Military Agency, Politics and the State in Pakistan

466 Pages·2013·3.24 MB·English

by  Ejaz Hussain

Heidelberg Series in South Asian and Comparative Studies - Volume VI
Military Agency, Politics and the State
in Pakistan
Ejaz Hussain
SAMSKRITI
SAMSKRITI
C-9020, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070
visit www.samskritibookshelf.com
© Subrata K. Mitra 2013
ISBN: 978-81-87374-77-0
Heidelberg Series. Vol. VI
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Published by M. Sengupta for SSAixMhSsKlRqIjTtIi, New Delhi
Dedicated to
Fellow Nationals and the Neckar
“…Whatever community, caste or creed you belong to
you are now the [civil] servants of Pakistan. Servants can
only do their duties and discharge their responsibilities
by serving. Those days have gone when the country
was ruled by the [civil] bureaucracy. It is people’s
Government, responsible to the people…do your duty
as servants; you are not concerned with this political or
that political party; that is not your business…you are
not rulers. You do not belong to the ruling class; you
belong to the servants.” [italics mine]
M.A. Jinnah’s address to the
Gazetted officers,
25 March 1948
“ …I would like to take the opportunity of refreshing
your memory by reading the prescribed oath to you. “I
solemnly affirm, in the presence of Almighty God, that
I owe allegiance to the Constitution and Dominion of
Pakistan (mark the words Constitution and the Government
of the Dominion of Pakistan) and that I will as in duty
bound honestly and faithfully serve in the Dominion
of Pakistan [Armed] Forces and go within the terms of
my enrolment wherever I may be ordered by air, land or
sea and that I will observe and obey all command of any
officer set over me…..”…if you have time enough you
should study the Government of India Act, as adapted
for use in Pakistan, which is our present Constitution, that
the executive authority flows from the head of the Government
of Pakistan, who is the Governor-General and, therefore,
any command or orders that may come to you cannot
come without the sanction of the Executive Head. This is
the legal position.” [italics mine]
M.A. Jinnah’s address to the
Officers of the Staff College,
Quetta, 14 June 1948
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Abbreviations ix
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 16
Conceptual Framework
Chapter 2 63
Between Legitimism and Structuralism
Chapter 3 96
Politics and the State: From Construction to
Military Intervention
Chapter 4 135
Military Agency: From Agent to Principal
Chapter 5 198
Politics in ‘New’ Pakistan
Chapter 6 255
Actors and Agency: Explaining the Civilian Circularity
Chapter 7 290
Military Agency Revisited
Conclusion 364
Hypothesis Revisited
Contribution of the Study
Bibliography 400
Index 424

Acknowledgements
When I was a kid, growing up in Punjabi culture where family
values are highly esteemed, my mother disclosed to me once that
I have three fathers. I was simply nonplussed. Having seen my
anxiety turning into suspicion, she, with a meaningful smile on her
face, categorized and termed the three-father syndrome as follows:
1) your biological father, 2) your (would-be) father-in-law and 3)
your teacher(s). To my surprise and amusement, the existence of
the phenomenon and practice of Doktorvater in Germany made
me realize, on the one hand, the reverence for a teacher and hence
knowledge and, on the other, the beauty that such a title carries
even in a non-South Asian cultural setting.
Thus, in view of the above, it shall be morally akin to disrespect, if
not disobedience, not to pay my heartiest regards to my Doktorvater,
Prof Subrata Kumar Mitra, who formally introduced me to the
domain of professional political science. Moreover, his logical
emphasis on the importance of the Rational Choice theory further
strengthened my (rational) conviction in the latter’s explanatory
utility. In addition, his timely guidance as regards the choice and
application of research methods further helped me a great deal in
terms of ensconcing empirical data with theory. Importantly, to
me Prof Mitra is more than a Doktorvater. In a purely South Asian
cultural/intellectual jargon, he is my Guru- the one who made
me learn from him, both expressly and tacitly, the comparative
difference between politics and political science, political science
and the politics of political science, reason and ignorance,
rationality and irrationality, the sacred and secular and respect
for (other) people and perspectives and bigotry, conceit and the
negativity of ego. Not only this, the Guru made me learn how to
figure out possible similarity between two objects at the minimum,
and two cases/cultures at the maximum.
Nonetheless, since knowledge-seeking is a continuous process than
a product, it shall be extremely inappropriate to exclude Prof Aurel
Croissant from the list of my teachers. I am deeply indebted to Prof
Croissant for formally introducing me to an altogether different
world of civil-military relations. Also, the value of organization
and participation that I learnt from his colloquiums shall serve as a
practical guide. Here, I would also like to pay my deepest regards to
viii
Prof Dietmar Rothermund who took time to not only read parts of
the original draft but also blessed me with his valuable comments.
To conclude the list of teachers, I would like to pay homage to Dr
Ayesha Siddiqa who remained as always, a source of intellectual
inspiration and struggle against authoritarianism, both military
and civilian.
Besides teachers and parents, the list of colleagues and friends
who helped me one way or the other, is very long. At Heidelberg
University, I feel deeply indebted to Jivanta Schöttli (for valuable
comments and editing), David Kuehn, Mada Sukmajati, Nasrullah
Mirza, Tahir Noor, Inayatullah Baloch, Wiqar Ali Shah, Malik
Majeed and Clemens Spiess among others. From Lund University,
my deepest regards to Farhan Sarwar, Kristina Jönsson and
Catarina Kinnvall for moral and intellectual uplifting. At
COMSATS, Islamabad, I would like to thank my ex-colleagues,
Aqila Asif and Asif Malik, for their consistent encouragement.
In Lahore, I appreciate the comments and kindness of colleagues
at Forman Christian College. In addition, exchange of ideas and
conversation with Imran Iqbal and Adeel Faheem is always
enriching. Moreover, I would like to thank all the interviewees
for their time and valuable input. Besides, a special thanks goes
to Dr Farooq Ahmad Kiani for his timely help in managing the
statistical data. Hamza and Dr Sajjad deserve many thanks for
their assistance with graphics and design.
In addition, I thank the library staff- of South Asia Institute as well
as the Heidelberg University- who took extra care to provide me
with much-needed books and archival material. Also, the help
that I got from the staff of Studentenwerk is much appreciated.
Furthermore, it shall be inappropriate here not to mention Barbara
Neef who helped me with the faculty related concerns. Finally,
my special thanks to Ursula Schmitt-Köhler for helping me with
the Guru’s text for the DAAD. I would like to express my deepest
gratitude to DAAD for their financial support without which it
would have been almost impossible to accomplish, initially, the
doctoral project, and consequently, this book.
In the end, very special thanks to Surit and Madhu Ji at Samskriti
for their kindness, patience and help with the present publication.
Ejaz Hussain
Lahore,
April 2013
List of Abbreviations
AB Askari Bank
ADC Aide-de-Camp
AEB Askari Education Board
AN Analytic Narrative
ANP Awami National Party
AL Awami League
AT Agency Theory
APS Airport Services
AWT Army Welfare Trust
AZO Al-Murtaza Organization
BB Benazir Bhutto
BD Basic Democracies
BF Bahria Foundation
BMR Balancing, Modernization and Replacement
BNA Balochistan National Alliance
BNM -H Balochistan National Movement- Hayee
BNP Balochistan National Party
BoG Board of Governors
BPC Basic Principles Committee
CA Constituent Assembly
CDA Capital Development Authority
CE Chief Executive
CENTO Central Treaty Organization
CEPA Consolidated Electronic Power Asia
CJ Chief Justice
CJCS Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff
CMLA Chief Martial Law Administrator
CMR Civil-Military Relations
CNG Compressed Natural Gas
COAS Chief of Army Staff
x
COP Combined Opposition Parties
COS Chief of Staff
CPI Consumer Price Index
CSP Civil Service of Pakistan
DCC Defence Committee of the Cabinet
DCO District Coordinating Offcer
DMG District Management Group
DP Defence Policy
DV Dependent Variable
EBDO Elected Bodies Disqualification Order
EC Election Commission(er)
GDP Gross Domestic Product
G-G Governor-General
GHQ General Headquarters
GNP Gross National Product
GoP Government of Pakistan
HDI Human Development Index
HIPC Heavily Indebted Poor Country
HPG Haq Parast Group (MQM)
HRI House Rent Index
ICI International Chemical Industries
ICS Indian Civil Service
IED Improvised Explosive Device
IFI International Financial Institution
IJI Islami Jamhoori Itthead
IJM Islami Jamhoori Mahaz
IMF International Monetary Fund
IPS Indian Police Service
ISI Inter-Services Intelligence
IV Independent Variable
FATA Federally Administered Tribal Area
FC Federal Court
FCA Foreign Currency Account
FCCL Fauji Cement Company Limited