Daily Times

While the concept of cantonments is virtually universal and has existed since the existence of militaries, but since we inherited the British version, I will dwell on, and expand it.

Military garrisons are as old as war. Throughout history, routes of ingress and egress were protected. The assigned task, ie as an outpost intended to provide warning and delay; or intended to be held at all costs, and the assessed threat, decided the strength of the garrison.

Irrespective of its size, the garrison was intended to be self-contained, often, for long durations; sometimes spread over many years. Consequently, while essentially military, there was an inevitable requirement of a civilian component for the support of the garrison. There were cooks, sweepers, staff, places of worship to be manned and families to be catered for, and artisans to build and repair. Children needed education, in not only the art of war but also arts and sciences. Doctors and nurses also were essentials.

This composite garrison formed a military cantonment. It still does.

Since the garrison is a composite mix of such a large variety of people as any city needs, with many civilians who were required to man the garrison permanently, military garrisons invariably offered employment opportunities to locals.

Also, inevitably, economic opportunities multiplied. Local traders set up shops or periodically visited these garrisons and were usually well entertained, and well looked after. Military garrisons of old were always welcomed since they brought peace and prosperity in peacetime.

Even more importantly, all the better medical and educational facilities were to be found in the garrison and were shared with aspiring, deserving and requiring locals.

Needless to add, during the war, surrounding areas were invariably ravaged and frequently destroyed. Yet, the lures of peacetime prosperity invariably brought back local peasants and small landowners who were outside the garrison.

The same concept applies today, with minor differences.

Military cantonments are not necessarily permanently manning their defensive/offensive locations for war. Most cantonments are peacetime locations but selected at a suitable communication centre from where military forces can move and assemble for battle at their designated positions.

Some cantonments, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Multan, Lahore, and Peshawar were constructed at suitable distances on the periphery of existing towns/cities. Others, like Rawalpindi, were constructed around hamlets, which have since grown into huge cities.

Rawalpindi was a very insignificant township when it was selected as the location for the headquarter of the British Northern Command, which was tasked to defend the dominions of British India against the possibility of a Russian invasion and to keep peace among the turbulent tribes, mostly, but not entirely, Pashtun. The Royal Air Force support for this command was located close by in a nearby village Chaklala. Today, Chaklala is only one extension of erstwhile Rawalpindi.

In 1975, during the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto created Baloch ‘insurgency’, Khuzdar, a little hamlet in interior Balochistan was selected as the site for another cantonment. My unit, 6 Frontier Force Regiment constructed the first military barrack.

Today, it is a sprawling city, by Balochistan standards. Touted as the ‘Heart of Balochistan’, it hosts a number of colleges, hospitals, and a university, and is the district headquarter.

Pano Aqil in interior Sindh began around the same period. However, unlike the construction of Khuzdar Cantonment, which had the approval of the local tyrannical sardar, local Sindhi waderas opposed the project.

In Sindh, a peasant’s opinion has to be dragged out of him. When Pano Aqil began coming into being, the first civilian students to be enrolled in military schools were children of the local elite. Today, that too has become the most important city in interior Sindh, housing schools, colleges and a university.

I wish more journalists would venture into interior Balochistan and seek the views of the modestly aware poor Baloch. While some may voice the fears of their sardars, without quite apprehending the reasons, the vast majority will express their welcome.

Let me repeat myself, the Baloch have a litany of justified complaints, against all Pakistani governments, whether civilian or military. They have not been treated well over all these decades. Not even at par with other less developed regions.

The treatment meted out by militaries to the Baloch, including ‘agencies’ has also been extremely oppressive until recent years. The recent attempts by governments over the last decade are inadequate in themselves and very much inadequate in atoning for the past. I must also acknowledge that when last I ventured into interior Balochistan some six years ago and spoke to Baloch residents surrounding cantonments, a fair number complained about the arrogance and derisive attitude of some military personnel.

It will be futile to deny that apart from the soldier’s soldiers in the military, the military is as elitist as any other Pakistani organisation.

Despite this acknowledgement, any cantonment, anywhere, cannot but bring peace and prosperity to the locals in its wake.

The writer is a retired brigadier. He is also former vice president and founder of the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI)