Abdullah Atif
How is Pakistan’s system structured, how many flaws does it have, to what extent is the governing framework actually capable and in control, and so on, there’s plenty that could be said and written about all this, and plenty of shortcomings that could be counted. But inside this same Pakistan, a system full of weaknesses and flaws, there exists one institution so successful you probably couldn’t find a more successful one anywhere in the whole world: the military establishment.
There’s no field in Pakistan’s whole system, from A to Z, where this institution doesn’t have its hand in. There’s no one in the entire country who can cross the set boundaries and criticize this military institution. Sure, there are plenty of people who criticize the army, but even they’re only allowed to criticize up to the point this institution itself can tolerate, and even that’s permitted only so no one can say criticism of the army is forbidden entirely.
Pakistan’s history has made this plain: whenever anyone, from any field or profession, has criticized the military institution in a way that crossed its set limits, they’ve been silenced so thoroughly that not only do they never speak again, but people close and distant to them never again dare that kind of criticism, and don’t even try to go near that line. That’s exactly why this institution is such an extraordinarily successful one.
So if you look at it purely from the angle of holding onto power, influence, and dominance, this is an unmatched, successful institution. Some people might say, how can we accept this is a successful institution when its history of servility and subservience to the British is plain for everyone to see, and there’s plenty of other criticism leveled at it too?
But these objections only deserve to be heard once someone first proves this institution is actually a Muslim institution, that Muslims built its foundation, or that it was created to protect and defend Muslims. When in reality the truth is something else entirely: this is, at its very foundation, an institution the British built, the British laid its foundation, its first leaders and commanders were British too, and the institution’s whole structure stands on a British design and framework.
Think about it for a moment. Can an institution’s foundation and essential nature really change just by changing its uniform? The army that was part of the British army under the name “Royal Indian Army,” after the partition of India, that same army just had Pakistani uniforms put on it. So can we really call this army a Muslim army just because of that one change?
Then, after the partition of India, from 1947 to 1951, leadership of this same army still sat in British hands:
1. General Sir Frank Walter Messervy: from August 15, 1947, to February 10, 1948.
2. General Sir Douglas Gracey: from February 11, 1948, to January 16, 1951.
So how can an army whose leaders remained British for this whole stretch of time be called an Islamic, Muslim army?
Let’s go along with it and accept that this army is, nonetheless, an Islamic army. Even so, this question still stands on its own: what benefit has this army actually brought Muslims so far, given all the harm and suffering it’s caused them? Why? A Muslim army shouldn’t behave like this.
This makes clear that this military institution is, at its root, a British institution, built for British interests. In this respect, this institution operates with complete success and offers overwhelming proof of its firm loyalty to the British. Perhaps nowhere in British history has there been a more devoted loyalist than this army.
It’s not as though this institution has only been given a few privileges. No military institution anywhere in the world has been handed powers as sweeping as this one holds. It’s not as though this army’s nuclear capability was granted without reason either, there’s definitely something behind that! Not just one thing, the whole story, from start to finish, is suspicious!
Think about it for a moment: an army that isn’t permitted to use F-16 aircraft against India, would that same army really be given the authority to use nuclear weapons against India? Never!
So, following this logic, this nuclear capability wasn’t given to this institution to use against India at all, it was given to protect the British and to crush Muslims.
In short, as long as this military institution dominates this country, dreaming of peace here is pointless, this situation is a source of harm for the whole region.
Today, across the whole world, this same institution stands as a headache for the only Islamic system in existence, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This is the very army considered the root of every problem. Until this institution is removed from power, insecurity will keep right on going. Wama alaina illal balagh (And our duty is only to convey the message).
