Pakistan army’s interference in politics by all standards and times is unconstitutional. Questions should not arise regarding whether the Army decides or not to intervene in Pakistan's political discourse. It is not their constitutional responsibility. It never was. Quaid e Azam Jinnah never envisioned such a Pakistan. Bangladesh, the then East Pakistan, is no longer with the present Pakistan. Its Secession from Bangladesh was a geopolitical disaster entirely due to the Army's ineptitude and intelligence catastrophe, even to put it lightly. The Army behaved like a street butcher during the events of 1971. One can say that Jinnah gave the Muslims of Pakistan a Rolls Royce, but its Army treated Pakistan like a lawnmower.
Bajwa is retiring after putting Pakistan into a severe political predicament, which is very sad for any republic. If the people of Pakistan cannot reconcile the Bajwa-created situation amicably, the country may get divided into five parts this time. Since the first coup incident of 1958, the Army has always been in control in Pakistan, overtly or covertly. This has become a trend in all Muslim countries since the collapse of the Auttoman empire. The effect of the disease is very much evident throughout the world. This disease can only be solved if the root cause is diagnosed correctly. It is a curable disease, provided Muslim countries' leadership can head-hunt some professionals for the job. To have a broad idea of the issue, one can look at (Military coups in Muslim countries).
The Pak Army expanded its presence in the administration with increasing military involvement in wide-ranging administrative activities, from managing essential services and monitoring state-owned academic institutions to conducting the census and every important public sector like Civil Aviation, Railways, or ports. To tighten the control over the political parties, the Army established the National Accountability Bureau, NAB (Pakistan’s apex anti-corruption organization), usually run by former military personnel, to ban opposition leaders from participating in parliamentary elections under allegations of corruption. To exert their command over security policy and ensure a substantial budget for the military. General Musharraf created the National Security Council, which comprises the chiefs of all three defense services and makes decisions about defense and national security policies to increase the military’s role in policymaking.
The armed forces’ primary job is to protect and ensure territorial integrity and ensure the safety and security of the constitution. Besides these, assisting the civilian government in times of contingency like floods, pandemics, etc. Excessive military involvement in non-military matters, like in aid of civil power, is not intelligent constitutionally for any democracy. Military taking control over the administration by expelling civilian government leads to increased competition and conflict within the armed forces for power. As said earlier, the role of armed forces is to wage war against the external enemy, but its involvement in civil administration increases the possibility of corruption, which ruins the discipline inculcated among the personnel. The military rule increases the probability of subsequent military coup, which not only exposes their lack of acceptance of civilian supremacy but also erodes the faith of citizens in their armed forces.`
When the Civilian government assumes authority, it will be highly suspicious regarding strengthening the armed forces' capabilities. There will be a significant mistrust between civilian authority and military leaders, which would be detrimental to National security. Last thirty years, the Army could not stop the undue and subtle manipulation of the Enemy of Islam (EOI); Pakistan has always had a corrupt party in power by rotation. Sometimes when people are fed up due to ongoing massive corruption by both parties, the military used to be asked to take over as a respite. People used to become hopeful that honesty would be there in Pakistan under military rule. But at the end of the day, the people of Pakistan never got honest leadership.
The Pak army is not above the constitution. Few Generals of the Army may think otherwise or be coerced by EOI to think and act so. In a democratic system of governance, the prime minister or president is generally the country's top executive head. Every governmental organ is required to support the chief executive to have a smoothly run government. The Army is just one of the state organs in that setup. In his farewell speech, he tried to clarify his position and show that he was a holy man leaving the Pak army after a successful career of 44 years. Comparing the Indian Army, he expressed his frustration saying people of India never say anything negative about their Army when they are conducting extreme human rights violations throughout the country.
In contrast, the people of Pakistan blame Pak Army when they frequently shed sweat and blood for the nation. This is a contradictory statement; the people of Pakistan love their country and their Army. They only hate the corrupt system run by a few top notches of the Pak Army, who are under the direct control of EOI intelligence organizations. General Bajwa himself acted as the catalyst in removing the legitimate PTI government of Imran Khan by staging a parliamentary coup. Let us hope that General Bajwa is replaced by a dedicated COAS who will prove to be honest and a patriot in his action in the future. May Allah Pak bless Pakistan and Pak Army.
0 ফেইসবুক: