Asma Jahangir has spoken on the issue of military-civil imbalance today. Quite rightly, any deference to the wordsof General Kayani and Pasha that compromises individual rights doesn’tsay much for either the supremacy of the law, or a “freejudiciary”.

Back in May, right after the Abbottabadraid, a lot of people quite excitedly, heralded this as aunfortunate, but at the same time fortunate opportunity to put themilitary in its place. Get it back into the confines of itsconstitutional mandate. Then came the in camera briefing in the National Assembly, but after a few weeks it was obvious that the military was running the show.

The PPP government started off by emphasisingits determination to guide Pakistan’s security and foreign policy.Zardari spoke of a grand free trade area and our then foreignminister SMQ smiled sheepishly with Hillary Clinton as Kayani looked on from the margins. Alot of choreographing, but Zardari’s ideas didn’t come to much and SMQ is well, batting for the other team now. Even then, fewbelieved that the Army had relinquished influence over foreign andsecurity affairs. Effectively, it could exercise its veto overcivilian decisions if and when it wanted.

In the recent past, one has to be quitenaive to still believe that its Zardari who shapes Pakistan’sforeign policy. Unlike most PTI supporters and reactionary critics,its not as if Zardari allowed drone strikes or handed over Pakistaniairbases to US control. Neither was it Zardari who extra-judiciallyhanded over foreign and Pakistani citizens to the US without dueprocess who later ended up in Bagram, Guantanamo etc. And before Iforget, the most hated of documents, the infamous NRO was facilitatedand negotiated by our very own COAS General Kayani, however, being inkhaki he’s above criticism or responsibility.

That said, whenever the issue ofcivil-military relations come up and people talk about balancing it,a lot of emphasis is placed on politicians doing the “right”thing and exercising their mandate and forcing the military to relentbefore there constitutional superiority. That’s why the mere mentionof the possibility of the PM sacking Kayani and Pasha unleashed astorm. Mind you that storm was much louder in regards to a possibledecision that a sitting PM might which is his prerogative andconstitutional, while a coup, orchestrated by the military unleashesjubilation and a fiscal stimulus for mathai shops.

Iwould argue that any balance between the civilian side and themilitary side of the state can only be achieved if the militaryeconomic influence is decreased. The military through its variousarms has its fingers in every commercial pie. Resources are skewedfavourably in the hands of those in khaki and their institutions; forthe industrial, capitalist class knows who to deal with if they wantto get things done.

Nowthe military property empire is a ubiquitous part of Pakistani urbanlife. The nexus between Bahria Town-HRL-DHA for a few is “nationalprogress” but for those forcibly displaced, the state that missesout on tax revenues, the banks that are forced to offer concessionalloans and later write them off, the abrogation of the constitutionwithin these areas; the costs are massive and they keep on piling up.The following DAWN Reporter Episodes paint an ugly picture of thecartel that is now the military-commercial interest which is a lawunto itself. (Thanks to @shahidsaaed)

Youcan tick through a list of industries in Pakistan, and one way or theother, either through outright ownership or in partnership themilitary is a major stakeholder. Nothing comes of cases ofcorruptions against generals, so there is no surprise thatex-military types pack commercial organisations. Capitalists votewith their feet, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone thatthey vote for the team with the bigger stick.

Nowpoliticians are a fragmented and competitive group. Sure, they makepoor decisions and may be corrupt, however, they act in their selfinterest, where ever that might take them. Given the might of the military, its monopoly over the useof force, coupled with its huge economic clout, a fragmented group ofpoliticians have no chance to exercise their will over the military. Instead, they are co-opted by the military to do their bidding, and why wouldn’t they? 

Nowthe next obvious question is: Do we want these incompetent civiliansdictating policy to the military?

Theanswer to that is yes. The simple reason is this: Given Zardari’s 11%approval rating, the dismal approval rating of the PPP, and overallimage of politicians as incompetent, we can be assured that everydecision they take is the talk of the evening news cycle. Columns arewritten, opinions are formed, news is shared and retweeted.

However,decisions taken by the military fall under two categories. Either themilitary makes a decision, and then civilians are made to face thenegative fall out of it. Or the military makes decisions and no oneis the wiser. When questioned, you are not offered a policy outline.Instead you get a long emotive speech about sacrifices and braverywhich somehow qualifies someone to make decisions on a nationsforeign policy or other associated matter that is not even thatpersons job.

In China the Divestiture Act of 1998banned all the commercial activities of the People’s LiberationArmy (PLA). Like their Pakistani counterparts, the PLA had investeditself in banks, hotels, factories, property developments, retailingetc. During the Tienanmen uprising in 1989, China came dangerouslyclose to a military coup. As the vanguard of the revolution the PLA,was a central part of the Communist Party and the Party heavilyinvested in the PLA. The PLA eventually sided with the pulitburo andthe Tienanmen protesters, and protesters across the country werecrushed. These events helped accelerate the PLA’s independence fromCCP control and widen its economic activities. By the mid-1990s asChina bombed, so did the PLA’s financial interests. In an effort toencourage professionalism in the PLA and in a display of itsauthority, the CPC promulgated the Divestiture Act of 1998 banningits commercial activities. Without it, the PLA would have gainedundue influence, both by wielding weapons and cheque books…. Soundfamiliar?

Without reducing the military’seconomic dominance and access to resources the dream of civilauthority over the military will not come to pass. This is not amatter of budgetary allocations. Its about a parallel economy thatsucks away resources without any accountability. It rewards itselffor taking the risks, but given that its “too big to fail”, thecosts are passed on to the losers. The military and those associatedwith it, sail through bureaucratic red tape, judicial and legislativeoversight, and political interference.

This is also why, I don’t agree withsuggestions that the only way to save the Railways or PIA is toprivatise it. Pakistan has toothless regulators that are easilyco-opted. Recently, a newspaper report claimed that the NationalLogistics Cell, which has single handedly destroyed the Railwaysfreight transport market is going to take over parts of theorganisation to run as a “private” initiative. Then again, NLC,with its association with the military is above any critique. Until the state has a capacity to regulate privatised industries, there is no point in transferring a public monopoly to a private one. Tax payers keeping a state organisation afloat for better or worse is one thing, however, tax payers of inflationary borrowing doing the same to prop up a privatised industry to line the pockets of shareholders is criminal.

If I may digress for a paragraph, thisis also another reason why I dont buy Imran Khan’s and PTI’s rhetoricon jusitice and ending corruption. How can they talk about justiceand reducing corruption when they remain silent on the military andits role in the economy? Why the silence? PTI supporters like to talkabout Turkey’s example and the Erdogen model of gradual civiliandominance, but Erdogen as an activist and campaigner would not shyaway from putting the Turkish military in its place.

Given that the military is the “winninghorse” in the race to the bottom, its not surprising that thoseseeking an economic advantage find one way or another to cling to it.Some argue, that this proves that the military is a disciplinedinstitution and people trust it with its money. However, the flipside is that no competitor is allowed a fair chance to compete withthe military’s might. And those individuals and organisations who arelucky enough to tag along under the khaki umbrella…well not onlyare they minting money, but they are also called national heroes. Andwhen there great money making enterprises go belly up, it will be thepatriotic duty off every Pakistani to bail them out.