Who really is the Supreme Commander of the Pakistani Army?
Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 12:08:08 by Syed Hassan Bokhari
Who really is the Supreme Commander of the Pakistani Army?
Living abroad, in the first world countries, there is not a moment when as a civilian, you feel that the army in any way is controlling the situation and internal/external matters of the country.
The army and civilians live in harmony in the same areas and it is very difficult to tell whether your next door neighbour is in the armed forces or not.
Coming back to Pakistan, I realise that it is a totally different situation. Unfortunately, our society is dominated not by intelligence, class, social worth, literacy, thinking, virtue, but rather by the man with the gun, in other words, the military.
The Pakistani army has all control over everything along with a military specific area for living in every city, town, multiple businesses and facilities for their people, making it look like joining the army after high school is better than studying to
become a PhD since there is more recognition in the former.
It is a well known fact that the Pakistani army has the most luxuries available to them when compared to any other army in the world.
In the USA, if a general was to retire, he would be living in a middle class neighbourhood with a normal car and nothing more than that, but here, the luxury is where the army is at.
It is very saddening to hear that since the birth of Pakistan, the philosophers, the educationists, the common man were never allowed to rule the country at free will as we are supposed to be an Islamic Republic, not an Islamic Military Dominated State.
This young but very weathered country has faced a lot since its birth. Multiple military coups have destroyed this country’s interior situation as well as its reputation abroad with foreigners referring to it as a military-state.
The problem being that whosoever is in charge of the Army does not want to be a subordinate to the civilians, who they refer to as the “bloody civilians”, something a man living in Canada or America or any other civilised country would find it extremely
tough to believe that Pakistan is a country where the struggle of power still goes on.
History has proved that states run by army generals in the form of dictators have never flourished and been deemed successful in any way, which is the same with our country.
Constant rumours about a possible military coup are in the media from the day an elected government takes office, which makes me wonder, who really the supreme commander of the armed forces is.
When I read the constitution of Pakistan and look at how the public and military offices are sorted out, the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) ranks in the BPS-21 and no army official can go above that along with him being subordinate to the Minister of Defence!
Looking at reality, it is hard to believe that the COAS even considers the President any authority compared to him, putting a stamp on our society as nothing more than a state run by men with guns.
In India, when their COAS spoke against the civilian government, the Prime Minister forced him to step down and resign, which he did. The same goes for the United States of America when an army general in-charge of the Afghanistan region spoke against President
Obama, he was forced to resign the very next day.
This sort of situation can only be dreamt about in Pakistan.
The DG of the Pakistani Intelligence (ISI) and COAS are subordinate not only to the Defence Minister but to their supreme commander, the President of Pakistan, which they should get straight so that this country could start moving forward instead of living
in the dark ages.
Tags: Asif Ali Zardari, COAS, General Kyani, President, Supreme Commandar
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