Chowrangi

The Pakistani Spectator published a post by Dan Tow about who should have the control of Military in Pakistan.

Dan is an Oracle guru and author of SQL Tuning. In his post he has tried to analyze whether Military should be controlled by civilians (Parliament/ Prime Minister/ President) or by military brass themselves.

I am not sure if he is aware of the command and control structure of Pakistan Military and Army’s supremacy in it. Termed as worlds’ 7th largest armed force, Pakistani military consists of Army, Navy, Air Force, Paramilitary Forces, Coast Guard and Strategic Nuclear Command.

Pakistan Army is headed by Chief Of Army Staff (COAS), Air Force by Air Chief Marshall and Navy by Admiral. There is a Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, headed by Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), which deals with all problems bearing on the military aspects of state security and is charged with integrating and coordinating the three services. In peacetime, its principal function is planning; in time of war, its chairman is the principal staff officer to the president in the supervision and conduct of the war.

The secretariat of the committee serves as the principal link between the service headquarters and the Ministry of Defence in addition to coordinating matters between the services. The three branches within the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee deal with planning, training, and logistics. Affiliated with the committee are the offices of the engineer in chief, the director general of medical service, the director of inter-services intelligence, and the director of inter-services public relations.

The three Service Chiefs together with the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff form the Joint Chiefs of Staff are:

• General Ehsan ul Haq — Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff
• General Pervez Musharraf — Chief of Army Staff
• Admiral Muhammad Afzal Tahir — Chief of Naval Staff
• Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed — Chief of Air Staff

Now, theoretically speaking, CJCSC should have more power but in reality its a dummy position. In Pakistan’s Military structure real power lies with COAS. Army, due to its sheer size, plays the role of big brother of all armed forces. So far four military rulers of Pakistan came from the Army, supported by Army corps commanders. Navy and Air Force play second fiddle to them.

Apparently, Military is not interested in getting controlled by a civilian setup. Parliament is neither allowed to discuss exponential increase in annual defence budget nor any accountability committee can question where that money is going. While we have a National Security Council comprising of the President, Prime Minister, Provincial Chief Ministers, Speaker National Assembly, Chairman Senate, Military Chiefs and Leader of Opposition, its decisions are overshadowed by the briefings of formation commanders’ meetings.

To keep Pakistan away from the reach of another fortune seeker, we have to limit the political role of Military. Military is not a sacred cow and it should be accountable to the publicly-elected Parliament and Judiciary, not the way round. Also, external interference has to be curbed. We need no dictation from America or Saudi or any other country for that matter. We have to realize that we are a sovereign nation and we have to make our decisions without foreign dictation.

Other posts by Kashif Aziz

• Urgently Wanted : Federal Ministers - November 19th, 2008
• GEO TV Transmission blocked in Karachi? - November 17th, 2008
• American meat exporters using fradulent halal certificates - November 14th, 2008
• The case of Khanani and Kalia - November 10th, 2008
• Alcohol Exports Bring $220 Million To Pakistan - November 9th, 2008
• Open Letter of Appreciation to Government of Pakistan - November 5th, 2008
• Earthquake Strikes in Balochistan: More than 250 dead, 20,000 displaced - October 30th, 2008
• Pity the Nation - October 26th, 2008
• Lab Pay Aati Hai Dua .. Ban Kay Tamanna Meri - October 16th, 2008
• Predictions of the Century: The Fate of Sarah Palin, and Asif Ali Zardari and United States of America - October 12th, 2008