Daily Times

A customary imperative in any democracy is the form of government where not only military’s involvement in politics is nonexistent but an elected civilian government has a meaningful authority and control over policy making at national level in all spheres.

On the contrary, in Pakistan, it has either been total military control for over 30 years of martial law or civilian rule where control has actually been with the military (1988-99) or mix of an overt and covert control over selective domains like national security and foreign policy (2008-2017). Since national security in its essence includes multiple facets, this selective control has gradually enhanced.

Military influence in Pakistan marginalising political institutions has a historical legacy. In India, constitution was structured within two years of its independence, while Pakistan saw dictatorial rule of Governor-General for seven long years not allowing democracy to establish its roots for growth of healthy democratic traditions followed by eleven years of martial law. First elections in Pakistan were conducted after 25 years of its independence (1970).

In Pakistan, there has been gradual increase in size and strength of military while the progression of the political entity was not only slow but it lacked institutional nourishment and remained in a state of flux. This disproportion in growth spread over decades gradually made the political entity a mere observant or a follower in any decision making process at the policy level. Non-democratic tendencies got cemented, thus policy making and governance at national level went in the hands of civil and military bureaucracies.

The political system as well as political parties remained under nourished, under groomed and political class became subservient, under confident and under skilled. Military as an institution became overly influential, progressively increasing their authority at the cost of institutional political development.

We must see how decision making process functions in the military and what policy changes and implementation strategy is needed to make necessary institutional reforms

As of today, even with completion of nine years of democratic rule at a stretch, the influence of establishment is a reality and power-sharing mechanism remains subjugated to the military influence. Methodology and approach may have changed but events like Abbottabad operation, memo gate scandal. Wiki Leaks, alleged support to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) during the 2014 Islamabad sit-in and Dawn Leaks followed by tweet episode etc.

Even today, various strands of foreign policy like relations with India, policy towards Afghanistan or the nuclear policy remains an exclusive domain of the military with meagre civilian input.

Of late, we as a country have reached a stage now where establishment is being openly criticised for its involvement even in politics in public processions, on media, in National Assembly, in private gatherings, in restaurants and on the streets.

I think the military today does not have a desire to overthrow an elected government. More importantly, environment have changes domestically as well as globally. We now have an ever more popular and authoritative judiciary over and above a self-regulating and vibrant media beyond total control of either establishment or a single political party and an aware and conscious middle class. Under such environment, military establishment may not be in a position to rule the country. Establishment is aware of all these aspects and has focused only on retaining influence in the selective areas of decision making process at the national level.

How long will the democratic values continue to be made hostage by historical legacies, paving way for military ascendancy which weakens the civilian pre-eminence and in turn impacts the value of democracy? How can the political parties and civil institutions break this vicious cycle and make an attempt at establishing strong democratic control?

The backbone of a comprehensive and an effective political system lies in political institutionalisation. There is a need to identify those features which determine the institutionalisation of a political system and then by synchronising these features with civil society, military and other institutions we can create civil supremacy in Pakistan.

It’s the political elite which needs to play major part or role in it. Pakistan’s political elite has grown up partially and political parties are relatively well established. However, a lot more remains to be done. Armies have historically become politicised when political elite fails to address major issues facing the state. The fibre of military establishment is influenced principally by the popular opinion that political elite of the country is neither competent enough to run a sustainable, functioning democracy nor proficient of handling the security and external affairs of the state in the perceived overall interest of the country. This impression shapes and makes up the argument that armed forces are the solitary redeemer of Pakistan and end product is their intrusion in politics and decisive influence on internal and external policies and issues.

The present domestic scenario demands an ‘institutional democratic mechanism’ to establish the reasons of existing fiasco and present state of affairs. We need to analyse as to how military in Pakistan, while remaining strong, cohesive and responsive to deal with external aggression and internal threats, can be steered and progressively controlled by political leadership. We must also see how decision making process functions in the military and what policy changes and implementation strategy is needed to make necessary institutional reforms.

How can we instil the value of civilian supremacy in policy making in the domain of national security and foreign policies thus winning institutional and public support? There is no quick fix solution for subordinating military to democracy in Pakistan. It is only through strong democratic credentials of political parties supported by procedural reforms that the evolving democracy in Pakistan will become immune to hidden conspiracies. Asking an established institution like military to give away its influence is not doable for an evolving democracy till high standards of sustained good governance are manifested and personal and collective conduct of political elites is demonstrated concurrent with a comprehensive strategy based on procedural reforms.

The writer is a PhD scholar with diverse experience and international exposure. Posses conscious knowledge about phenomenon of terrorism and extremism coupled with realistic understanding of geo political, social and security environment

Published in Daily Times, November 24^th 2017.