Topic: Emergency Rule In Pakistan Puts Military Under The Gun | |
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Topic: Emergency Rule In Pakistan Puts Military Under The Gun | |
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#1
By
Team Infidel
on
November 5th, 2007
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| In an email sent to journalists and others yesterday, Ms. Jahangir wrote, "We believe that Musharraf has to be taken out of the equation and a government of national reconciliation put in place. It must be backed by the military. Short of this there are no realistic solutions, although there are no guarantees that this may work." Security forces have been struggling to suppress an Islamic militancy that has killed hundreds of civilians and soldiers in recent months. The battle appears to have generated fissures within the military. Last week, paramilitary troops in northwest Pakistan surrendered, saying Friday they didn't want to fight their Muslim brothers. A few months ago, more than 200 soldiers were taken hostage without firing a shot. An official in the army spokesman's office said yesterday that 211 have been freed following the earlier release of about two dozen troops. A series of suicide bombings targeting army bases and convoys have underscored the ability of militants to penetrate even the most heavily guarded positions. The threat has stretched beyond the tribal regions into areas that had been relatively stable. Gen. Musharraf's order imposing emergency rule cited a "visible ascendancy in the activities of extremists and incidents of terrorist attacks." The current woes and waning popularity of Pakistan's army mark a sharp reversal for an institution that has run the country for most of the 60 years since it gained independence from Britain in 1947. And when it hasn't, civilian leaders have sought to stay in its good graces. In clashes for power, the military almost always has won, helping solidify its position as the nation's center of political gravity. In 1973, Ms. Bhutto's father, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, went from being a martial-law administrator under a military ruler to prime minister of a civilian government. Four years later, he turned to the military to quell civil unrest. His army chief, Gen. Zia ul-Haq, overthrew Mr. Bhutto amid allegations of vote rigging. In 1979, Mr. Bhutto was convicted of conspiring to murder a political opponent, and hanged. As the country's president and army chief, Gen. Zia introduced a quota of 10% for military in civilian jobs and pressured the head of the civil service to absorb more of his men. After Gen. Zia died in a 1988 plane crash, Pakistan's subsequent civilian leaders did little to roll back the military's involvement in government. Under Gen. Musharraf, former officers now run universities, state-owned ports, telecommunication and fertilizer companies, as well as key parts of the government. What is more, retired generals head training institutes and the commission that screens bureaucrats for new job assignments, giving them great sway over the nation's civil administration. Estimates from Pakistani newspapers, citing government lists, range into the high hundreds of active and retired soldiers serving in the civil administration. The government, through the Ministry of Information, didn't respond to questions seeking comment on these figures. The numbers represent a tiny fraction of the total of more than 400,000 civil-service staff, but most of the appointments have come at the top ranks of the central government. In an interview last month before emergency rule was imposed, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said the military fully supports strong civil institutions and has stepped in only in times of government paralysis. Reached yesterday evening, Gen. Arshad said the military hadn't assumed extra administrative duties under emergency rule. "The government is still functioning. The military is doing its own job -- battling extremists," he said. But critics say the army's pervasive presence in the administration has undermined Pakistan's democratic prospects and heightened political volatility. "If we don't have autonomous civil institutions, we will never have stable democracy in this country," said Hasan-Askari Rizvi, the author of the book "Military, State and Society in Pakistan." Before the state of emergency was declared, the government was adopting steps to reduce the army's role in civilian life to help counter the mounting public criticism. For 95 key government institutions, it approved search committees to draw upon a deeper pool of talent to find chief executives. The government also established criteria for university heads, such as doctorate degrees, that should disqualify many military men -- including those currently holding the jobs. As contracts expire, it planned to ease out those who don't meet the criteria , according to Ishrat Hussain, chairman of Pakistan's National Commission for Government Reforms. Retired officers in civil posts say they are well aware of the public resentment against the military under Gen. Musharraf -- resentment that may now grow if reform efforts are put on the back burner with the imposition of emergency rule. But some also say the military has injected professionalism and vitality into key government institutions, such as the civil service. Lt. Gen. Javed Hassan, for instance, was serving as commandant of Pakistan's National Defense College when he was tapped in 2004 by Gen. Musharraf to run the newly created National School of Public Policy, an umbrella group of schools for civil servants. He was a commander of Pakistani forces during an ill-fated incursion into Indian territory in 1999, known as the Kargil conflict. At his new post, the recently retired general quickly brought in a passel of other former generals on two-year contracts to run the different training institutes. For his own staff, Mr. Hassan recruited a retired brigadier general and a seconded army captain. Some veteran civil servants likened his arrival to an incursion behind enemy lines. But dressed in a grey suit, red tie and brightly polished black shoes at a recent interview, he said the civil servants sent to his institutes had lax ideas about training -- they thought they could come to class late or run businesses on the side. Not anymore. "The question became how to enforce discipline," said Mr. Hassan. Mr. Hassan said he has been trying to reduce the military's presence at his school by not renewing the contracts of some of the generals who came with him in 2004. But he hasn't found his own successor yet. And to advance their careers, students must continue to make a good impression on the former soldiers. When Mr. Hassan and his staff critique students, the evaluations are forwarded to the Federal Public Service Commission to match up civil servants with new job assignments. Like Mr. Hassan, the commission's chairman is a retired lieutenant general. --Zahid Hussain in Islamabad contributed to this article. |
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