestic matters. However, from 1947 to 2014 military generals acted as head of State for over 30 years, and in times of civilian government, the armed forces routinely intervene on domestic and foreign policy issues. The military justifies its consistent involvement in politics to protect Pakistan from foreign interests and corrupt and incompetent politicians. Although the public dislikes military rule, yet consistently has a more favourable view of the military than of elected officials.

Pakistan's priority has been on defence rather than allocating resources for more education and healthcare. It has had the military's obsession with maintaining military, political and diplomatic competition with India.

The political parties too have developed a nexus with the military in order to win elections. Former President Asif Ali Zardari's Pakistan People's Party (PPP) and cricketer-turned-politician Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) believed it would be beneficial for them if they collaborated with the military establishment, which was against Sharif's powerful role in politics. After coming to power in August 2018, Imran Khan reportedly increased the military budget.

The interest of the army in the political arena was exposed by retired Maj General Ahmed in his petition when he opposed the referendum held by Gen Musharraf in 2002. Gen Hamid declined the request of Gen Musharraf for deputing a large number of employees of his ministry for duty in the Oct 2002 elections so that the former president Gen Musharraf could execute his plan to carry out "large-scale rigging". "Pressure was put on me through the then Governor of Sindh and secret agencies to cooperate with Gen Musharraf in his plan to prevent the People's Party and the Pakistan Muslim League-N from gaining a majority in the National Assembly," Ahmed mentioned in the petition. "But the former dictator's vengeance never ended and secret agencies started giving me death threats. This left me with no choice but to leave the country for the United Kingdom on November 29, 2003," the petitioner said.

Now it has taken a new turn in Pakistan's political scenario when civil and military establishments have been tarred with the same brush as a result of that both have trained guns against each other. Recently, former spy chief retired Lt-Gen Faiz Hamid is being investigated for alleged corruption. Maryam Nawaz Sharif has called for the retired general's court-martial over his alleged role in bringing down her father's government and implicating both her and Nawaz Sharif in NAB cases. While on the other hand, the arch-rival Imran Khan has been demanding a court martial against retired Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who has admitted the military's unconstitutional interference in politics throughout Pakistan's existence.

In the given situation, Chief of Pakistan Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir has gradually been inching towards its goal by keeping politicians in good humour by saying that the military will not meddle in the country's politics, rather political leadership has to resolve their issues.

While Pakistan's political and economic situation is on verge of collapse, the Army has started flexing muscle again. Army Chief General Syed Asim Munir called a meeting of Pakistan's top business community members on economic revival. Asim and Finance Minister Ishaq Dar also assured businessmen of bailout funds from IMF as expected to receive major equity from friendly nations.

(R C Ganjoo is a senior journalist and columnist having more than 30 years experience of covering issues concerning national security, particularly Kashmir. He has worked with several prominent media groups and his articles have been published in many national and international publications.)

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of OneIndia and OneIndia does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same.