Reorganise or bust

The Pakistani nation has lost control over its destiny. A handful of people have taken it upon themselves to determine the nation’s course and they have failed miserably, leaving 190 million people wondering what they have done wrong? Why does the whole nation have to hang its head in shame again when only a few generals have usurped the nation’s destiny?

From 1958 to the present, the Pakistan military has controlled the nation’s destiny through direct military rule for 33 years and indirect control for 20 years. Only the first eleven years from 1947 to 1958 did civilians have a say in the nation’s destiny and even then two military generals; Iskander Mirza and Ayub Khan manipulated aplenty.

The May 2, 2011 events have bowed the nation’s head in shame. The failure of our military and intelligence agencies has shaken the public’s confidence in the military establishment. How can we be assured that Pakistan’s nuclear assets will not be removed in a similar fashion, when the military admits to not knowing about the Abbottabad raid until after it was over?

As Pakistan see-saws in a precarious state at this crucial juncture today, it is important to examine the military’s track record over the 64 year of Pakistan’s existence.

The 1965 war was launched by a military president and the Pakistani nation gave its backing whole heartedly. However, the war was ill-timed and ill-planned as the final outcome was zilch with loss of blood and treasure, setting the nation’s economy back by 20 years.

The 1971 war was once again fought under a military president. Yahya Khan and his generals could not have done a worse job of planning. They had no strategy, no exit plan from East Pakistan and no robust plan to defend West Pakistan. Had Richard Nixon’s not been heavily leaning on Indira Gandhi to stop the war, the outcome could have been far worse. The defeat and surrender by the military and over 100,000 POWs in Indian hands shamed the Pakistani nation to no end.

The Indian PM Vajpayee made a peace trip to Lahore against serious opposition from within his own party. This was a tremendous effort by Mr Vajpayee to start a new chapter in relations with Pakistan. This move was warmly welcomed by Pakistani nation, except for one man; the COAS General Musharraf. Little was known at the time that Musharraf was cooking up plans for a military misadventure six months hence. The rest is history.

Furthermore, his actions of demolishing the Constitution and the Supreme Court will forever be remembered as a dark period in Pakistan’s constitutional history. This dictator has done more economic and political damage to Pakistan than many others and the nation is still paying the price for his follies.

Moving on to the ISI, it may have done good work during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Since then, however, its activities have done enormous damage to Pakistan’s reputation. Today, the whole world is pointing fingers at the ISI for the creation and protection of Taliban, creation of LeT, the Mumbai attacks and providing protection to terrorists.

In the current situation, ISI’s job should have been to penetrate terror groups and avert bombings against innocent Pakistani civilians, police and military officials. Instead, Pakistanis are dying every day at the hands of suicide bombers, as the ISI is too busy making and demolishing civilian governments, which is something it should have absolutely nothing to do with. The ISI’s role in the creation of MQM, IJI, MMA and similar entities are well known.

If the ISI did not know that OBL was hiding in Abbottabad for six years and does not know where Mullah Omar or Al-Zawahiri are hiding, then this agency has no reason to exist. It is either complicit or has failed miserably in doing its job. It is time to reorganise the intelligence services completely.

Military Intelligence (MI) should take over the task of military intelligence and it should have no civil or political involvement whatsoever. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) should be responsible for all civilian intelligence and the FIA should be responsible for bringing criminals to courts for legal punishment.

The Pakistani nation has spent billions of dollars on military establishment. To what end, one may ask? The nation demands accountability. The largest single expense in the 2011/2012 budget after Debt Servicing is Defence at 17.9%. A major portion of 37.4% Debt Servicing expense also pertains to military purchases. In all, nearly 36% of the budget is spent on the military with no accountability whatsoever. This needs to change and the military budget must come under full scrutiny of the parliament. Also, the Auditor General of Pakistan must have full authority to audit all military and intelligence agency expenses.

So far, the track record shows that whatever the Military and ISI think is good for Pakistan, has proved not to be good for Pakistan. The military must be subservient to elected governments and the elected leaders must not have to look over their shoulders to see if a coup is imminent. A complete overhaul of the military is required, its way of thinking, its training techniques and its capability.

Though the focus of this article is on Pakistan’s military and intelligence capability, but it must be said that Pakistan government’s response post-May 2 was pathetic. The PM took off to Paris and the President was AWOL for several days. The government needed to respond and respond promptly, but it let the nation be pilloried by the world press as a centre of terror.

Appointing a general to investigate is fine and the military must have a thorough internal enquiry. However, this is not what the nation wants from its government. It needs an open enquiry and the commission announced so far will not do the job.

A new Enquiry Commission should be set up headed by a Supreme Court Judge (in consultation with the Chief Justice), with at least two other members, a prominent lawyer and a retired general of assured neutrality. The commissions’ report should be made public and submitted to the parliament for an open debate.

Pakistan has been brought to a critical juncture by foolish policies of the military establishment and weak politicians. The whole world is looking at Pakistan as a terrorist state or at least a state officially protecting terrorists. The people of Pakistan are not responsible for these flawed policies and demand action against all those who have brought the country to its knees.