The military is that Pakistan has ruled the country directly for much of its seven decades of history.
Generals regain control in Pakistan – unofficially.
There are now more than a dozen current and former military officials holding important positions in government, such as the leadership of the state-owned air carrier, the energy regulator, and the National Institute of Health. , who is leading the country’s pandemic response. Three of these appointments have taken place in the past two months.
The increased profile of the military comes as Prime Minister Imran Khan sees his influence and popularity decline due to a downturn in the economy, high consumer prices and corruption investigations involving his close associates. Analysts have long believed that military support is essential for Khan’s party, which holds 46% of the seats in Parliament, to hold a government that relies on several small coalition partners to stay afloat.
In some ways, this is nothing new: the military is Pakistan’s most powerful institution and has directly ruled the country for much of its seven decades of history. However, it is far from the “New Pakistan” that Khan promised when he took office in 2018.
“By appointing an increasing number of current and retired military officers to key positions, the government is giving up the little space available to civilians in the development and execution of policies in the country,” said Uzair. Younus, non-resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, by phone. “The open and secret role of the military in governance continues to grow.”
Key roles
Many in Pakistan can see the change during government briefings on viruses on public television, in which uniformed army officers are seen helping the government’s response to the pandemic. Retired Lieutenant-General Asim Saleem Bajwa is Now Khan’s Communications Advisor and Also Oversees the Implementation of About $ 60 Billion in Investments in Pakistan Under China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative .
At least 12 army loyalists in the cabinet also took part in the administration of dictator-turned-president Pervez Musharraf, which ended in 2008. This includes Interior Minister Ijaz Shah and advisor Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Khan’s financier.
The greatest military involvement even has the support of civilian government advisers such as Zaigham Rizvi, a member of the Naya Pakistan Housing Program task force responsible for managing Khan’s main economic project of building low-cost houses. Two army officers were appointed last month.
“We had a feeling that if we give majority leadership to the military, the military has a good system,” said Rizvi, who worked at the World Bank for 10 years as a housing expert. “They’re getting things done.”
The Pakistani military declined to comment. Khan’s spokesman Nadeem Afzal Chan was not immediately available, while Information Minister Syed Shibli Faraz did not respond to a request for comment.
Economic distress
Khan has long rejected allegations that he was too close to the military, declaring in 2017 before his election victory that any idea that he was a military stooge was a “bizarre conspiracy.” Last year, he told local media that “the army is with me”.
However, the economic distress linked to the pandemic once again raised tensions. Pakistan is the most infected country in Asia after India, with more than 108,000 cases of coronavirus and around 2,200 deaths.
The economy is expected to contract for the first time in 68 years, with the central bank expecting the economy to contract by 1.5% in the year ending in June. The nation received Paris club debt relief and a $ 1.4 billion emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund in April, and is among the countries requesting debt relief.
Questions about the military’s role in running the government arose when the virus started to escalate in March. As Khan addressed the nation and urged citizens to remain calm, it was the military spokesman who announced the lockdown the next day. Most of the press statements at the country’s virus detection center, chaired by Minister of Planning, Asad Umar, are produced by the army’s media wing – with his signature and logo.
On March 24, Khan was visibly annoyed when journalists asked him “who is responsible here?” Although there is no reference to the military, he threatened to leave suddenly.
Then in late May, its aviation minister, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, defended the performance of the national carrier and its military leadership following a passenger plane crash in the financial capital, Karachi. “It is not a crime to appoint people affiliated with the military,” he said.
Decreasing power
Khan’s grip on power is likely to continue to decrease as current and retired military officers and military-backed political appointments assume more executive power, said Arif Rafiq, president of Vizier Consulting, a risk consulting company focused on the Middle East and South Asia. He noted that Khan will face new pressures as Pakistan’s economic challenges continue to mount.
“Army expressed dissatisfaction with Khan’s handling of coronavirus blockages – there are also indications that the military is unhappy with the management of the Sino-Pakistan economic corridor and governance in Punjab, the largest province, “Rafiq told me. “We have seen the chief military spokesperson openly push for a more severe lockdown and a retired army officer assume the roles of government spokesperson and administrator of CPEC.”
Last year, the military had already started playing a more active role in policy development beyond foreign and national security policy, with army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa meeting privately with key leaders to find ways to stimulate the economy. The country’s parliament passed a law in January granting Bajwa a three-year extension from November 2019, and he was also appointed to the government’s economic council.
Although many democracies appoint retired military officers to high-level government posts, it becomes a problem if civilians don’t call the shots, according to Michael Kugelman, a senior partner in South Asia based in Washington, DC, at the Wilson Center.
“And therein lies the risk for democracy,” he said. “If retired generals are more influenced by their former bosses than by their current bosses, then democracy is not properly served.”
(This story has not been edited by GalacticGaming staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
