ISLAMABAD: Who is largest employer in Pakistan? Of course, the government. Between the federal and provincial governments, they perhaps employ the largest number of people in this country. The next top employer is perhaps the armed forces, followed immediately by the Railways, Wapda and the Steel Mills.

But somewhere between the armed forces and the three that follow, there is another entity which perhaps can stake its claim to be a relatively large employer. And that perhaps is the country's biggest private sector conglomerate - the charitable foundations and other such organizations belonging to the armed forces. In a way this conglomerate has functioned as a public enterprise but perhaps without its negative characteristics. According to one calculation about a couple of years back, this had contributed an estimated 3.5 per cent to the country's GDP annually.

This contribution must have gone up to five per cent by now. Any entrepreneurial activity which notionally contributes five per cent to the GDP cannot but be one of the largest employers of the country, though we have no way of knowing how many hands this conglomerate employs. We did ask ISPR for details but had not received any response till this report went to press.

We have the Fauji Foundation, the Army Welfare Trust, the Shaheen Foundation, and the Bahria Foundation. Between them they produce almost everything which a Pakistani producer or a service provider can produce.

The Fauji Foundation has many enterprises under its fold including textile, sugar, cement and cereal-making units. The Army Welfare Foundation runs the Askari Stud Farms, Askari Fish Farms, Army Welfare Shoe Project, Commercial Plazas, Askari Guards, Askari Welfare Rice Mill, Askari Welfare Pharmaceutical Project, Magnetites Refineries Limited, Army Welfare Woollen Mill, Army Welfare Hosiery Unite, Askari Welfare Saving Scheme, Askari Associated Limited, Askari Information Service, Askari Power Limited and Askari Commercial Enterprises. They are also into land development and construction.

The Shaheen Foundation manages Shaheen Air International, Air Cargo, Airport Services, Shaheen Aerotraders, Insurance, Shaheen Complex, Shaheen FM-100, Systems, Shaheen Knitwear and Air University.

The Bahria Foundations runs Falah Trading Agency, Bahria Construction, Bahria Travel and Recruiting Agency, Paints, Deep Sea Fishing, Bahria Complexes, Town and Housing Schemes, Bahria Dredging, Bahria Ship Breaking, Bahria Diving and Salvage International, Bahria University, Shipping, Coastal Services, Security & System Services, Catering and Decoration Services, Bahria Farming, Bahria Holding, Bahria Harbour Services and Bahria Bakery.

The military owns the best farmland in the country. It also runs the National Logistic Cell, the largest transport service. This charitable but in fact highly profitable private sector conglomerate also runs a number of educational institutions, from top market schools to highly coveted universities and colleges and also, again, top market hospitals and specialized clinics.

The one highly persuasive argument for their very existence is the fact that people in the armed forces generally retire at a very early age - mid-30s to mid-40s - and in order to re-absorb them in economic activity and also to provide them with a decent means of living, it was found essential that the armed forces themselves launch programmes to generate jobs for the ever increasing number of their retirees. Defence societies in most of the cities of the country and their clubs also comprises a good source of employment generation.