ANALYSIS: NEW BOOK CHRONICLES GENERALS’ ECONOMIC MIGHT
As the political crisis deepens, a new book reveals just how powerful the generals really are. Sonya Fatah reports
– Trapped between international pressure to combat terrorism and domestic demands that he restore true democracy, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf came very close to declaring a national state of emergency this week.
It was the latest indication that his political fortunes have been in a freefall since a month ago yesterday, when he ordered the military to silence the rebellious radicals at Islamabad’s infamous Red Mosque. That battle left more than 100 people dead, including one of the mosque’s leaders, Abdul Rashid Ghazi.
In a Globe and Mail interview two months earlier, Mr. Ghazi offered an explanation for agitating against the state that went beyond religion. And while they would not endorse his actions, many Pakistanis would agree with his analysis:
“We feel that the system in Pakistan has completely failed. Nothing is working properly. … This system may be fulfilling an elite class of less than 1 per cent, but the majority of the people are suffering.”
The system he was criticizing is the subject of an explosive new book by Pakistani academic Ayesha Siddiqa. Called Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy, it paints a picture of that “elite class” – military officials, retired armed-forces personnel, the civil bureaucracy, feudal landlords, media and business groups. Dr. Siddiqa takes readers into the murky labyrinth of the Pakistani military’s hidden wealth and power.
Imagine you’re a real-estate developer thinking of building a sprawling luxury residential complex in the leafy suburbs of Islamabad. You might get in touch with the Defence Housing Authorities. Need to buy tons of cement to get construction under way? Call Askari Cement Ltd. Need a loan? Insurance? Askari’s sister companies can cover you. Want to build a quality school in your new development? Try the Fauji Foundation.
What do these companies have in common? They’re all businesses built by a military that has insinuated itself in almost every aspect of the Pakistani economy. From cereal companies to major land holdings to cement and construction companies, the military and its civilian cronies have their hands in every pie, as Dr. Siddiqa details. Moreover, its financial affairs – known as “milbus” – are off the record. Pakistan’s defence budget is significantly higher than those of such sectors as education and health, yet it doesn’t even record its pension payments.
But Dr. Siddiqa, a defence analyst, has worked as head of research for the Pakistani navy – she knows the numbers because she had internal access to documents and records. She has detailed the incriminating facts she gleaned there, such as the military ownership of the National Logistics Cell, the country’s biggest freight company, or the four army-run foundations that conduct huge cross-sector projects, own significant assets and employ retired military personnel. Dr. Siddiqa also writes that 12 per cent of Pakistani state land is owned by the military.
Such information about Pakistan’s military economy, she suggests, explains a great deal about its struggling political state. The military is a monopoly with vested interests and searching for power in places such as Afghanistan, Dr. Siddiqa argues.
WHAT DOES A GENERAL
KNOW ABOUT EDUCATION?
The army’s economic empire is not news in Pakistan. It’s virtually impossible to meet someone here who doesn’t have a story about it – the former general who has won the contract to repave all pedestrian walking zones in Karachi, or the militarily connected journalist who just happened to come out ahead in the land “lottery” and came away with a lush, generous swath of property practically for free.
And as Mr. Ghazi pointed out in his interview, the current Minister of Education is a retired general. “What are his qualifications?” Mr. Ghazi demanded. “What does he know about education?”
Military influence extends into key political posts, beginning of course with President Musharaff, formerly General Musharaff. Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, the country’s most important and strategic military partner, is a retired general, as is the head of the country’s National Accountability Bureau.
“They have their interests,” Dr. Siddiqa said in an inteview. “I’ve not suggested anywhere that they got into politics because of economic interest. They did because of their political power. Once they have it, now they are not going to leave.”
The subsequent “search for justice and better governance” has led to a mushrooming of alternative ideologies, Dr. Siddiqa said, leaving a door open for Islamists as well as secular critics of the government.
Mr. Ghazi’s father had good relations with Pakistan’s last military ruler, General Zia-ul Haq, and once worked for the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). The land occupied by the Red Mosque was given to him by the government. For years, the family’s ties with intelligence services allowed them to pursue their own agenda, which partly explains why Mr. Musharraf took so long to act against them – a fairly typical pattern in the military’s push-and-pull relationship with radical Islamists.
“The Inter-services agency has an overt role in [the Red Mosque],” said Najam Sethi, editor of two English daily newspapers in Pakistan. “They were old buddies. But I think the ISI disowned them some time ago. Basically the ISI led these guys up a garden path and then as [the clerics] became bolder and bolder, they reached the stage where things had to be ended.”
Indeed, in 2004, Mr. Ghazi and his brother were accused of harbouring terrorists in the mosque. A rocket launcher was discovered in his car. The details of these episodes were recorded, but Mr. Ghazi was quietly let off the hook.
“The links with the military organization were clear even then,” said Samina Ahmed, South Asia director for the Belgium-based International Crisis Group.
The military and radical Islamists frequently work together, she said. For example, during the October, 2005, earthquake that devastated northern Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and took more than 80,000 lives, well-organized teams of banned jihadi groups were the first to arrive on the scene and begin rescue efforts.
The Red Mosque’s Islamist leader has taken his extremism to his grave, but there are many more centres of extremism in the country. “We are not interested in personalities,” Mr. Ghazi said. “We are interested in systems. If Musharraf goes, another of his kind will come in his place.”
Indeed, despite the President’s sagging fortunes at the moment, a change in the system seems highly unlikely. Dr. Siddiqa estimates the wealth of the military at $20-billion and says military governments have run Pakistan for half of its 60 years, so the future looks bleak: “The bottom line is, the army doesn’t want any critical analysis, and the military is a very strong institution.”
With the people of Pakistan still out of the decision-making process and a weak leadership in place, the military continues to run the show. “The current leadership is elitist and people have no option. The military makes sure that it keeps the recyclable politicians in politics.”
Sonya Fatah is a New Delhi-based reporter.
The bestseller blues
Ayesha Siddiqa’s Military Inc. is a hit, but the controversy surrounding it has caused problems.
To begin with, a launch party planned for the prestigious Islamabad Club was cancelled abruptly. The publisher hunted for an alternative venue, but no major hotel would provide a home. Finally, a hastily arranged gathering was held at the home of a non-governmental organization.
“I really didn’t expect this kind of a reaction,” Dr. Siddiqa says over coffee in London. “I was expecting a little reaction, but last year Newline [an English-language monthly in Pakistan] ran an entire chapter of my book, and there was no response.”
But the book’s publication comes at a sensitive time, with President Pervez Musharraf under fire and many Pakistanis on the defensive. Dr. Siddiqa says she has lost friends because of what she has written and has even been suspected of treason.
An English-language daily reported that an Indian diplomat’s car was parked in her driveway, sparking a whisper campaign that accused her of being an agent for New Delhi.
Sonya Fatah
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