I am risking a ban from these forums from 'patriotic expatriates' for asking these questions. But I need to ask anyways. And I hope I get some answers. I am desperate for some sensible answers!
1. Why is it that Pakistan military is involved in HUGE housing projects? (DHA and Askari). Are they trained for that?
2. Why is it that Pakistan military is involved in industries like fertilizers, chemicals, banking, insurance, airline etc?
3. Why it is that Pakistan military has a right to rule Pakistan whenever they want to? Do they come from some other planet? How do we know that they are no more corrupt than other Pakistanis? Are they trained for governance?
4. Why is that when we travel from Lahore to Rawalpindi on GT Road, we can cross at least 5 major cantonment areas and if we travel from Delhi to Jaipur (almost the same distance) we do not see any cantonment area?
5. Why is it that military personnel get huge discounts on travel through train or airplanes while the doctors serving in rural areas (serving the country at least equally) do not get this facility?
6. How come the Pakistan army has guest houses and messes in the most remote and picturesque parts of the country?
7. How come the most beautiful beaches around Karachi are reserved for Navy top brass and most of the social clubs are managed by military?
8. Why is it that USA is concerned about $6 billion sent to Pakistan for its ‘fight against terrorism’ while we do not account for the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on Pakistan military over the last 6 decades primarily securing US interests in the region?
9. Why is it that US ‘assistance’ to Pakistan only resumes when we have a military government? I thought US was pro democracy.
10. Why is it that doctors working for AMC get to have residence and other facilities while doctors working in similar positions in civilian hospitals do not?
11. Why is it that military personnel deserve huge remuneration in terms of land and facilities while other professionals working for government do not?
12. Why is it that the judiciary in Pakistan has always used "doctrine of necessity" only when dealing with military governments?
13. Why is it that despite being under military rule for most of its life, Pakistan is still in the bottom 15 of the list of most peaceful countries?
Global Peace Index Rankings 2008 - Global Peace Index
14. If the politicians are corrupt, how come Pakistan did not fare well socially (including law and order) or economically during military regimes (except for Ayub Khan maybe)?
I do not ask these questions because I am not patriotic. I ask these questions because I am. Our children have gone without education and our mothers have gone without health care because we had to feed a large military. This can be easily seen through huge disparity between budgetary spending on defense vis a vis health or education over the last 6 decades.
I also ask these questions because I have a finance background and worry about ‘return on investment’. With apologies to my Bangladeshi brothers, the return on investment in military has been hugely negative. While we lost half of the country, the ‘Kashmir problem’ has remained as it was over the last 60 years.
References:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/24/world/asia/24military.html?pagewanted=all
SPECIAL REPORT: America?s Undeclared War on Pakistan | Pakistan Daily
Ali, Imran. 2001a. ‘The Historical Lineages of Poverty and Exclusion in Pakistan’. Paper presented at Conference on Realm, Society and Nation in South Asia. National University of Singapore.
Ali, Imran. 2001b. ‘Business and Power in Pakistan’, in A.M. Weiss and S.Z. Gilani (eds), Power and Civil Society in Pakistan. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
Ali, Imran. 2002. ‘Past and Present: The Making of the State in Pakistan’, in Imran Ali, S. Mumtaz and J.L. Racine (eds), Pakistan: The Contours of State and Society. Karachi: Oxford University Press.
Looney, R.E. (1994) ‘Budgetary Dilemmas in Pakistan: Costs and Benefits of Sustained Defence Expenditures’, Asian Survey 34 (5).
Pakistani defense expenditures and the macroeconomy: Alternative strategies to the year 2000 Author: Robert E. Looney
IISS (1999) The Military Balance 1998/99. Oxford: Oxford University Press for the International Institute of Strategic Studies.
Tellis, Ashley J.
U.S. Strategy: Assisting Pakistan's Transformation
The Washington Quarterly - Volume 28, Number 1, Winter 2004-05, pp. 97-116
www.ipcs.org/PakMedia03-UJul04.pdf