⏱ Estimated reading time: 2 min read
In his book, The Army and Democracy in Pakistan, Aqil Shah writes that after the British departure, the last check on the authority of the military and bureaucracy was also removed, which was the British crown. The army emerged as the most powerful class. The military schooling remained the same as that in British India. The Army was not depoliticized from the start. They are not told what their constitutional rights are. The professional belief in manifest destiny motivates it to intervene in politics.
The professional development did not de-politicize Pakistan’s military; instead, it aroused the military’s interest in civilian affairs and spurred members of the senior officers’ corps to voluntarily assume the obligation of properly organizing political society and the state.
The teaching of the military has the same curricula, and they have well-organized schooling from the start. The army is not a job; it is a way of life. Additionally, the professional training they get from military academies and training schools, which also makes them believe that they are fit enough to be real politicians. The idea that all politicians are bad is injected into their minds, leading them to think that they are the only good sons of the soil.
If and if Pakistan wants to have a better, prosperous, and democratic state, it needs to reform the military institutions and their academics. Otherwise, we will have chiefs like Bajwa, Asim, Faiz, Musharaf, Zia, and the likes.
