Pakistan, the Military and Welfare of People (Written in December '22):

The recent speculations, rumors and interest of general public in the appointment of COAS has prompted to pen-down this modest piece. Yes, the appointment makes him the strongest person in Pakistan. Once, he takes over the command; directly or indirectly all other individuals, groups and institutions becomes subservient to him. Now it entirely depend upon a single soul i.e. his personality, character, brought-up, the company he keeps, his future objectives and last but not the least, how religious or not religious he is; which decides that in which direction he will steer the country.

Indeed, it is a unique state and let's accept that its independence and freedom is directly associated with the strength of our defense forces i.e. a big, brave, meticulously trained, well-equipped army and being a nuclear power. Yes, there are example of unprecedented growth & development in the neighborhood being the biggest democracy, but then we also have history of last 30-70 years of the Middle East / North Africa as well. The latter could not survive or lost their independence and invasions were compelled upon them, because they were not nuclear, they didn't have an advanced military force and they were not friends with a super power(s).

Interestingly, the army is the only institution in the country, which has not been politicized. The rest all are; e.g. our elected rulers can easily para-troupe their blue eyed boys as chief of state enterprises, and later they can keep inducting their workers. Thus compromising on merit and ruining State institutions. But such appointments i.e. para-trouping on top and / or at any cadre from outside the system cannot be done in case of armed forces. Indeed, the institution demands respect, but if the chief goes rogue then we should blame the chief only and not the entire institution. Please do remember that we sleep peacefully, because they are awake. Of course, it is a blessing that we are being protected and our independence is secured by grace of Allah SWT.

Obviously, we all have our concerns about one person becoming so very powerful. Some people think that “if army did not intervene since the beginning, then Pakistan would have been a different state". Let me remind our readers that until 1958 i.e. 11-years after independence; Pakistan was on a roller coaster ride. We were changing heads of state regularly some even after a couple of months. Since there was no stability & consistency, therefore there was no growth & development and the country was getting vulnerable. Without supporting martial laws and army rule; may I reiterate that army intervention of 1958 brought stability & growth over a longer period of time. Yes, the biggest price we had to pay was in shape of the Eastern wing.

Yes, there were injustice; yes there were vested interests; yes, there was nepotism; yes there were mistakes & faults. All the above happened, because we did not have a long term plan i.e. in which direction do we want to steer the country in future. Our leaders were secular-minded and our religious scholars lacked in vision.

But if we think that had we left the country on the mercy of democracy; then perhaps we would have seen today's episode 40-years earlier. Then, we never would have had a strong army to defend the country. Today, at least there is a fear of army in hearts of our rulers, which have directly or indirectly toppled many elected governments, because of corruption.

Today they have enough budget (which no one can challenge) to stand on their own two feet. On the contrary, if it was not for a strong armed forces, we would perhaps lost other portions of the country, provinces, port cities and hill stations one by one to the local lords with an active help of our enemies like the eastern territory. Yes, we can not overlook the absolute power enjoyed by the establishment and the elite status they enjoy, whereby they operate 35-40 commercial enterprises, and the allotment of land, which unprecedentedly increases their wealth and results in inflation for the masses.

In 1947, it was a new country which had to counter enormous challenges. Quaid-e-Azam left us very early, and Quaid-e-Millat followed him too. The immediate successors were either naive or very astute / self-serving, therefore the country remained on an auto-pilot mode and directionless. In retrospect, although I have many regrets from early demise of our Quaid to loss of half of Pakistan. I think, we should be grateful to Allah SWT for what we have today. At least we are independent and still united (minus E. Pak)!?

The present day politicians regardless of any political party; they want to run the country like Chaudhries of a village. They not only put-up fights with army chiefs, but also try to influence the judicial system. This is what our democratic structure is made up of; they do not want any opposition at all and think that Pakistan is their inherited estate. The only palatable solution to the above issues is modification of political system to Islamic, because neither (i) one man one vote (ii) nor party based system is part & parcel of Islam. The Constitution of Pakistan, Part-IX Islamic Provisions 227 clearly says that “All existing laws shall be brought in conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Quran and Sunnah”. Henceforth, let’s make an endeavor to establish society based on equality & justice, where people coming from all sections could live together in harmony and with prosperity.

Hence, the only panacea to our socioeconomic-political woes is lawmaking strictly in light of message of Quran & Sunnah for every section of the society. Islamic laws are based on the foundation of 'equality & justice', it neither permits army or politicians, nor religious scholars or judges to write laws and / or pass self-serving fatwas to exploit the masses!

I hope & pray that Allah fearing intellectuals / scholars will invest their time & energy and will come close in humility to present laws from Quran & Sunnah, so that we could transform our political, economic, social / etiquette and family systems as per Shariah laws (Aameen).