The
Urgently Needed Reforms to Prevent Military Takeovers
Nazar
Hayat Khan
OVER THE years, an uneasy tension has developed between
the civil society and the military. The fascination and admiration
for the armed forces that one saw during the 1965 war is now missing.
Primary reason is the frequent take over of the civil governments
by the military. The blame rests equally on both sides namely
the politicians and the army leaders.
The
army leaders consider the politicians as inefficient and corrupt.
Military’s contention has been that their intervention has
always been in the supreme national interest and only when pestered
by the politicians to do so.
The
politicians feel that the military has to confine itself to its
professional role and not consider it the sole guardian of the
national interests. As for corruption, politicians say that military
has many of its skeletons hidden in the cupboard. They also argue
that military was in the forefront in all the major national blunders
such as the Dacca debacles, loss of Siachin, creation of the Taliban
or the folly of the Kargil.
Actually,
it all began with that first slip back in the 50s when Ayub Khan,
the serving Army Chief, was appointed as the Defense Minister.
Since then the military has been gradually making inroads into
all spheres of civilian activity and creating a permanent place
for it in those areas.
The
fact is that in today’s world, countries ruled by the military
are considered uncivilized and are not taken seriously. Civilian
supremacy over the military is now a well established civilized
norm. We have been messing up on this account for the last fifty
years. Now it appears that lessons have been learnt by both the
politicians and the military. And it is time to put an end to
this recurring national failure and get back into the comity of
nations as a progressive, liberal and an enlightened state.
Military
reforms are needed not only to let the military grow and develop
itself in its professional field without any distractions but
to also to enhance its image in the eyes of the general public.
These reforms would need to be comprehensive covering all areas
including the chain of command, overall defense structure, military
organization, training of senior officers, re-location of cantonments
and many other smaller but effective measure.
The
starting point has to be clearly defining a chain of command.
The civilian supremacy over the military has to be established
both in letter and spirit. Barring a short period during the days
of elder Bhutto, military has never really been subservient to
the civilian leadership and has been, overtly or covertly, exercising
its influence over the national policies which are outside its
domain.
There
is a general assumption that a service chief is a Grade 22 officer
which is wrong. The service chiefs enjoy a special status equivalent
to a minister and this was done during the Gen Zia era. In all
other countries, the service heads come under the Defence secretary.
The same chain of command needs to be implemented here and the
military officers’ precedence in protocol accordingly re-adjusted.
Our
overall Defence structure also requires a change. In our military
take overs, the air force or the navy play only a nominal role.
In most cases, they get the news from the media. Even the army,
collectively as an institution, is not involved in the take overs.
The decision is taken by a few officers at the highest level of
the ground forces who feel confident enough with a decisive physical
force under their command to get the decision implemented.
Even
the chief of joint staff which has a higher status is not in the
loop. Thus the problem lies with concentration of power of entire
ground forces under one head. In other countries with ground forces
of our size, the Defence structure contains more than one ground
forces group. The same can be done here and Pakistan Marines can
be created out of the existing forces comprising elements of army,
navy and air force and headed by a four star general.
Pakistan
marines would come directly under the Joint Staff Headquarters
like in other countries. It would be a specialized force at par
with other advanced nations. Pakistan Marines could be based in
Baluchistan which has minimum military presence thus also satisfying
an age old demand of Baluchistan. Such an arrangement would also
make it difficult for the army chief to unilaterally take over
the civil government on his own; or at the least increase his
degree of difficulty.
The
training of the senior military officers is another area needing
attention. The syllabi of the higher institutions of the military
requires a review. The National Defense College and War Colleges
actually expose their senior officers to the non-military issues
such as the process of formulation of the national policies. These
officers are introduced to the working of civil government departments
and have to produce research papers on different national issues.
While
this is only a preliminary introduction to the running of a civil
government and their research papers are no more than hasty rehashing
of their half baked knowledge, the damage done is that the officers
begin to have a false confidence of knowing everything about everything.
At times, it is the same old research papers that come handy after
the take over.
The
syllabi of the military institutions of higher learning should
be confined strictly to military strategy and military issues.
If the senior officers have to be exposed to non-military issues,
they should be sent to the civil universities to get degree in
the specific subject so as to comprehensively comprehend all aspects
of the subject.
Segregating
the military from the mainstream civil society is another reform
that could keep the armed forces involved in their own professional
field with no outside interference or temptation. Moving around
in cities of the developed nations, one hardly comes across the
military on the streets. Their military establishments are well
clear of the main cities.
The
same was true in the Sub-continent during the British Raj. But
with passage of time and outward expansion of the cities, the
cantonments have now fallen right in the middle of our built up
areas. These cantonments now cover huge tracts of residential
land as their exercise areas, godowns and workshops. The existing
cantonments need to be shifted out of the cities into uninhibited
areas not likely to fall under any civil use. This proposal would
straight away be objected to on the basis of cost involved. But
it may be borne in mind that shifting of the cantonments out of
the cities would generate an enormous economic activity something
that our economy badly needs right now. This cost is well worth
incurring.
There
are many other smaller but effective reforms that could be carried
out. The 10% quota of the armed forces in the civil departments
has no logical rationale. It is not done in any other civilized
society. Likewise, no such quota is available to the civil officers
in the military.
There
has been an overall resentment on this issue in the civil departments.
There are, however, some civil departments where it makes sense
to send the military personnel such as the para military forces,
coast guards, naval security agency, civil aviation etc. But there
is little justification for sending military personnel into areas
such as culture, sports, tourism, universities, public corporations
etc.
Another
weakness of our civilian presidents, prime ministers, governors
and chief ministers is to have serving military uniformed personnel
as their secretaries and ADCs. This is no more than an ego trip
and these positions can easily be filled out of the civil departments.
The military officers should be left to fully devote themselves
to their own professional fields. Exposure of military personnel
so close to the corridors of political power is not a healthy
practice and later leads to complications affecting the very careers
of such officers as happened during the last military take over.
The
military personnel perform an honorable task and the country needs
to look after them well. Allotment of agriculture land, residential
plots and housing has been done to ensure that they live a comfortable
life after retirement. What is required is to treat these facilities
as welfare and not as perks of the rank. As such, this welfare
needs to be done in an equitable manner across the board to all
ranks in the military.
While
a retired junior commissioned officer gets a pittance after retirement,
a senior officer, particularly two star and above, are worth around
Rs. 30 million on retirement. Some even term it as legalized corruption.
Allotment of agriculture land should be totally stopped while
the allotment of residential plots and housing be done in a fair
manner across the board as a welfare measure and not as a rank
privilege.
Similarly,
the Military Estate Department which deals with transferring of
government lands to the military and then categorizing its use
should be reverted back under the civil government as was in the
past. This is to avoid the possibility of misusing the state lands,
given to the military for Defence needs, by converting them into
residential or commercial purposes. Similarly, the vast military
industrial complex needs to be a part of the level playing field
with the other industries with no additional exceptions in terms
of excise or taxation duties.
It
would be wanting if the military reforms did not deal with the
subject of role and the functions of the ISI. Here again, the
blame rests with the politicians who introduced the ISI to non-military
areas and used it for their own selfish ends. ISI itself has also
been unlucky since its flag ship ventures have been backfiring
one after the other, be it the MQM, the Taliban or the Jehadi
outfits.
ISI
needs to be confined to intelligence matters involving the three
services. All else needs to be transferred back into the civilian
fold. By virtue of its training, and rightly so, military is India-fixated
and its entire world view is through the India-Lens. As we look
into the future, we hope that the civil governments will normalize
our relations with India and we would head towards a gradual reduction
in our standing forces. That would leave a bigger chunk of our
budget for development and would broaden our economic base.
A
sensible implementation of the military reforms could go a long
way towards distancing the military from national affairs and
help regaining the admiration and fascination that the civil society
once held for it. In the final analysis, the strongest prevention
against a military take over is the responsibility and accommodation
displayed by the politicians towards each other; and a strong
resolve not to let the military interfere in the political life
of the country.
The
writer is a free lance contributor based in Karachi, Pakistan
Email:nazarhayatkhan@yahoo.com
