Civil-Military Imbalance

This article is taken from Dawn and edited by Syed Youseef Shah
INTRODUCTION:
Pakistan has seen spells of military and civil governments .A tug of war surfaces between the
Public representatives and the military establishment. Nation as a whole suffers due to uncertainty and
unpredictability regarding continuity of the civilian governments. Nepotism, inefficiency and
concentration of powers result in a despotic rule at the hand of democratic governments particularly the
current ruling political party. It paves way to the military adventurists to thrash the politicians out of the
assemblies and establish military rule. This essay highlights the factors responsible for creating mistrust
between the military establishment and the civilian rulers. So that wise steps are taken to balance the
relations between the vital institutions of the state.
Current Political Picture of the Country:
Pakistan is facing a boiling and turbulent political period in the current period . Pakistan Tehreek
Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek are hell-bent to oust the Present Prime Minister on the basis of
electoral rigging, bad governance and a host of other allegations. Almost fifty days have been passed of
demonstrations in the capital of the country. The Government seems to be paralyzed and dysfunctional
due to unending protests and civil unrest in the country. Some political analysts believe involvement of
third umpire military establishment to dissolve the assemblies for various reasons. Others believe
dictatorial policies and ignorant attitude of the Government responsible for the political disaster prevalent
in the country. Judiciary, Media and civil society also seem to be confused in understanding the political
puzzle present in Pakistan. Only time will reveal the masters and managers of the current political Civil
military imbalance.
Factors breeding Imbalance in the Civil Military relations:
1. Concentration of powers
-Ministry of defence and foreign affairs occupied by the PM.
-Absence of sharing responsibility
2. Failure in appointing professional national security adviser
-divided attention and weak policy making
- a political loyalist instead of public representative.
3. Incomprehensive National Security Policy:
- absence of integrated and coordinated approach
- Vacuum of intelligence sharing mechanism
- Redundant national security division
- Ignored oversight of parliament on national security issues
4. Partially implemented National Internal Security Policy
-Dormant National Counter Terrorism Authority since 2009.
(Failure of government to select chief police officer).
- Confusion in Authority
(Interior Ministry and the Prime Minister fixed over authority)
-unavailable intelligence directorate to deal
5. Discord in the Missing persons Issue:
- Kill and dump phenomenon in Balochistan
- private armies of tribesmen
6. Mishandling of the Karachi Operation:
-Shifting of responsibilities from Federal government to provincial government.
- Frequent transfer of high ranking police officers
- Shortage of upgraded weapons.
Conclusion:
To sum up, military-civilian relationship is equated to mistrust , uncertainty and
unpredictability . Inefficiency and bad governance invite the power hungry military adventurists to
intervene in the democratic process of governance. It is time to learn from the mistakes and move forward
for the bright future.