Pak Armed Forces vs. Pakistan

Excellent article!! Finally a Pakistani gets it. For years, a pseudo-existential threat from India was used to by the Pak army to loot and plunder Pakistan. Kashmir was used as an excuse to keep this threat perception alive and keep the plunder going. Now that Pakistan has been forced by the US to mend fences with India, suddenly the threat perception has diminished and people in Pakistan are realizing that their real problem is this huge military machine that has becme a complete parasite.

This monster cannot be tamed by natural means. Virtually every Pak army officer dreams that one day he will become a Musharraf/Zia/Ayub and lord over Pakistan. You can never have normal civilian democratic rule, because what prevents the next general to walk in, take over and enjoy unchallenged power? The only way out is for Pakistanis to wait out Musharraf and then institute complete reform of the army. The most important reform should be that instead of having 1 army chief who is supreme, have a committee or multiple heads who act as checks and balances to avoid dictatorial ambitions in the future.

Some might be sick and tired of this tyranny, molestation and lootings of cunning, cruel and clever gangsters.

People of Pakistan and India are simple minded people, centuries of oppression and superstitions have made them like dead souls, now they are numb, they are sadists, they are used to torture,insults and sub standard living conditions.

How can we raise self esteem and IQ level of masses, who will blow breath of life in them???dead..... souls are dead.

The article does not offer a single ounce of analysis, but just cheap tabloid style army-bashing with a lot of factual inaccuracies. The author may have some genuine beef with military rule and stuff but certainly not worth being published.

Take note FV. There should be some editorial standards on Chowk.

Agreed largely.

Agreed with my friend Ranjit in part.

``Virtually every Pak army officer dreams that one day he will become a Musharraf/Zia/Ayub and lord over Pakistan.``

Almost every day the corps commander wait for the coup orders...........like bandars anticipating rewaris...............ask NS and BB.......

Two recent news items from the same day ought to be juxtaposed. The first news piece (March 17, 2006) was where President Gen Pervez Musharraf said that he would request donor countries to convert the loans pledged or given in the wake of last year’s earthquake catastrophe into financial assistance.
http://dawn.com/2006/03/18/top2.htm

The second one was that the Ministry of Defence had demanded an increase of Rs 61 billion in the defence budget to meet the needs of the armed forces, and the National Assembly Special Committee working under the Public Accounts Committee had already supported the demand.
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/mar2006-daily/18-03-2006/main/main5.htm

Can anything be more ironic? Are we insulting the donors’ intelligence or displaying our own total lack of perspective?
What do our [military] rulers keep dear to them or consider more urgent: helping Pakistanis in dire need of help or procuring good-for-nothing gadgets and bullet-proof limousines. A litmus test of patriotism, indeed.

By the way, pretty nice & very blunt article.

Similarly, Pak army is training its weaponry that has so far only used for conquering PTV stations

well it seems you haven`t paid the dues for the TV license scheme..

Are you working for some NGO run by Maleeha Lodhi, Asma Jehangir & Co..and contributed this piece to gain recognition and some stars on your shoulder which you envy on the soldiers?

Look - Bugtis..Maaris..Bizenjos..have been usurping the money rightfully deserved by the haarees of Balochistan which they are not receiving since time unknown.
Now Bugti sahab is itching and wants more..in short is demanding a price for Gwadar..

Solely for personal gains of the top brass, tenants of Okara military farms were evicted at gun point from the lands their ancestors had been tilling for nearly a century

it seems your`e pursuing a major in concocting-stories (BSc. (Hons) Jhooti Gawaahiyaan)..nice trend..but where do you get such convincing but hallucinating ideas..?
why don`t you try Zia Shahid`s newspaper..which is full of bloating on this and that..Yap this Yap that..

Well..

while all the meagre national resources are diverted to procure war toys, fabulous VVIP jets and bullet-proof limousines.
Look buddy when Pakistan can feed the refugees from Afghanistan and expect nothing in return rather than Heroine and the Haddi for Bugtis across the borders..so why make a fuss when its the military..
They put their lives at stake..so they should demand high price for it..which they..get..

Even North Korea is a poor country..but its Military is richly fed..


@Mantolives..
what more can be expected..
Enough is enough..its high time Bugtis should be sent underground to sleep for good..or made to run on heels..
Pakistan military is Pakistan`s..not imported..be realistic and Patriotic..you don`t cut your nose when its runny. do you..?

@balluKhan..
rewaris and for puppets of Democracy??..who have emptied the coffers of the country many a times..who have signed illegal back-door under-the-table agreements a.k.a IPP`s..
who have amassed wealth by making people fool on agendas like QARZ UTAARO MULK SANWAARO and also Al-Attar Tower in Dubai..InchCape Logistics..in Dubai...swiss accounts...the Surrrey Mansion..etc etc and the list goes..

balkay inki PATLOON UTAARO..and then again foolish come ahead to vote them..as the on-duty on-patrol soldier refused to show his gun to them..

@Mantolives..peaceful initiative thorough dialogue was pursued and in result the piplines were being buried and burnt..

@Zeemax..i second your opinion..this column is nothing but the prelude for some agitation similar to what lahore experienced in protest of the cartoons..which was put up by some cheap muggers..of Lahore..
Strange..women of lahore..want marathons..but don`t come out to protest along side men..would have been prized sight to see..

Bloody NGOs..

#7 by kaptain

[Look - Bugtis..Maaris..Bizenjos..have been usurping the money rightfully deserved by the haarees of Balochistan which they are not receiving since time unknown.]

Pot calling the kettle black? What the Sardars are usurping is peanuts compared to the billions pocketed by your masters in the Army, so enough of this show already.

And please stop shedding crocodile tears for the Haaris. The treatment meted out to the tenants in Okara is still fresh in everyone`s minds.

Re: # 7

``rewaris and for puppets of Democracy??..who have emptied the coffers of the country many a times..who have signed illegal back-door under-the-table agreements a.k.a IPP`s..
who have amassed wealth by making people fool on agendas like QARZ UTAARO MULK SANWAARO ``

Thanks KAptain Saheb, I wanted to hear that from you..............the fact is that in the loot and commissions by both BB and NS the army found them not getting any portion of the loot........that is what the grouse of the army walas has been...............my part of the commission...........If any army wala has guts then let the accounts of those public offices they head be audited and investigated by an international agency............. let us audit all those policy files where the Mush and his puppets have taken millions stashed in swiss accounts in order to doctor all those Pakistan`s commerce, industry and taxation policies..................
No Sir, no civilian government has the guts to do so because of the fear of a coup............
You get the point or not????

Re: # 9-Ganga mein sub haath dhotay hein..kisi aur ney dholiyay to kya huwa..??

#7 by kaptain

Earlier posted on another board ....

.... what`s up in baloch land anyway?

Let me answer this question once and for all because you strawmen are clutching to this all over chokistan in your paki-bashing ... now kindly de-wax your ears with whatever garbage you have stuffed up there, notwithstanding any other orifices, and listen !!!

1) Baluchistan`s total population is around 8 million (in a country of 150 m). That too Half Baluchi/Half Pashtun. Some Punjabi sttlers as well.

2) The term `Baluch` when applied to entire non-Pashtun Baluchistan is a misnomer because these are further sub-divided into the indigenous Brahui speaking tribes and the `Baluch` who migrated from the Caspian region, i.e. Iran.

3) The Baluch were initially successful in overcoming the Brahuis under Mir Chakar, who established his capital at Sibi in 1487, and a Baluch kingdom briefly came into existence, before being destroyed by civil war between Mir Chakar`s Rind tribe and the rival Lasharis. The name however stuck.

4) The area now called Baluchistan was not in British India but was independant throughout the 18th century. The indigenous Brahui speaking Khans of Kalat were the dominant local power, and had actually `leased`` the Quetta region to the British, but remained in control of the rest of the territories. The independence of Kalat only ended in 1948 when the Khan merged with Pakistan, and the abolition of the state`s boundaries in 1955. The present shape of Baluchistan was finally rounded out in 1958 when the Sultan of Oman sold Gwadar, given to one of his ancestors by the Khan of Kalat, back to Pakistan. The point is, Brahuis were the dominant ethnicity of Baluchistan, not the so-termed Baluch.

5) While the Brahuis remained in control over the coastal areas and those bordering Punjab and Sindh, the Baluch remained closer to the western areas bordering Iran.

6) Under the terms of the merger, a `Sardari` (Feudal) system had been agreed to be retained in the region by Pakistan, which continues to this day. This system is something like the Waziristan tribal system with the very vital difference that law & order forces remained in control of Tribal Sardars, who were allowed to maintain personal armies for the purpose, paid for by Pakistan, while a Jirga system was retained in the NWFP tribal areas which is more democratic. This system meant tremendous power for the Feudals of Baluchistan. As a result, only maybe 5% of Baluchistan`s law & order is now under even provincial authority, let alone federal. Baluchistan is `feudal` of `feudals`.

7) Gas was first discovered in The Sui area of the Bugti (Baluch) tribe in 1955, and later in the Marri (Baluch) and Jamali (Brahui) areas. The reserves were huge. Under the constitution, royalty has to be paid which was agreed at 2% and continues to be paid. The Sardari system meant all federal development funds going to the Sardars which were never used for development, because of the classic reason that this would mean end of the Sardars, but misappropriated by them resulting in the continued under-development of Baluchistan compared to rest of the country.

8) So what`s the issue now? Out of the hundreds of Sardars in Baluchistan, two out of three tribes of the gas producing regions i.e. Bugti and Marri are up against the federal government, just as they had done in ZAB`s time as well as Nawaz, using the same forces paid for by the federal government, actually meant for law & order. Their demand? The royalty paid of 2% is not enough. That is it. Blackmail and holding rest of Baluchistan and indeed Pakistan to ransom. Nothing more.

Now, that would seem like an easy thing to agree to. Increase the royalty and get it over with. But as would be clear from above, these two tribes are hardly representative of Baluchistan. You give them more money now, they will do the same thing and not spend it on their people but just wait till they can demand even more. It is just two Sardars. Akbar Bugti, and Khair Bux Marri. Why doesn`t the Government just take them out? Because the key gas installtions are highly vulnerable to sabotage. How do you protect hunreds of mile of pipeline through open plains? Therefore negotiations accompanied with force has been applied through frontier corps (and not fighter jets nor the military mind you).

The only solution is end of the sardari system in Baluchistan, and direct provincial rule. Exile of these two sardars, and clean up the whole thing. Why hasn`t it been done before? Because political governments need votes, and these sardars command a lot of votes. But, the government has realized there is no other choice. The solution is in the making now.

I have never understood a point, if someone can help me grasping it.
When NGOs write about atrocities committed by Israelis and Indians in their respective occupied territories we never question their agenda, intentions or motives. The very same is true when the Western / American media exposes Abu Ghraib and Gitmo.
When exactly same organisations, institutions, watchdogs, newspapers write about Muslims in general and us (Pakistanis) in particular, it is all about conspiracies and hidden hands and all that stuff.
Why this huge discrepancy … something wrong with our head or is it our heart that doesn’t work??

#10 by kaptain on April 4, 2006 4:03am PT
Re: # 9-Ganga mein sub haath dhotay hein..kisi aur ney dholiyay to kya huwa..??

Thanks for the clarification again Kaptain saheb............

Dear Harish..

That is a very informed comment and right on the dot. I am surprised and pleased to find an occasional meeting of minds...

Re: # 11-quite true quite correct..but these pests think..that they can prod the military as it wants..

to destroy the enemy and his intentions.. i can implant on my own land the land mines..and i don`t mind killing my own scarecrow in this..

get the point..??

Gwadar + 8% GDP + Secret Dealing with China + 114 running projects (directly + indirectly supervised and controlled by China) + the Bomb = itchy itchy..to the world..= seven year itch..

Pakistan Army is a mafia that has Pakistan by the throat. Pakistan`s salvation lies in the comlpete annihilation of this monster.