Despite the existence of democratic government in Pakistan for around a decade, military is the most important political institution in Pakistan. Military plays a dominant role as decision maker in core areas of defense, national security and foreign policy. In fact, Military is the de- facto power holder in Pakistan. The extensive role of military in Pakistan‘s society and Politics has to be understood in the context of Pakistan‘s fractured nation-building process, and the challenges to Pakistan‘s integrity within, its geopolitical position in the region and the resultant external threats.
Pakistan- a new nation formed
̳During the British period the idea of separate Muslim identity emerged out of their desire to share political power in India. However, Indian National Congress was in pivotal position in Indian Political scenario.
People‘s mandate during the provincial elections of 1937 in favour of Congress dashed the hopes of Muslim League to hold power in the united India[1]. It was feared that in the united India Muslims would be marginalised and their interests would not be safeguarded. For Muslim League, Hindu-Muslim unity was not a solution. This idea continued to persist in political thinking of Pakistan‘s leadership. The demand for the separate State of Pakistan was to justify separate Muslim identity in contrast to Indian nationalism which was Hindu dominated. Thus, the Muslim identity of Pakistan evolved from the contradiction with the Hindu Identity in British India. Initially Muslim communalism was not directed at separatism. Rather they demanded separate constitutional rights and privileges. But the continued disagreement between the Congress and Muslim League over such rights eventually led to the demand for separatism[2].
In British India, Muslim separatism was popular in Muslim minority provinces such as Bihar and Hyderabad because they feared Hindu domination.[3] But these provinces did not become the part of Pakistan. The Muslim majority provinces of North Western India such as Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, East Bengal and North West Frontier Provinces became Pakistan after independence. But in the post partition period, Muslim League‘s leadership could neither create strong political institutions, nor could it offer any programme of economic and social reform. This responsibility was shouldered by the Pakistani bureaucracy and the army officers who were the elites in the Pakistani society. After independence, it became very difficult for ruling Muslim League to acquire legitimacy at the grass root level. The national feeling in the fragmented Pakistani society could be developed and legitimacy for Muslim League could be acquired only by creating ―Indian fear‖. The process of partition had led to the development of feeling of mistrust and enmity with India. Pakistan perceived India as a threat to its existence from the very beginning. It can be seen that the primary goal of Pakistan‘s foreign policy since its creation is security vis-a-vis India. Hence military always dominated decision making in foreign policy of Pakistan.
Constitutional crises
After independence making of a constitution was a conflictual task in Pakistan. Constituent Assembly was constituted under Jinnah and after his death worked under Liaquat Ali Khan. Objective Resolution was passed by the first Constituent Assembly in March 1949. The context of the objective resolution was Government of India Act of 1935.
The Objective Resolution provided for Strong central government, Powerful bureaucracy, Limited autonomy and representation, feudal domination on politics and continuation of the office of Governor General. However constitution could not be made due to several reasons. The first and foremost was the lack of consensus between East and West Pakistan over issues such as representation to the house of Parliament, the process of selection of Prime Minister and Governor General, the Federal representation, the issue of national language, and the role of religion in Pakistan‘s politics.
To deal with these issues Basic Principles Committee was formed in 1949. This committee submitted three reports. However there was no agreement over the reports. Constituent assembly was widely criticized for its incompetence. The constituent assembly was dissolved in October 1954 by Governor General Malik Ghulam Muhammad. The constituent assembly was reconstituted in May 1955 and finally the constitution was adopted in March 1956. The constitution proclaimed Pakistan as Islamic Republic.
The Constitution of 1956 abolished the office of Governor General and established Parliamentary system of Government. Equal representation was given to East and West Pakistan in national legislature. The constitution also proposed federal pattern with strong Centre.
Once the Constitution came into force, First elections were scheduled in February 1959. However Pr. Mirza feared the domination of East Pakistan and imposed Martial Law. Ayub Khan was the Martial Law Administrator. After getting power Ayub Khan deposed Pr. Mirza, declared himself as President and abrogated the constitution, declaring it unworkable.
This development was the beginning of military assertion in Pakistan‘s politics.
A new constitution was adopted in 1962 which abolished the office of Prime minister. Pakistan adopted the Presidential form of Government. The Constitution of 1962 institutionalized the intervention of military in Politics by making a provision that 20 years President or Defense Minister must be a person of a rank higher than Lieutenant General. This mandate would remain in force for at least 20 years. The constitution proposed to rename the country as Republic of Pakistan instead of Islamic Republic – however after public pressure the name was changed to Islamic Republic of Pakistan. The Constitution provided for indirect elections for the office of President and Members of National Legislative Assembly by introducing a system of Basic Democrats. Basic Democrats were to be elected by the people and would constitute Electoral College. The Electoral College would elect the President and Members of National and Provincial Assembly. Urdu and Bengali were declared as the national languages and the constitution provided for the parity of representation to East and West Pakistan. The constitution in fact deprived the people from their political rights. The only purpose of the constitution was to legitimize the military rule of General Ayub Khan. The Constitution also had an effect of concentration of power in the hands of President without any accountability to legislature. The people‘s reaction were adverse leading to social unrest. The constitution was suspended after the Martial law was imposed by Ayub Khan in 1969 after the coup and General Yahya Khan-The Army Chief became the President.
Challenge to Religious identity – creation of Bangladesh
When Pakistan was formed in 1947, its two regions, East and West Pakistan were split along cultural, geographical and linguistic lines. The population of East Pakistan was almost entirely Bengali. In 1948, Pakistan declared Urdu as National language which gave rise to language movement and assertion of Bengali national identity. After the first General Elections in Pakistan in 1970, Awami League of East Pakistan emerged as the single largest party and put the claim for the formation of Government. Fear for the marginalization of West Pakistan in Pakistan‘s politics, failure of negotiations between West and East Pakistan over sharing of power and demand of East Pakistan for regional autonomy resulted in imposition of Martial law on East Pakistan. This led to a war and with India‘s support East Pakistan received independence in 1971.
The need for consolidation of power in the hands of military was reinforced with the third war with India and partition of Pakistan into Pakistan and Bangladesh. Religion was proved as a weak bond to maintain unity between East and West Pakistan[4]
Bhutto and his Pakistan‘s People‘s Party had won the majority of seats in West Pakistan in the 1970 elections. After the separation of East Pakistan, Bhutto became the President of Pakistan. A new Constitution was adopted in 1973. This new constitution was more Islamic and Islam was declared as the State Religion and Laws to be confirmed to Quran. After this new Constitution, Bhutto took over the position of Prime Minister.
Bangladesh crisis prompted national identity crisis in Pakistan. Sindhi, Baluch and Pashtun grievances against the dominant Punjabi minority resulted in the sectarian violence. Economic situation was not improving even with the state controlled economy. The political and social stability continued to get threatened. To stabilize the power and to suppress the other sources of identities based on language, region and culture Bhutto invited army. Bhutto created the internal wing of ISI after the humiliating defeat in the 1971 Bangladesh war[5]. In the mid-1970s the scope of ISI was expanded to domestic politics. Bhutto, to establish his authoritarian rule began to rely more and more on the intelligence agencies. To bring the divided Pakistani society together Bhutto also used religion as an instrument[6]. But Islamic nationalism turned into religious extremism in due course.
In the elections of 1977, Pakistan‘s people‘s Party again emerged as the majority party. But the opposition blamed the party for the electoral fraud. The Government was seized by General Zia ul Haq, the army Chief of the Staff. Martial law was imposed again in 1977.
During Zia‘s regime there were attempts towards more Islamaization – but Quran could not be made as the supreme law of the land. The parties came to power using Islam but could not improve governance. Political parties – even Islamic parties used Islam only as an instrument which led to sectarianism
General Zia tried to give Islamic orientation to army which was till then quite a secular organization. Under Zia the army officers became the officers of Islam. Promotions in army were based on the criteria of ―Good Muslim‖[7]. Even the composition of the army was changed. Young army officers no more came from the elitists, English educated class but from the lower and middle class strata, the class which was conservative and was easily influenced by religious fundamentalism. A kind of link emerged between religious institutions and military institutions. It was a religious duty of the army to fight the oppression of Muslims anywhere in the world. This gave new dimension to the idea of Jihad and also mobilized the Pakistani people against India. Islam was used to legitimize the military rule and military rule was justified to defend Pakistan in its rivalry with India[8].
Convergence between Islamic and military leadership evolved during General Zia‘s rule and continued later on. Islamization also encouraged madrassas which socialized the common people in the Islamist notion of identity and politics. At the domestic level, this alliance made Pakistan stronger and at the regional level Pakistan started using the growing militancy of Islamist groups and Jihadi activism to deal with the problems in Afghanistan. During Afghanistan war enormous resources were put at the disposal of the ISI. The armed struggle for the cause of Islam and the active involvement of ISI in Jihad brought Army and Islamists into direct contact.
During Zia‘s regime Sectarian tensions emerged in Pakistan and were fuelled by Iranian Revolution of 1979. Success of Shia in Iran empowered Shia community in Pakistan. Principles of Sunni Islam being against Shia beliefs mobilised Pakistan‘s Shia population against the Government. During the same period, due to Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, weapons and money began to get poured in Pakistan from US and Saudi Arabia to support Afghan Mujahidin. The Sunni organisations and Madrasas in Pakistan received these weapons and money to support and train Afghan Fighters who were Sunnis. This development resulted in increased Anti-Shia activity in Pakistan with the help of military.
The federal crises
The highly centralized tendency and repeated imposition of military rule led to the alienation of smaller or distant ethnic groups. Pakistan failed to develop a viable federal structure to accommodate ethnic minorities. The two-nation theory meant that one religion would come to be prioritized over others as the very basis of the State. At the same time Pakistan was conceptualized as the modern liberal democracy with the parliamentary form of government[9]. Parliamentary form of Government requires the state to be secular. Equal citizenship is a fundamental requirement of Democracy. This contradiction between the state system and national identity was a major hurdle in thriving of democracy in Pakistan[10].
The vision of a Muslim majority state in which religious minorities would share equally in its development, thus, came under question shortly after independence. In this environment of instability, the dominance of Muslim League was challenged. Pakistan‘s political development was troublesome as no consensus emerged on the idea of Pakistan until it was finally imposed by the military.
The major ethnic and linguistic groups in Pakistan are Sindhis, Punjabis, Baluchis and Pakhtuns. These ethnic-linguistic groups are divided into four provinces of Pakistan – Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan and North West Frontier Province or Khaibar Pakhtunwala. The integration of these four regions becomes a major challenge to Pakistan‘s internal stability. Sindh, Baluchistan and NWFP have agitated against the Central Government of Pakistan at different times. Their major grievance is the Punjabi domination in Pakistani Politics and army. It has led to the belief that Punjabi identity undermines the linguistic and ethnic identities of other ethnic groups. These provinces complain about the unequal distribution of power and resources between the provinces assigning maximum benefit to Punjab Province. The discontent among these provinces gave rise to the demand for provincial autonomy since 1970. It has caused repeated military intervention in Pakistan‘s provinces.
As a part of British India, Baluchistan was a strategically prominent part as it was a principal trade route between South-West Asia, Central Asia and South Asia. Due to Iran‘s policy of expansionism, British rulers negotiated with Iran and Baluchistan was divided into Iran, Afghanistan and the then British India. After partition of British India, Baluchistan became the part of Pakistan. Baluchistan received complete provincial status in 1970 and the first provincial assembly elections were held in 1972. The local Baluch people had complaints that Punjabi settlers in Baluchistan dominated the governance and local Baluchi‘s are under-represented. They also have a grievance against Pakistan‘s Government on account of lack of Baluch participation in the development projects meant for Baluchistan and unfair exploitation of natural gas reserves in Baluchistan without giving them their due share in the profits. This gave rise to the demand for separate Baluchistan. Pakistan‘s government strategy to deal with such separatist demands was one of suppression of Baluch uprising.
The sectarian problems began to emerge in Sindh province in the decade of 1970s, when Bhutto Government in 1971 initiated policies that favoured local Sindhi, instead of Urdu speaking Muhajirs. 1972 onwards, in Sindh province violent conflicts over language and other issues began between the two ethnic communities leading to social instability till 1990. The number of Sunni Madrassas began to increase since Bhutto regime, especially in the capital of Sindh – Karachi. When the process of Islamization began in Pakistan, those Sunni Madrassas started receiving great amount of funds and their number began to increase further. Shia-Sunni violence began to spread through the network of Madrassas.
The North West Frontier Province or Khaibar Pakhtunwala is the most sensitive part of Pakistan. Taliban, the fundamentalist Sunni Muslim Organization has its base in these areas. Sectarianism and militancy breeds in this part of Pakistan. NWFP and FATA are the hubs of terrorist activities. The Government of Pakistan has officially ended its support to the terrorist groups. Their anger against Pakistan‘s government and military is expressed through the terrorist attacks within Pakistan. Pakistan strongly justifies the increasing role of military to curb this terrorism.
Current scenario
In the last few years, the situation has deteriorated even further. The military does not allow political leaders to take their course of action and if they try to limit the role of the military they are removed under the charges of compromising national security or of corruption. Due to repeated military intervention, Pakistani leaders lack the experience of democratic governing process. Pakistan‘s religious parties have now become a well-armed and well-financed force that wields considerable influence within different branches of government. Religious groups have benefited from the patronage of the military and civil bureaucracy. Pakistan‘s military perceives them as useful tools in maintaining the military‘s control over foreign and domestic policy.
The Islamic Fundamentalists seem not to accept the vision of a modern Pakistan, and the violent reactions of some Islamic Fundamentalists have become a serious threat to Pakistani civil society and have also promoted sectarian terrorism[11]. The Islamic Fundamentalists are not satisfied with having a secondary role in national affairs and have acquired a momentum of their own. The religious teaching has influenced a younger generation of military officers. The ISI, in particular, includes a large number of officials who have incorporated the Islamic Fundamentalists beliefs and are engaged in the struggle with India in the name jihad. They are extensively involved in the conflict in Kashmir and Afghanistan. They operate outside the framework of the rule of law and have a potential to manipulate the foreign policy of Pakistan especially in relation with India. The terrorist element operating on the territories of India and Pakistan pose a threat to security and domestic stability in both the countries.[12] The confrontation with them is increasingly becoming an expensive affair in terms of human and material losses. As internal problems of Pakistan become graver, role of military will be strengthen. That essentially means the failure of democratic government in Pakistan. To hide this failure and to justify increasing role of military as well as increased military expenditure at the cost of basic welfare project, the Government of Pakistan will have to continuously impose upon Indian threat on Pakistan‘s society.
Implications for India’s security:
The sectarian or religious divide in Pakistan and emergence of Sunni fundamentalism leads to more serious implications for India. The major challenge to India‘s security in the recent years is the increasing role and influence of non-state actors – the terrorist groups and fundamentalist organizations based in Pakistan. These elements not only affect Pakistan‘s relationship with India, but also challenge the internal stability in Pakistan leading to increasing role of military in the internal affairs of Pakistan. Sectarian conflicts have proved to be a major threat to Pakistan‘s integrity. It has been the policy of Pakistan to divert fundamentalist groups that cause sectarian conflicts in Pakistan to the Kashmir Valley. Thus, when internal instability in Pakistan increase it will also lead to increasing disturbances in the border areas bringing fundamentalist conflicts to the doorsteps of India.
References:-
[1] Nasr, Vali, ―National identities and the India Pakistan conflict‖ from Paul , T.V. (Ed), The India-Pakistan Conflict: An Enduring Rivalry, (Cambridge University Press, New Delhi, 2005) pg180
[2] Paul , T.V., ―Causes for India-Pakistan enduring rivalry‖ in Paul , T.V. (Ed.), India-Pakistan conflict : an enduring rivalry, Cambridge University Press, New Delhi 2006(pg 7)
[3] Narain , Virendra in ―National Liberation Movement and state formation – The case of Pakistan‖ appeared in Nayak , Pandav (Ed),Pakistan Society and Politics, (South Asian Publishers Pvt. Ltd. ,New Delhi ,1984)
[4] Ganguly, Sumit, Conflict Unending: India–Pakistan Tensions Since 1947, (Columbia University Press, NewYork, 2002.)
[5] Alavi , Hamza,‖Authoritarianism and Legitimation of State Power in Pakistan―, in Mitra, Subrata Kumar (Ed), The Post-Colonial State in Asia: Dialectics of Politics and Culture, (Sang-e- Meel Publications, Lahore, 1998.)
[6] See Hussain, Zahid Frontline Pakistan : The Struggle with militant Islam, (Viking New Delhi 2007)
[7] Laporte, Robert ,Jr, ―Pakistan: a Nation still in making‖ from Selig S. Harrison, Paul H. Kreisberge and Dennis Kux(Ed), India and Pakistan: The first fifty years, (Woodrow Wilson Centre Press and Cambridge Press, U.K. 1999)
[8] Mukherjee, Kunal , ―Why Has Democracy Been Less Successful In Pakistan than In India?‖Asian Affairs, (Volume 41, Issue 1, 2010,) Pages 67 – 77
[9] Choudhury, G.W., Constitutional Development in Pakistan, (Longman, London, 1970) [10] See Stephen Philip Cohen , The Idea of Pakistan ,(Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2005)
[11] Mir, Amir, ―Pakistan‘s sectarian monster‖ Asia Times Online, Jun 8, 2005 www.atimes.com Puri, Nikhil Raymond, ―The Pakistani Madrassah and Terrorism: Made and Unmade‖ Perspectives on Terrorism, (Volume 4, Issue 4, 2010)
[12] On 26th November 2008, the terror attacks occurred in South Mumbai: at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital (a women and children‘s hospital), Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier‘s College
