Dr. Umar Khan
khanmomar@hotmail.com
Dr. Khan belongs to a Lahore based Think Tank
23-2-2016
“Too much of anything could destroy you, Simon thought.
Too much darkness could kill, but too much light could blind.” Cassandra
Clare, City of Lost Souls
Too much of anything is bad and vices are sometimes virtues
carried to excess. It was due to this inherent risk that out Prophet SAW guided
us for moderation (miana rawi) and we are obliged to follow it. Our media is
always appreciating our army lavishly for everything it does like fight against
terrorism, helping the nation in time of need, defending our borders, fighting
corruption etc. but never criticizing it. In addition, TV dramas and feature
movies are made to glorify our defense forces. These endeavors sometimes go too
far and we see people calling for the army and its chief to interfere in
unrelated matters too as a savior. We might be going too far in venerating our
army and showing gratitude to the level of getting counterproductive.
Nation states need institutions that have high morale and
are esteemed in the society so our constitution bars people from defaming or
ridiculing military and judiciary. This clause was specially added in the 1973
constitution when our armed forces were having morale and image problems after
the terrible loss of 1971 and this was how the authors of constitution tried to
build its institution heavily financed and manned by its children.
In addition to freedom from attacks constitution guarantees,
military has a very vibrant public relation department headed by no less than a
Lt Gen and an undisclosed budget. This ISPR, aided with the enormous power of
military reaching most aspects of society has done a great job and ultimately
it has elevated the image of army reaching unrealistic levels. No wonder people
are calling for the military chief for all their problem solving building a
kind of personality cult. This trend must be corrected because it has become
out of proportion and can have detrimental effects for many reasons.
The foremost reason for curtailing/controlling this unchecked
trend of building military grandiosity is that it is inaccurate. Truth can
never be reached by hearing one sided arguments as it is the other side that
really creates the 3 dimensional picture. Making opinion by reading military’s
achievements while effectively silencing criticism by constitutional force has
the potential of being highly unbalanced, somewhat like democracy without
opposition. Only a select few have the ability to see clearly keeping both
sides in view and knowing the need of building its positive image. Just like we
admired our soldiers for killing terrorists in army school but never questioned
how they got in fully armed where ordinary civilians can’t?
An out of proportion image of an institution having
supernatural powers creates unrealistic and unfair expectations in the minds of
simple Pakistanis deeply stuck in host of problems. For the last many decades
our opinion makers of suspect intellect have regularly inculcated an adverse
habit of waiting for messiahs. This has harmed peoples sense of their own civic
responsibilities and their self-image that they can control their destiny. No
wonder why apathy is so prevalent in our society and everyone talks but hardly
anyone acts. These illusions are not for the naiveté only as many military
personal also develop them and get falsely convinced of their extraordinary strengths
that they don’t possess. At times it
gets translated into misconception that anyone belonging to military is
superior to the ordinary Pakistanis; hence coining of the dreaded term “bloody
civilians”. It has the potential of creating a cleavage in the society and
contempt for others, like colonial masters and the subjugated.
These unrealistic expectations ultimately culminate in call
for the military to take over the civil governments as the civilians don’t
enjoy the immunity against slander and malicious attacks. This has happened
repeatedly in Pakistan. Unfortunately, many times the military chiefs also get
carried away and out of good intentions, sure of their supernatural abilities,
jump in and harm the nation. Interviews of ex-military rulers testify to this. Gen
Musharraf repeatedly tells people asking him to take over as one of the reasons
he was “compelled” to send the democratic government packing in 1999. These
unrealistic expectations have the potential to seriously harm the nation as
Pakistan just can’t afford another military adventure.
Pakistan has been harmed enormously by military adventurism
and we will never be able to sufficiently quantify them. Nearly all ills we
face today have roots attached to the previous military rules. To begin with,
dismemberment of Pakistan, extremism, terrorism and corruption of society are
direct consequences. Pakistan of pre Zia era was unbelievably peaceful and
popular, politicians were simple and non-corrupt. Politicians of pre Martial
days appear like saints when compared to current crop. Each stint of martial
law deteriorated our polity until we reached where we are today where the whole
society is thoroughly corrupted. We must apologize to great people like
Suharwardi, Gormani and many others for
wrongly humiliating them and civil society’s inability to rein in its generals.
These generals once in power realize their shortcomings and
lack of powerbase making them dependent on world powers known for their lack of
scruples and callousness. This over dependence has repeatedly landed us in
foreign wars where we play the cannon fodder losing lives, money while
accumulating blames. The same world powers now uttered the most insulting
remarks for the Pakistani nation when Kerry called army as the “greatest
binding force”. In other words, his statement can be implied as Pakistan is a
nation kept intact by brute force. Certainly not a very flattering commentary
but unfortunately still we find many people cherishing this insult.
Everything in excess is opposed to nature and wrong, and
this applies to Pakistan army’s image building also. Yes, I am talking of the
army I love, I finance and I man with my finest sons. Our army is a part of our
society and is as good or as bad as other institutions of Pakistan. Its
unopposed and relentless image building at expense of national exchequer and
society, must be controlled and put in right direction. We must devise a
strategy to have a balance by differentiating between constructive criticism
and defamation or ridicule. Then we must include the subject of dangers and
evils of martial law and military intervention in politics, at all levels in
military education and the need for the armed men to stick to their
constitutional duties. If we fail to do this, we have the danger of once again
falling in the pit we fell many times earlier. We will always find people inviting
army in politics for whatever reason and none of them is worth a response but
its compliance must be strictly guarded against.
Otherwise wait for more takeovers, blatant or subtle, and
the future generations to pay the price.
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