Most people who join the army do so for stable income, guaranteed post-retirement security, and institutional privilege. Yet, in Pakistan, military service is ritualistically framed as exclusive national sacrifice, beyond questioning or comparison. This framing is not accidental; it has been cultivated for decades.
If military service is sacrifice alone, then why—upon retirement—are former officers expected not to compete in open society like other citizens but instead dominate business, education, welfare, health, construction, production, travel, tourism, IT, banking, agriculture, trading, think tanks, universities, media, transportation, and hospitality? Why must national service end where civilian life begins—except for one institution?
This contradiction sits at the heart of Pakistan’s civil-military imbalance.
The Status Economy of the Uniform
Army families—often referred to socially as “army brats”—inherit not just benefits but a status hierarchy. Civilian citizens are implicitly categorized as less patriotic, less committed, or less brave. The familiar refrain is endlessly repeated:
“Jab hum raat ko sukoon ki neend so rahay hotay hain, yeh foji sarhadon par kharay hotay hain.”
But guarding borders is not charity. It is a profession, compensated far above the national median, especially in a country where millions survive on less than $5 a day.
Pakistan’s armed forces receive:
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Free or subsidized healthcare (CMHs)
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Free or subsidized education
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Subsidized consumer goods via CSD
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Guaranteed pensions
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State land allocations and housing plots
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Preferential access to post-retirement wealth generation
No one disputes the physical and psychological costs of military service. What is disputed—and rightly so—is the claim to moral immunity.
Doctors do not study medicine purely for “dukhi insaniyat ki khidmat”. Engineers do not build bridges out of altruism alone. Professional hazard exists everywhere. Why is it considered blasphemy when applied to the military?
Atrocities, Amnesia, and Selective Patriotism
Acknowledging sacrifice does not require erasing history.
From Field Marshal Ayub Khan, under whose regime Fatima Jinnah was politically crushed, to General Pervez Musharraf, whose Kargil misadventure nearly derailed a genuine peace trajectory with India, Pakistan’s military leadership has repeatedly placed institutional survival above national interest.
Peace does not pay dividends to garrison states.
Asghar Khan and the Garrison State Diagnosis
The late Asghar Khan, Pakistan’s first native Chief of Air Staff, dismantled the mythology of existential threat in a 2009 interview with Dawn. His conclusions remain explosive—and unresolved:
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India does not seek to annex Pakistan
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Pakistan initiated all wars with India
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Kashmir could have been negotiated
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The 1971 war was militarily irrational
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Pakistan did not require nuclear weapons
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The nuclear program endangers national security
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The economic cost of atomic ambition is crushing
Asghar Khan was no foreign agent. He was a three-star air marshal, historian, and peace activist—someone the system could not easily dismiss.
Martial Law Apologists and the Father Analogy
Those who romanticize martial law deserve only one response:
“Agar baap se nahi banti, to kya baap ko ghar se nikaal kar chowkidar ko abu kehna shuru kar dete ho?”
Replacing civilian failure with military rule is not reform—it is abandonment.
Judiciary for Sale, Accountability for None
Pakistan’s crisis is not merely political—it is constitutional.
A judiciary pressured to align with power, an establishment claiming neutrality while engineering outcomes, and laws applied selectively have produced a nation that is managed, not governed.
As one general candidly admitted: humiliating the Supreme Court risks national collapse. Yet history tells us that ballot stuffing, ISI funding, and engineered elections were once standard practice—sponsored by the very architects now claiming reform.
Jinnah’s Forgotten Warning
On 23 March 1940, Muhammad Ali Jinnah issued a warning still unmet:
Freedom is not won by argument alone. It demands sacrifice, organization, and selfless leadership.
Pakistan achieved independence. It never completed nation-building.
Democracy Is the Best Revenge
When Pervez Musharraf was sentenced for high treason under Article 6, it was symbolic—but historic.
The verdict declared that no uniform outranks the Constitution.
Implementation remains doubtful. Symbolism, however, matters. It sets precedent. It unsettles the untouchables.
The General’s Scorecard
In Pakistan, a general’s success is measured by:
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Sacking a Prime Minister
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Surviving India
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Securing extensions
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Executing or enabling coups
By this metric, several have passed—at national cost.
Extensions, Incompetence, and Institutional Erosion
When Qamar Javed Bajwa received a self-extension, dozens of corps commanders were implicitly declared unfit.
Even Imran Khan once warned:
Change the rules for one man, and you destroy the institution.
He later endorsed the exception.
Rubber-Stamp Parliament and Engineered Accountability
The arrest of Shehbaz Sharif before by-elections, NAB’s selective speed, and market crashes tied to political arrests exposed accountability as weaponized governance.
This is not justice. It is deterrence.
Does Pakistan Have an Army—or Does the Army Have Pakistan?
When retired officers lecture civilians on economics, it resembles an armed guard advising a homeowner on budgeting.
If economic distress truly concerns the military, then defense expenditure, perks, and commercial empires must be open to scrutiny.
Military Business Empires and Moral Confusion
Pakistan’s armed forces control dozens of commercial entities through the Army Welfare Trust, Fauji Foundation, and Shaheen Foundation—spanning banking, cement, fertilizer, power, aviation, real estate, education, and media.
No other democracy permits this scale of institutional capitalism without civilian oversight.
Yet even critics must acknowledge nuance.
In Pakistan: A Hard Country, Anatol Lieven argues that military enterprises—if regulated—can stabilize morale and provide welfare where civilian institutions fail.
The problem is not existence. It is unaccountability.
DHA Is Not Sacrifice
Sacrifice does not resemble gated housing schemes, foreign passports, or overseas properties.
If generals genuinely believe in Pakistan’s future, why do so many families settle abroad?
The Asim Bajwa Question
Allegations surrounding Asim Saleem Bajwa—foreign assets, family wealth, and US-based properties—raised one unavoidable question:
How can someone shaping Pakistan’s future have no personal stake in living within it?
The simplest demand remains unanswered:
Provide the money trail.
The Unasked Question
Why does questioning power invite punishment, stalled promotions, or forced silence?
Because obedience, not integrity, has become the currency of advancement.
Conclusion: Change From Within or Collapse From Below
Pakistan’s tragedy is not that it lacks patriots—it is that patriotism has been monopolized.
The armed forces are servants of the people, not custodians of destiny. That principle was articulated clearly by Jinnah—and violated repeatedly since.
Democracy is messy. Civilian rule is flawed. But constitutionalism is the only path forward.
Enough of “jaisay log, waisay hukmaran.”
Nations do not reform by submission.
They reform by accountability.
Democracy shall prevail.
- DG ISPR serves on Board of PTV which reports of Chairman, and MD comes under chairman.
- PTA is under command of Maj. Gen (R) Amir Azeem Bajwa HI (M).
- PEMRA, NTC, PAMC, NUMS, NUST, PU, NTS?
- Anti Narcotics Force by Major General Arif Malik.
- Wapda Chairman – is a Retd Lt Gen. Muzammil Hussain. They destroyed WAPDA we faced 18 hrs of load management because these lunatics couldn’t manage demand and supply.
- PIA is given as an extra charge due to failure of civilian set up and corruption. PIA destroyed to set up Shaheen.
- Well AM is qualified as Aerospace sciences experience.
- ASF Director Major General Zafar ul Haq.
- National Disaster Management Authority is an Engineer’s Officer from FWO Lt General Omar Mahmood.
- Naya Pakistan Housing is under FWO Chairman Lt Gen Anwar Ali.
- SUPARCO Director Major General Qaiser Anees.
- ERRA Chairman Lt Gen Omar Mahmood Hayat.
- National Development Council Member General Bajwa.
- Economic Advisory Committee Member General Bajwa.
- NAB Lahore Directory General Retired Major Shehzad Saleem.
- Ministry of Interior The foul language Brigadier Ijaz Shah.
- Civil Aviation Authoriy Director Squadron Leader (Retd.) Shahrukh Nusrat.
- Federal Public Service Commission Member Major General Muhammad Azeem Asif.
Related: MOST countries have armies, but in Pakistan the army has a country?
