By usman karim
They are preferring Army Rule rather than a Democratic Rule. Fact is this army can never be the solution of problems being faced by Pakistan. I would ask from my brothers and sisters, How can a single person would be most important than Institutions? There is PIN DROP SILENCE in Pakistan Masses and ultimate result of this Silence would be the worst. I am 34 Year Old and 18 Year of my life spent under Military Rule. Being a Pakistani Citizen, it is the most frustrating scenario for us whenever we see the Latest Models and Expensive Luxury Army Motorcades being purchased by our Taxes and cruising the roads by Kids of our so called Army Generals and to see the Luxurious Villas and Towns developing by our Generals not by Pakistan Army. We “Pakistani Nation” are standing in a Dark and Closed Street and nowhere to run except Democracy. Pakistani “Judiciary” has been playing the worst role since the emergence of Pakistan, which has strengthened the General’s illegal lust of power. Whenever history of Pakistan would be written, Pakistani Judiciary has Darkest Chapters. Pakistani Politicians are not playing positive role yet but they are directly answerable to Masses rather than other Institutions. Even the most corrupt politician also has to beg for Vote from his voters on every turn. Therefore Pakistan need a real Generals Free Democracy and an Independent Parliament with an Independent Prime Minister who is answerable to People of Pakistan not Army Generals. They are owning every thing’s in Pakistan .just read the article and make deceion
ALI 41, a retired Major, supervises a security agency in Karachi from a fairly senior position. He is many times better placed in the society than most civilians, though they might be more qualified and have worked for equal number of years, thanks to the military institution and its welfare arms.
Being shunted out early in his career, he may be seen a person of average capabilities. ALI lives in Askari Appartments (valued Rs11 million) in Karachi. In addition he owns a residential plot in Defence (Rs30 million). His children study in a reputable school located on Air Force land. He pays ten times less in fee for education of his two children than his civilian counterparts. He is a member of a social club, where membership and facilities are heavily subsidised for army servicemen.
This is in addition to pension and the full medical coverage that he enjoys for himself and his family. Most academics, doctors, engineers, and administrative staff on the civilian side in the same age group are not even half as secured with double the amount of private investment in their education. They are members of professional clubs and societies. Advantages if any from their participation in such schemes are much below their expectations. Even where they benefited the quantifiable gains cannot be matched to support that forces personnel get from their parent institution.
The performance (service delivery and level of satisfaction amongst targeted beneficiaries) of military welfare organisations is far superior to ones created to support civilian servicemen.
Federal Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani attributes better performance of military welfare organisations to superior work ethics and efficiency of military services.
The minister was all praise for armed forces. “Most obvious factors for efficient and dependable service delivery system of welfare organisations managed by armed forces include the ability of the military to enforce discipline, their orientation to work as a team, lesser opportunities of corruption and above all their nationalism that is inculcated in them by design to deliver even in trying circumstances”.
A leader of a professional organisation in Karachi living in a rented house in Gulshan was bitter when approached . He presented his views on condition of anonymity. “Army eats up share of more productive sectors. It abuses its power to perpetuate its interests both economic and political. It has created islands of peace and prosperity for itself at the cost of the nation”.
The gentleman was not able to explain as to what has kept civilian establishment from evolving well serving pension funds. The fact is that there is no simple answer to the riddle.
A business leader who also wished not to be identified said that military at business can only be as good as a doctor on an engineering project.
“With quantum of support and subsidies projects run under military establishments get they are not even half as efficient as they should be. They get subsidised power, gas, raw material, face fewer bureaucratic hitches and enjoy monopolistic position in the market. No one knows the actual cost of their operations to evaluate returns. Let things come in open before praising military business sense”.
The federal information minister partially endorsed the view. “Yes their business concerns can benefit to an extent from their positioning”, he said.
Views apart, it is not wise to evaluate working of these organisations in isolation. The success of welfare in these two segments (civilian/military), to a great extent, depends on their comparative positioning in the country’s state structure.
The Army, combined with Navy and Air Force, makes Pakistan armed forces the seventh largest military in the world. Besides being involved in its core mission to defend the country’s borders, it has also been involved in foreign deployments under bilateral agreement with a number of countries in Middle East and Africa. It has also been committing its troops to UN peace keeping.
The institution has created excellent social welfare set-ups for its personnel belonging to all tiers from top to bottom. These systems are so designed that the interests of members of forces and those of the institution are merged perfectly.
Interviews with score of concerned people confirmed that the system of education and training play their part but it is the loyalty to an institution that takes good care of them and their families during service and even after retirement that drive armed forces related people to work more efficiently.
Army in Pakistan like elsewhere is so structured that it has many tiers of hierarchy and a filter system in place. Superseded officers retire in ages 42-50. Therefore, along with active force of 520,000 personnel and 500,000 reserve men there is a huge population of retirees that are taken care of by the army.
To absorb these soldiers and officers and to sustain welfare activities and above all to deepen its control over the country’s economy, the army is engaged in multi-dimensional activities. They have enterprises, such as studs and dairy farms, several industries such as sugar, fertilizer, brass casting etc. They are also have sizeable stakes in services such as transport (NLC, Shaheen Air), construction (Frontier Works Organization), communication (Special communication Organization), insurance, banking (Askari Commercial Bank), etc, etc.
Fauji Foundation, the pension fund of Pakistan Army has invested in many projects, some are highly profitable. It manages hundreds of educational institutions, power plants, and steel and cement factories. Fauji is a very well known consumer product brand name that produces breakfast cereals, sugar, electronic items etc. The foundation is a trust for the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families.
Above all, the army acquires government land to develop colonies for its staff. The officers’ colonies such as defence housing in major cities are best located and best equipped with highest valued plots in the country.
The cantonment areas are safe, secured and well managed. Here all services are subsidised. They are provided with health and sports clubs and other facilities that even a middle class civilian locality is totally deprived of. As a matter of fact these cantonment areas are modern model cities within the country’s mismanaged ill-equipped cities.
It is, therefore, in the self- interest of a serviceman to serve the army to his best so that it becomes more powerful to be able to promote and protect his economic perks. The powerful positioning of the army in the country also imbibes a sense of pride and superiority amongst the army men. Current monthly rates paid by the UN per peacekeeper include:
· $1,028 for pay and allowances
· $303 supplementary pay for specialists
· $68 for personal clothing, gear and equipment
· $5 for personal weaponry
As for who finances UN operations, the US was the biggest contributor at the last official count (1 January 2006), followed by Japan, Germany, the UK, France, Italy, Canada, Spain, China and the Netherlands.
The approved peacekeeping budget for 2005-06 was more than $5bn which, the DPKO notes on its website, was 0.5% of global military spending and thus “far cheaper than war”.
United Nations missions
1 Middle East (Untso, Jerusalem)2 Kashmir (Unmogip)3 Cyprus (Unficyp)4 Golan Heights (Undof)5 Lebanon (Unifil)6 Western Sahara (Minurso)7 DR Congo (Monuc) 8 Ethiopia/Eritrea (Unmee)9 Liberia (Unmil)10 Ivory Coast (Unoci)11 Haiti (Minustah)12 Sudan (Unmis)13 Sierra Leone (Uniosil)14 Burundi (Binub)
Mixed
15 Afghanistan (Unama and Nato-led Isaf)
16 Kosovo (Unmik and Nato-led K-For)
17 East Timor (Unmit and Australian-led force)
18 Georgia (Unomig and Russian-led CIS force)
Non-UN
19 Darfur (African Union force)
20 Somalia (African Union force)
21 Sinai Peninsula (mainly US force)
22 Bosnia (EU - Eufor)
23 Tajikstan (Russian-led CIS border force)
24 Trans-Dniester (Russian force)
Pakistan is among the five developing countries that contribute the largest number of troops to the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations
Presently, over 5,300 Pakistani troops and observers are deployed in different parts of the world, including Congo, Sierra Leone, East Timor and Liberia, making Pakistan the largest peacekeeping troop contributor to the UN.
Current deployment
Start of operationName of OperationLocationConflictContribution1999United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUL) Democratic Republic of CongoSecond Congo War3556 Troops. 2003United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) LiberiaSecond Liberian Civil War2741 Troops. 2004United Nations Operation in Burundi ONUB BurundiBurundi CivilWar1185 Troops. 2004United Nations Operation in Côte d’Ivoire (UNOCI) Côte d’IvoireCivil war in Côte d’Ivoire364 Troops. 2005United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) SudanSecond Sudanese Civil War1542 Troops. Staff/Observers191 Observers.
· The total amount of troops serving currently in peacekeeping missions is 10,173 (as of March, 2007).
· They earned more than $20million dollars per month from UN in salary all perk and jerk they have pervilage and perstiage thay have where bloody civilian go . just imagine the they (army)owned 36% of whole pakistan business who will liberate us from the shakel of corrupt army
About writer based in LAHORE PAKISTAN [email protected]