Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

her expertise is in the field that she wrote the book about. I dont think all the waderas combined own as much land as Pak Army does so who is the biggest wadera...institutional jageerdaar hain sirkaar.

Moreover, I am sure u r not unaware of the incidents in the Okara Military farms. And who tormented the haari's over there.

Aashiq
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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

^^ well actually the article started from this brig. there are many others who gets 25 acres max and that is not any city but places like Narowal, Bahawalpur and Bhawalnagr, where the nearest city facilities is abotu 100 kms away. i really feel bad about them, but they seems to be happy as when i spoke to one of my friends father who happend to be retd. Major and got allotment of 25 acres in Narowal ( near Indian Border), he was happy that he is near his enemy ( India) and if something happens he still have a chance to join the party.
Other good thing his by alloting land to these retd. officers in rural areas, minimise the influence of local Jageerdar to some extend. which is in favor of haari.

about the NAVY, we dont know what are the arrangements between the NAVY and those villagers, but i refuse to accept this without any hard evidence that NAVY is taking away land of those villagers without any reason( mind you that land and land alloted to Brig. worth almost nothing in the market.)

last no least, there are land mafias in city, governed by the city governed, represented by PATWARI, who takes away valuble land of common citizens and kills them if they resist... Army Generals may be invovled in taking valuble plots in cantt. but they do not snatch from anyone.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

Iam well aware of Okara Military farms, in addition to that i can tell u lot about how the valuable land of Lahore Cantt was given to Generals at the price which u and i can not even think of!!!

secondly, are u sure the land owned by the military officers is combinely more than what all the waderas have? ( iam not counting the Cantts. which is owned by the military and used to storing arms and military related stff and residences of on duty military personells posted in particular cantt), i dont think so, only if u count the Zardari, Bhutto and Jato'i's Jageer, which combinely covers considerable area of sindh,

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

wait..u do not have any objections to the fact that each army officer gets acres and acres of land?

as for proofs, read the book. If there weren't any, I doubt she'd get such positive response from her peers.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

no i dont have any objection on that, the land they are getting ( most of them) are in rural area, and most of the time it is not cultivated, these men make it happen. new villages and towns come into existence which is a positive impact, tell me would u go and live in Narowal and same kind of locality.. i believe that ur answer will be NO.
and it is not u alone will say No, me is in the same group, i ll say NO too, and i dont think so any of my friend will go and live there..

i can assure u that iam going to get it soon... and now it is more important to read it..

and then we can discuss it...

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

rural areas spring up around cultivable land my friend. U contradict urself. Second, my nana and dada were both in Army and received perfectly fine land. Neither of them every lived on the land they were bequethed for long. They leased it out to haris who cultivate their land. So its not a matter of the person living on the land themselve.

Third, rural land is only one aspect of the deal. We conveniently forget the DHA's, Shaheen and Bahria Foundations that eventually result from this rural and that Army gets at throw away prices. Read the book friend, and then we'll discuss the short falls.

Disclaimer: I havent read the book yet either. I'll do it once I am done with my current undertaking.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

So, they just ask people and people give their land to these noble-gentlemen? Some how I have hard time believing that.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

U seems to miss the point, the areas i have seen near bhawalpur and Narowal were almost jungles but now after 20 years they are all agriculture fields ( now this is something else that even by increasing cultivation area, the productivity is low).
Now lets take example of your nana and dada hazoor, i am sure they are treating their haris lot better than they are treated by the jageerdars, isn't that positive thing.

I am not denying the fact that Generals are not involved in land scandals, i bet they are, but again, firstly not all of them, secondly they get in the land of CANTT area, like for e.g. the land of Lahore Cantt, part of Shaheen Camp, was taken by a general at 25,000/- marla ( i cannot support it with evidence, but that was talk of the town year 2000-01. this need to be condemned i was against it then iam against it now...

then come the officers colony, Military officers ( major of Col. rank) are given houses at very low cost plus on installments which is deducted from their salaries, which they sell to civilians like us on cash... and thats how the business grows...

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

they take the govts land. the land belongs to cantt. board is normally alotted or sold to them for almost nothing.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

I dunno about the govt. part, but I remember reading about okra farms somewhere in Punjab while back. Dont know what the story is. In any case, I think gens are as corrupt as our politicians, and I doubt if they'll have problem taking private land for their own use if necessary by force.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

Rumour has it..book sellers have been "asked" to tell people they have no books available and not display them.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

now what does that suppose to mean?????
are u an english teacher or were u before???pleez reply on "[email protected]"
i only want to be sure about somthing...

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

Excerpts from the book:

Now we know, courtesy Siddiqa, that the empire operates at three distinct levels ie, direct involvement of the organisation, subsidiaries and individuals. The first level where the military is directly involved in profit making comprises three organisations, the NLC, FWO, and SCO. The first two are huge public sector enterprises. The NLC with its 1,689 vehicles and staffed by 7,279 people of whom 2,549 are civilians is one of the largest public sector transport fleets in Asia. Currently all the government’s major road construction projects are undertaken by the FWO while it also manages toll collection of all major and minor road networks in the country, a job that was once given to private contractors. This indicates the contradiction in the government’s economic policy. While it supports deregulation and privatisation, the Milbus continues to expand and enjoys monopoly in certain spheres.
The Milbus has four subsidiaries: Fauji Foundation (FF), Army Welfare Trust (AWT), Shaheen Foundation (SF) and Bahria Foundation (BF). In between them the four run about 100 projects which include heavy manufacturing industries such as cement, fertilizer, and cereal production. They are also involved in the insurance business, Infotech, banking and education. While every industry pays dues owed to the state, the FF enjoyed exemption from taxes till the beginning of 1970s. Similarly AWT did not pay taxes on its industrial units until 1993. Even afterwards taxes were levied at concessionary rates. This indicates that the two have been indirectly subsidised by the government.

Chapter 7 of the book entitled “The New Land Barons” is a detailed study of the acquisition of land by the military institutions and individuals. The mass distribution of land through military awards, she maintains, has created a class of military agriculturists. Discussing the military housing schemes, Siddiqa concludes “Today the military is one of the prominent players in urban real estate.”

And now the political economy of the jobs for retired military personnel. According to Siddiqa the Musharraf regime has provided about 4,000-5,000 jobs in various departments. What is bound to raise many eyebrows is that these jobs are not filled after competition nor do they attract the best minds available in the public sector. The invisible benefits include business or other opportunities obtained by retired personnel using the influence of their parent organisation. Siddiqa concludes that “Pakistan’s Milbus case often reflects an overlapping of institutional self-interest and the anarchic paradigm, where senior generals use their institutional authority and military mechanisms for personal predatory appropriations.”

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Re: Book on military’s business empire launched (merged)

The poor woman is on the run now.

http://thenews.jang.com.pk/top_story_detail.asp?Id=8355

Dr Ayesha Siddiqa leaves Pakistan

By Rauf Klasra

LONDON: Renowned scholar Dr Ayesha Siddiqa secretly reached London on Wednesday after she “received a message that a charge sheet is being prepared to put her on trial” for writing a book against the Pakistani military establishment.

Dr Ayesha, whose recently launched book, “Military Inc”, created a stir in Pakistan, was scheduled to reach London on June 13. However, she abruptly got out of the country after the messengers told her that she might be put on trial soon.

Before leaving Pakistan, Dr Ayesha also received a legal notice from a retired general, demanding Rs 1 billion as damages for exposing his alleged acts of omission and commission in her book.

She was informed by some of her close family friends that her life was in a danger and she should be very careful. “I left Pakistan quietly as certain messengers were sent to my house to inform me about government’s intentions to prepare a charge-sheet,” Dr Siddiqa told The New here.

She said she believed that the messengers, who were personally known to her, were sent because the authorities concerned were annoyed at her work on the political and economic might and role of the military establishment.

Dr Ayesha said she had planned to visit London in the second week of June to attend her book’s launching ceremony here on June 13. But, after receiving these messages she decided to leave for London quite early, she said, adding that after receiving these messages, her husband was frightened about her safety in Pakistan.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

Good for her.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

Altaf and Army under blistering attack at the same time, both unable to defend themselves

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

I haven't got the book yet,

anyone knows anything about army's program called LITE? does this book speaks about this program, as LITE is also part of Military Inc.

Sing a Song according 2 Ur Mood !!!!!
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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

Stupid Pak govt/Army... What scum these people are.

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Re: Book on military's business empire launched (merged)

never heard of this LITE, can you elaborate? I may be able to check up from some acquaintances.

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Re: Book on military’s business empire launched (merged)

I am sure what Dr Ayesha had failed to expose was the command fund menance in Pakistan Army. The bigger corporations are public listed so they are not strictly condemnable. They are doing some good as well. where the problem lies for professionalism of Army officers is small cottage business of Units all over the cantt. I started a thread sometime back on it

http://www.paklinks.com/gs/showthread.php?t=243046&highlight=command+fund