The Army Goes To School

THE army in civil lines? In what is obviously a well-thought out political move, the Sharif brothers, fully aware of the army's immense clout, are increasingly involving the mighty military establishment in various public sector projects—that curiously includes even an anti-stray dogs campaign. By showering the men in fatigues with money and handing them an enhanced role in civil life, the Sharif duo hopes to keep the powerful army brass out of harm's way. But critics have been quick to point out that such overtures only show up the total administrative failure in the country.

The Sharifs, of course, have completely ignored the protests. Their latest initiative: prime minister Nawaz Sharif has set up military courts in Karachi; and his brother and Punjab chief minister Shahbaz Sharif has decided to induct over 200 serving armymen in the police service—over and above the prescribed ten per cent quota. Ironically, even under military rule—Pakistan has seen several—army personnel have never been so widely involved in civilian affairs as they are now, under a democratically-elected government. In the past, the armed forces were enlisted only for emergency relief work or during serious breakdowns of law and order.

In March, Sharif first sought assistance from the army to conduct the sixth national census, postponed since 1990 because of differences between the four provinces over the methodology. Justifying his decision, the PM argued that the fifth national census had also been conducted by the armed forces, ignoring the fact that at that time—1981—martial law was in place.

Sharif also holds the distinction of reemploying 56 retired army officers on contract in civil posts. Sources have told Out -look that 26 of them have been appointed in key posts in violation of norms—a majority on contract without getting the no-objection certificate from the general headquarters. These political appointments have distorted the ratio of retired defence officers in civil posts, besides blocking the entry of deserving retired servicemen through the proper channels.

Similarly, the Punjab government has taken the army's help to oversee a string of new responsibilities. Two branches of the armed forces—the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO) and the National Logistic Cell (NLC)—will supervise the Golden Jubilee Lahore Roads Rehabilitation Project, involving Rs 1.5 billion. Another task the army was entrusted with recently involved locating so-called "ghost" schools, allegedly being run by local bigwigs in collusion with some well-placed "corrupt" officials of the Punjab education department.

The provincial government has awarded contracts to the FWO and NLC at higher rates in the belief that their quality of work is superior. Defending his decision, Shahbaz Sharif claims that civilian contractors and government officials had pilfered most of the development funds, and hence the change in policy. "The government can save at least 30 per cent by awarding contracts to the NLC and FWO," Shahbaz told journalists.

The Punjab government has also decided to seek the assistance of Rangers to hold peaceful and fair examinations, conducted by the provincial education department. Then, Shahbaz Sharif is planning to hire the services of around 10,000 serving armymen to streamline the education system. The Punjab CM has announced a proposal to increase the job quota for ex-military men from 10 per cent to 40 per cent in the elementary education department to improve deteriorating standards.

Another proposal being studied by the Punjab bigwigs calls for a thorough survey of thousands of basic health units in the province by the army to find out how many actually exist. The Metropolitan Corporation Lahore (MCL), of course, stunned many when it announced that retired army jawans would help kill stray dogs—a project that was a huge success. Former Punjab chief minister Manzoor Wattoo points out that all these moves are an admission of the government's inability to fulfil its own responsibility. "The growing dependence of the federal and Punjab governments on the army indicates that most civilian institutions have virtually collapsed under the present rulers. It is like a quasi-military rule with an increasing army role in civilian affairs."

 Nawaz and Shahbaz are being accused of using the army for their own political gains. The arrogant chief minister, however, denies that the involvement of the army has undermined the civilian authority: "We are using only a part of the army in peace time and gainfully employing soldiers." But can this quick-fix approach work? Can the army replace decaying civilian institutions? History has shown such incursions by the army have led to three unhappy results—it paved the way for usurpation of power under Gen. Ayub Khan, Gen. Yahya Khan and Gen. Zia-ul Haq.

Giving just one instance, political observers say Pakistani society was restructured during Gen. Zia's decade-long military rule, primarily to serve the interests of the armed forces. The area of defence operations was extended to almost every sphere of life, leading to an expansion of the khaki constituency. At the same time, the armed forces were given a quota of civilian jobs for those who decided to change their field midstream. This enabled the army to keep a finger on every pulse of the civilian government, thereby infecting itself with corruption, nepotism and indiscipline.

Pakistan happens to be the only country in the world whose defence forces earn more than half of their keep. The commercial enterprises run by charitable organisations of the army, navy and air force put together contribute more than two per cent to the country's Gross National Product (GNP). Not only do the defence forces make money but they are also involved in massive social welfare activities. They run hospitals, schools, colleges, grant scholarships, manage vocational institutions and many other training centres. But all exclusively for the khaki fraternity.

Political analysts here are convinced that involving the army in civilian affairs can have dangerous consequences for a fledgling democracy. "The latest decision of Sharif to establish military courts casts a reflection on the capability of his government, thus strengthening the prejudices against democracy," says Sajjad Naseer, chairman of Lahore University's political science department. "Throughout the various martial laws the country has passed through, propagandists hired by dictators have tried to convince the innocent masses that all politicians are corrupt and only the armed forces could successfully manage Pakistan. And quite unfortunately, a good number of the people continue to subscribe to this thesis despite the fact that successive martial law regimes have proved the futility of this argument," he adds.

As a matter of fact, the martial law imposed in Punjab in 1953 had led sections of the army leadership to believe that if they were to earn a bad name while helping an inept civil government, they might as well be the rulers and enjoy the perks of power. Being general officer commanding of Dacca, Gen.Ayub Khan had been asked by an incompetent Nazimuddin, then chief minister of East Bengal, to help conduct negotiations with striking students and policemen. When President Ayub Khan called upon Yahya Khan to help him quell the popular movement, the latter deprived him of power by declaring himself president. Similarly, late prime minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's invitation to the army to suppress the Balochistan insurrection made the army overtly confident—resulting again in martial law and his own ouster.

Political leaders derive their authority to head civil administrations from their capacity to govern without any backing from armed forces. The moment they confess to a lack of this capacity, they sign their own certificate of illegitimacy. In Pakistan, where the army has repeatedly justified extra-constitutional adventures when the civilian authority has shown even a slight hint of failure, nothing more needs to be said.