KARACHI, March 1: Dr Ayesha Siddiqa, a leading defence analyst, has stressed on financial independence to attain political independence.
Criticizing National Security Council, she said it was military’s way of ensuring its partnership in the policy-making process. “Pakistan’s military has emerged into an independent class. And NSC has only enabled it to sit on the table with the policy-makers and become equal partners,” she said while speaking at the World Social Forum’s moot on The Political Economy of Conflict in South Asia held in connection with the forthcoming WSF mega event here from March 24 to 29.
The civil-military relations are more than just an issue of control. It is about the military’s interaction with political leadership, civil bureaucracy, civil society and the people. Various dimensions are determined largely by the relationship amongst various political players in a state and society.
She dealt with military in politics and policymaking in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, and observed that from civil-military relations perspective, India and Pakistan fell on the opposing ends of the spectrum. On a 0-10 scale, India falls at 8, Pakistan at 1, Bangladesh at 4 and Sri Lanka at 2. These figures are arrived at on the basis of the nature of military’s command and control and its involvement in politics and policy-making.
In India’s case, civil-military relations are undergoing a subtle change. This is not to suggest that civilians are losing control of the armed forces or the situation will ever be similar to that in Pakistan. However, one sees a civil-military partnership emerging in India in which the military’s relationship with the civilian government, in particular, will be revised. This is due to New Delhi’s need for redefining military’s relevance for policy-making and the country’s role in the region and in global geopolitics. Second, as the military’s role is undergoing a process of redefinition, this is resulting in the army vying for a greater role in internal conflict. The battle is being fought among the military, the paramilitary and police forces. The battle has not been decided as yet. Third, India’s partnership with the US, combined with the militarization of some segments of the civilian elite, will allow a partnership between the civilian and military forces. Finally, the military’s input in national security will increase due to the quality of the political leadership. Increasingly, India’s politicians are less literate on security issues.
The military in Bangladesh, on the other hand, is a fence-sitter. It has not totally receded from politics. In fact, as in a praetorian society, military generals play a role and are present in politics. Currently, the Bangladesh armed forces are engaged in UN peacekeeping operations and are gradually building a foothold in the economy. They are operating a bank, an international hotel, textile and other business operations. One of the reasons that the economic role has not increased is because the military is concentrating on making money from UN operations. It is true that the Bangladesh military has chosen to withdraw from politics. This is primarily due to the fact that it is factionalized and professionalism is questionable.
Sri Lanka, is one of the three states in South Asia that can be termed predatory, the other two being Nepal and Pakistan. A predatory state is defined as one where the key players are driven by short-term gains and politics is unstable due to fairly rapid replacement of the weak by the strong. Although the Sri Lankan military is under civilian control, this can be attributed to the fact that it is deeply divided, factionalized and extremely unprofessional. The Sri Lankan military was essentially a ceremonial force that grew from 6,000 to about 350,000. It was used systematically as a tool of repression and coercion against people. Sri Lanka’s human rights record is abysmal. There is a move towards professionalizing the armed forces.
The Pakistan military today is an independent class having political control, financial autonomy and an independent position to pursue organizational interests. The establishment of NSC in 2004 establishes the armed forces as an equal partner in policy-making. The military’s economic interests, that are multiple along with its penetration into the economy, society and polity, have given it tremendous power. Since the other players are also predatory (the dominant classes in Pakistan), it is difficult to change the cycle of politics. The political life cycle is quite self-destructive. Under the circumstances, it is not possible to visualize the military’s withdrawal from politics unless there is a major movement from within or dramatic changes in the geo-political environment.