The Misadventures of the Pakistan Army

Kargil and other Mess-ups of the Pakistan Army

M. Asadi

TThe Pakistan Army is not subservient to the civilian leadership of Pakistan as it has often revealed by its total contempt for them and its subversion of democracy through Martial Law, as well as the total disrespect of the country’s constitution and the multiple lies that have accompanied the multiple martial laws in this country’s history . In order to save face at the end of its mess-ups however the Pakistan Army tries to absolve itself by shifting blame to the civilians and forcing a civilian cover for their crimes. The military leadership with its limited brain power and intelligence decides on some adventure (as they did in the case of Bangladesh and more recently in Kargil) thereafter the civilian leadership is either kept in the dark about it or forced to accept it upon threat of their own survival. Kargil was a misadventure that showed complete carelessness about the lives of the 160 million people of Pakistan. No extraordinary process of civil-military interaction was involved in this misadventure because the Pakistan military not only does not serve the state, it has captured the state and made great inroads into the economy of this nation . The result is a military institution that is more feudal than any feudal land owner, more bourgeoisie than Pakistan’s bourgeoisie, controlling almost a third or more of its manufacturing economy according to some estimates. Furthermore, the Kargil mess-up was used as an excuse by the Pakistan Army as a cover to get rid of the civilian leadership of this country through manipulation which was a foregone conclusion of Musharraf’s military coup that came much later.
The condition of this country after almost 60 years of military or military dominated rule has told the people of Pakistan one thing: never trust the generals of the Pakistan Army in what they say. The generals of the Pakistan Army have through experience developed an expertise in turning every disaster they have brought to the nation into a victory for themselves, as Musharraf is doing these days after destroying the nation’s economy, its state institutions as well as harming the military and its professionalism. Kargil was an ill thought out, useless, unnecessary and provocative conflict that did not achieve any of the so-called objectives that Musharraf touts in his book, it did not give moral support to the insurgency in Kashmir, it did not end with a stalemate but a total disgrace to the nation, and it did not internationalize the Kashmir issue, rather it put India in a much stronger moral position on the global scene, while showing Pakistan as a belligerant aggressor, it unnecessarily killed Pakistani soldiers while becoming an excuse (to be used by these generals) to get rid of the civilian leadership of this country. The rest as they say “is history”, the coup lead to nine years of military rule at the end of which half the country’s population is food-insecure, while over 84% live on the margins- in a nation whose main occupation is agricultural production!
The Pakistan Army is the institution through which the Americans work to subvert democracy in our nation, fighting America’s wars has kept us as one of the most underdeveloped nations of the world and in this underdevelopment the contribution of the Pakistan Army as an institution that leeches off the blood of this nation has been second to none. Our nation has been destroyed because of an institution that had vowed to defend it but instead of defending it, its leadership became more interested in capturing the state and economic institutions of the country to rule by the gun, and force themselves into areanas where they didn’t belong, while enriching their top leadership in a most corrupt manner. Together with this, the lack of morality of our generals who jump to America’s tunes prevents them from seeing what they are doing to the ordinary people of this nation by their policies of foreign dependency. Were diplomacy to fail in Kargil, nothing prevented India from launching a full scale attack on Pakistan, even though the generals claim that it was only a border conflict, things did indeed spiral out of control and were taken very seriously by the Indians. Were American pressure and diplomacy to fail, nothing would have prevented India from launching a full scale invasion which would have been catastrophic for the population of Pakistan and would have resulted in totally unnecessary civilaian casualties in the hundreds of thousands. What this unnecessary conflict did was demoralize the insurgency in Kashmir, telling them that those they fight against can bring their supporting nation’s Army to its knees both militarily and diplomatically. It also showed the world that the Pakistan Army was true to its tradition of losing every conflict it ever entered, its two main victories, on behalf of the Americans have been to maintain Pakistan’s colonized status, in which relationship they have acted as America’s proxy occupation force to conquer their own country every now and then, and their introduction of Taliban rule to Afghanistan pre 9/11, in fulfilling America’s desire to control Iran’s influence in that region.
The Pakistan Army generals, who act as apologists for military interference in political affairs, usually have no clue or academic learning about the workings of an economy yet tout numbers to cite the success of the Musharraf era in Pakistan. However, they fail to realize that in order to reward dictatorships, the US opens up spigots of its bribe money (these bribes are not surplus funds, they are disimbursed after costing the host country more than what it gave as a result of altering its agenda to do America’s bidding, the US has given around $12 billion post 9/11 to the military dominated administration of this country), and consumption goes up both among the top few, ultra rich that benefit from this setup and growth occurs also as a natural consequence of a growing population. This so-called “economic growth” is then redistributed to the very rich and army generals, with runaway inflation over 17% , cooked up numbers of well being, half the population being food insecure and power cuts to equal war-torn Iraq. In these circumstances, we cannot really talk about development and success of an economy, what we can talk about regarding such an economic structure run by dictatorships, is greater inequality year after year as the very means of survival of the vast majority are cut off.
What happened post 9/11 in Pakistan was U.S. bribery of the Pakistani generals to buy from them the country (which they do not own but act as if they do) by rescheduling of debt, the flow of remittances from the U.S. (because Pakistanis in the U.S. feared that extra scrutiny of their funds might result in them being expropriated), and further bribe through greater access to U.S. and European markets for Pakistani exports, in return for cooperation (every industrialist and top military and government official now drives $200,000 custom designed, security enhanced BMWs and Mercedes Bens’) and scandalous selling of local assets to foreign investors who then extracted and sent home their surplus. Even then, these bribes were small compared to what the Army did after taking these "bribes" and that was handing over the country, lock stock and barrel to the Americans to do with it as they pleased, to kill Pakistani citizens with impunity and to violate its airspace and land borders whenever they pleased. In addition to this, upon a phone call or two, surrendered the nation's sovereignty by laying down arms without a single shot being fired (to Richard Armatage and Colin Powell), and as a consequence, sparking a civil war in the northern areas of Pakistan and suicide bombings in almost all major cities of this country.
Whenever civilian governments have been allowed to come in and have tried to do for the common man what no military general ever has, nationalize industry, start land reforms, enhance employment, improve literacy and provide healthcare, and other social benefits and public works, they have been punished by those very powers that reward these military thugs. Regardless of the bribe sponsored “growth”, he end results of military rule in Pakistan has always been a disastrous catastrophe for the country and the vast majority of its impoverished people. The Zia era ended with networks of drugs, weapons and terrorism taking root in this nation, and the Musharraf era continues with the phenomena of suicide bombings not to mention the acute economic crisis the country faces. Generals writing as military apologists claim that the civilians were "given the chance" but failed to do anything. Their very claim implies that ruling is the right of the military, whereas "chances" might be given to civilians to prove themselves. This however is not how civilized constitutional governments work but military generals power drunk and arrogant do not seem to realize this. It is no surprise that these generals of the Pakistan Army, who write articles upon articles in defense of their interference in state affairs know little of constitutions or fulfilling its legal and moral obligations as it relates to their institution. Being a sociologist, I know how a society works and how institutions interact, when civilians are given a "chance" to work in government, work that is subservient to the military power over them, they can go in one direction and one direction alone if they are to survive and that is follow the military line, which inevitably leads to corruption. If they reject the military line, and its overlordhip they are sent home packing. Only one civilian politician emerged strong enough to move the masses against this military, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and was killed in a most barbaric manner by Zia ul Haq, the military dictator. Over time institutions mold these civilian politicians, they learn their lesson of survival under military domination and they adapt into corrupt mini-dictators who are unanswerable to the public whose façade they present after being allowed in office, the election under military rule are similar to the “referendum” trick employed by military dictators to grant themselves legitimacy. In other words military domination has transformed our state institution into a dictator and corruption producing factory. Without extracting the military from political affairs, the state institution in Pakistan can never mature enough to produce democracy or representatives that answer to the people. In other words, it can never incorporate the people into the power equation. Even saints entering into the current military dominated political structure would end up corrupt and impotent. Such has been the process through which the Pakistan Army has destroyed Pakistan’s civil institution, while being wholeheartedly, both materially and morally, supported by the Americans.
The so-called "great economic success" of the Musharraf era exists only in the under-educated minds of the generals and their peons. Actual facts reveal a much bleaker picture regarding the people of this country. In spite of all the bribes that have flowed into the pockets of the very rich, the vast majority in this country struggling to survive, are in much worse shape today due to runaway inflation, unemployment and lack of basic services than at any time before in the history of this nation. A look at the UN Human Development Report, even the World Bank indicators of development, tells us that this nation is one the most underdeveloped nations of the world. So whereas the generals can cook numbers and convert every disaster they have brought onto Pakistan into a victory for themselves, the people of this country as a direct consequence of military rule are more underdeveloped, malnourished, impoverished and without basic needs than at anytime in the previous history of this nation. Big talk by military generals with less than a high school education (a BA from the Pakistan Military Academy does not qualify as post High School) regarding economic and political issues, Musharraf who just as easily becomes an economist as he does a political scientists, plays by such ignorance with the lives of the 160 million in Pakistan, which just by itself is an unpardonable crime.
We can poke fun at the ignorance of the Pakistan Army generals but the consequence of their ignorance has been a damning tragedy for this country, the sorrows of which should overwhelm us all, military and non-military alike. There is a need to restructure the Pakistan Army as an institution, so that the new Pakistan Army abides by the constitution of Pakistan and respect its sovereignty. The current Pakistan Army is an institution that has disregarded the constitution of a country whose sovereignty it has sold multiple times to its foreign paymasters, the Americans upon their written or verbal demand. Can such an institution, as it currently stands, be our national defense force and can it be trusted to defend us against foreign aggressors? This question needs to be answered by all Pakistanis truthfully, after considering the history of this Army and its role in destroying our civil institutions. Keeping in view the kind of country we want to bequeath to our future generations, answering this question (and then working towards the solution) is of paramount importance to us all.