This idea came to me randomly when two people, separately, asked why they should pay taxes if half the budget supposedly goes to the armyโa claim that is factually untrue. I am here trying to play devilโs advocate. While writing this, I consulted people to understand why the proposition, โThe establishment is the root cause of every Pakistani problem,โ is so widely taken for granted, especially after Imran Khanโs exit.
By โestablishment,โ I am specifically referring to the military, the way it is colloquially understood nowadays, not the โeliteโ in the class or socioeconomic sense. I presented sector-wise facts to them, and most had no answer. That prompted me to pen this piece. Since mainstream discourse now often takes an anti-establishment position, I decided to challenge that perspective.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1354698-wag-the-dog
We seem to have become a nation obsessed with a single villain. Pakistan today is gripped by a kind of Orwellian imagination โ a fascination with the idea of an omnipotent โBig Brotherโ pulling every string and orchestrating every failure.
In our context, that Big Brother has a name: the establishment. Every time the economy stumbles, a development plan fails, or a reform falls flat, the popular refrain is predictable โ โitโs the establishmentโs faultโ.
Those within the system point fingers upward with near-religious conviction to deflect accountability. Rarely is there any introspection that perhaps the fault lies in the systemโs own stupidity or in the vested interests of villains other than the so-called Big Brother. This instinct, while emotionally satisfying, reflects a deeper chronic blip, a kind of intellectual laziness and political reductionism that has infected our national discourse.
Instead of diagnosing institutional, structural or policy failures, we find comfort in a singular narrative that places the burden of blame entirely on one actor. The establishment, to be sure, has had a long and complicated role in Pakistanโs political evolution, but to treat it as the origin of every dysfunction is not just inaccurate; itโs counterproductive.
Feel free to critique me. ๐
Wouldn’t want to critique ‘you’ personally, I have enjoyed your contributions thus far. But I think the premise of this pretty flawed.
I mean, sure, its obviously sounds mundane in some way to just repeat the one-note ‘blame game’. But in this particular case, the shoe fits.
Its not ‘reductionism’ to point out that the Emperor’s not wearing any clothes, no matter how repetitive it sounds. The extent to which the Pakistani Military utterly dominates the political and economic decision-making – I’m not even going to bother bringing up foreign policy – it IS the biggest and most urgent wound on the Pakistani state.
When a man is bleeding out due to a gunshot wound, you obviously focus on that, and not the minor scratches that he may also have.
Not to be overly harsh, but this sort of justification reads like propaganda to me. “Sure, we are a country whose governmental processes are totally under military control, and there is zero accountability for their repeated and damaging blunders thus far, but lets turn the page already and talk about other issues because constantly saying the same thing is…boring?
Hey, thank you for reading and liking my work.
I can understand the sense of dread and the perception of an all-pervasive military influence. But Iโve provided examples: 1) Education, 2) Taxation, 3) Power Sector, 4) Urban Policy, and 5) Climate, where thereโs no apparent military connection.
Iโd genuinely love to know where I may have misidentified the problems. My point isnโt to defend the military itself, but rather to suggest that we often avoid critical analysis and prefer to paint them as the villains every time, whereas that might not always be the case.
the pak military and pak foreign service are the two agencies that are helping pakistan to survive.
The medicine is the poison though.
so to elaborate a bit, your article lists out some structural issues with failure to execute policy improvements ( in education post-18th amendment for example). Which is not inaccurate. But by attempting to gloss over the ‘elephant in the room’, you are missing the direct root cause. In Pakistan’s dystopian and dysfunctional governance structures, the incentives for obtaining, maintaining political power howsoever limited by PakMil’s decrees, is primarily linked with being on the ‘right side’ of the puppet-masters.
Simply put, the incentives and accountability mechanisms that exist, do not promote honest efforts. And that’s always going to be the case, because the corruption starts at the top.
Do the problems you list in the various sectors exist? Yes, but when the entire system is structured around corruption and kickbacks, even a well-intentioned honest actor wanting to “do good” is inevitably going to become a cog in the giant wheel of corruption.
Can some of these issues be improved on the margins – in spite of being a totalitarian military-run garrison state? Of course it can, I mean we can look at the CCP as a successful instance of the “benevolent dictatorship” that the Pakistani military undoubtedly fancies itself to be. But history and reality are unforgiving judges, and exceptions only serve to prove out the rules.
Reason, history, and objective scholarship will tell you, that without the self-correcting mechanisms of a functioning democracy, boostrapping a governance structure with accountability, one that can deliver results, is…. a far-fetched pipe dream. Especially when the Pakistani state continues to cut off its own budgetary legs year on year, by allowing the PakMil elite to enjoy disproportionately generous fruits for their labors, successful or otherwise.
Humans and systems respond to incentives, and the Pakistani state in its current form, is incentivized to continue provoking hostility with India, so that the PakMil can continue to loot and mortgage the present and future of Pakistani citizens. No matter how many IMF bailouts or aid packages are thrown at the situation, until you start cutting out the rot from within, you’re doomed to stay on life-support.
>when two people, separately, asked why they should pay taxes if half the budget supposedly goes to the armyโa claim that is factually untrue
Is there even an estimate as to what “percentage” of the budget in Pakistan goes to the army? I mean, even apart from the budget, the Pakistani military bites big chunks out of the Pakistani economic output in so many different ways. From cereal to fertilizer to trucking to God only knows what. There really isn’t any way to ‘normalize’ this.
When you look at the Pakistani budget, and the woeful state of education funding, other civic services – you simply cannot square that circle without addressing the elephant in the room.
It just smacks of …giving up. As if…yes, we are under the thumb of a military dictatorship, but since that cannot be changed, let’s try to think of other things we can solve. I mean, I can understand this sentiment to an extent, its pragmatic. But overtly cloaking the problem and minimizing it? I think that’s … counterproductive.
Sharing a video by the print and an article in the FT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjCMBfs2rxo&list=PLfa0eRI2uIaR1iOJnq7tklxIJDLxTxI5y
“Can Pakistanโs military strongman fix a failing nation?”
https://www.ft.com/content/9fb7dc91-0678-452f-8865-05ee0a1c0704
Some damning stuff: In 1980, the average Pakistani was 1.6X richer than the average Indian. By 2030, the average Indian will be 2X richer than the average Pakistani. The pakistani economy has fallen off a cliff. It has fallen well behind Bangladesh.
Poverty in Pakistan has actually gone up since 2018.
I will write an article on India as well to highlight the issues I see in India that will ensure it will always remain a middling country. Expecting India to become a power of any consequence is a pipedream.
What I dont understand is why Pakistan, run by a homogeneous elite, not encumbered by any of the issues of caste and religion, has fallen behind like this?
You say “Instead of diagnosing institutional, structural or policy failures”
“but to treat it as the origin of every dysfunction is not just inaccurate; itโs counterproductive.”
What exactly do such statements mean? To me, this means lack of character. Institutions are made up of individuals and one cannot build any system that can compensate for lack of integrity and character. The next question then is, why this lack of integrity and character? That is a much harder question to answer and would appreciate some insight into that.
What I dont understand is why Pakistan, run by a homogeneous elite, not encumbered by any of the issues of caste and religion, has fallen behind like this?
Pakistan’s economy has suffered because it is a national security state with a large proportion of its budget devoted to military spending. Whether we like it or not, we are an ideological state with an “enemy nation” next door. India’s hostile rhetoric and hostile actions (ex. Operation Sindoor) only serve to preserve the power of the Pakistan Army at the helm of national affairs. If the hostility came down, more people would begin to question why the Army is so in control of national affairs.
Bangladesh doesn’t have this problem. They don’t have a dispute with India that is equivalent to Pakistan’s dispute over Kashmir. In fact, one of the major issues of friction between West Pakistan and East Pakistan was that East Pakistanis didn’t really care about the Kashmir cause. It just wasn’t important to them in the same way that it is important to today’s Pakistanis.
Also, Pakistan has been through a lot of instability and there were years when bombings were happening in Islamabad and Lahore. For example, the Marriott Hotel was bombed (I forget the exact year). That doesn’t lead to a conducive investment climate especially for foreign companies.
>Whether we like it or not, we are an ideological state with an โenemy nationโ next door. Indiaโs hostile rhetoric and hostile actions (ex. Operation Sindoor) only serve to preserve the power of the Pakistan Army at the helm of national affairs. If the hostility came down, more people would begin to question why the Army is so in control of national affairs.
This is just…dishonest. Even when hundreds of Indian civilians were being killed in the late 1990s by Pakistan-backed terrorists, you had the Prime Minister of India take a bus to Lahore and forcefully demonstrate Indian commitment to peaceful co-existence with Pakistan – to near unanimous acclaim on the Indian political spectrum.
The Shimla agreement is historical testament to the fact that India, even when holding on to 93000 PoWs, and in a position of strength, made peace with Pakistan merely requiring a binding commitment to bilateral resolution with largely status quo borders in J&K, even giving back hard-won strategic terrain along the LoC. The Pakistani PM was hanged by the PakMil for going along with this.
The historical record between India and Pakistan is littered with a consistent pattern of the Pakistan Military ‘pulling Pahalgams’ to derail Ind-Pak rapprochement. Even the “hindoootva” Muudi reached out multiple times to Pakistan – even personally going to Lahore himself, only to be given a very clear message by PakMil in Pathankot.
It is the Pakistan Military that initiates and sustains the hostility between India and Pakistan, and it is incentivized to do so, because this allows it to blood-suck a disastrously disproportionate share of Pakistani national resources.
When the Pakistani elite lie to themselves and the hapless enslaved citizenry in this manner, selling the “India” chooran allows the Pakistani military to continue the status quo, preserving its primacy domestically.
Lying about indisputable historical facts is never going to work, it only serves to make you lose credibility and be laughed at.
Obviously, the Pakistan Army has an interest in sustaining hostility. I clearly wrote that Pakistan is an ideological state. That ideology is the Two Nation Theory.
However, you (as always) miss the point. It requires two sides to create a hostile environment. Your ruling party uses anti-Pakistan and anti-Muslim hostility to consolidate Hindu votes.
Watch out with this rhetoric of “enslaved citizenry”. That will get your comments immediately deleted on my threads. I don’t take kindly to anti-Pakistan comments.
Do Pakistani citizens have any control over who governs them? By definition, the shoe fits. It is not “anti-Pakistan” to point out reality. That is your perversion of facts. In fact, I’m utterly sympathetic to the hapless Pakistanis who I consider to be civilizational cousins, regardless of which skygod they choose to believe/disbelieve in. It is in fact, “anti-Pakistan” to be an apologist for the Military that is exploiting them. And to defend wrong as right.
Pakistan is not a military dictatorship. It is a hybrid regime. Elections are held.
This has been pointed out to you many many times. I find your “slavery” rhetoric incredibly offensive. Don’t do that again.
Your assertions are not facts. They are your opinions. You still haven’t grasped this basic concept that is taught to all American sixth graders. Pity.
“Elections” in Pakistan have always been rigged. Nawaz was ousted on the pretext of “Dawnleaks” replaced with Imm the dimm by PakMil. Who in turn got dumped and jailed when PakMil decreed it. All polls conclusively show Imm and PTI would have swept the last election but they weren’t allowed to participate.
Pakistan, IS a military dictatorship. Spouting propaganda doesn’t change facts.
You can be as rude and childish as you want, resort to ad homimen “insults” – It only goes to spotlight your own short-comings.
Elections are managed. That’s why it is a hybrid regime (this is a technical term used in political science). I am not at all defending Mian Sahab’s removal. Imran was removed through a motion of no-confidence which is a perfectly legitimate way to remove a prime minister.
PTI tried to incite attacks on Pakistan’s military installations. After that, they had to be absolutely destroyed. It is completely and utterly unacceptable to even think about attacking the core commander’s house. This is something that any patriotic Pakistani should understand.
There is a difference between a hybrid regime and a military dictatorship.
You still don’t know the difference between facts and opinions. I’m bored trying to explain it to you.
You can use whatever euphemisms you want. There’s nothing hybrid about Pakistan being run by its generals. Stop trying to peddle propaganda, its boring.
Pedantic sophistry might sound clever to you, but nobody’s buying it.
Btw, this latest comment of yours betrays your political partisanship. PML (N) is clearly your party of choice, and by no means is that a “left” leaning party. “MianSaab” was himself a creature first bootstrapped in politics because he was ready and willing to be a PakMil puppet. But I’m sure you are aware of that history much better than I am. The whole political facade is Pakistan is a charade to keep the powerless citizens distracted. While the generals keep on enriching themselves. Its a shame that even the country’s elite that isn’t directly connected to the military, refuses to rise up against this exploitation, and instead chooses to bend the knee.
Hybrid regime is a technical term in political science. Sorry that you apparently haven’t heard of it. A hybrid regime is NOT a military dictatorship. Pakistan has been a military dictatorship at various points in the past (under Ayub, Zia, and Musharraf) but it is not one now. That nuance is important.
“Pedantic sophistry” is a subjective opinion. Again, you need to review the difference between facts and opinions.
I have made no secret of my inclinations towards PML-N. PTI is a populist right-wing party. PPP doesn’t exist outside of Sindh. That leaves PML-N.
Mian Sahab was the PM who tried to make peace with India (the Lahore declaration) and was removed from power for it. Subsequently, he was removed from power again and he and Maryam Bibi were jailed. Mian Sahab has always fought for civilian supremacy. It’s true that the origins of PML-N was a force to counteract Benazir. However, PML-N has moved considerably towards the center since then.
Maryam Nawaz Sharif will be the next female Prime Minister of Pakistan. Uncle Shahbaz is only a placeholder. It’s just a matter of time.
“hybrid regime” not being a military dictatorship is similar to being a ‘little pregnant’.
Like I said, it’s a technical term in political science. The fact that you haven’t heard of the term just exposes your own ignorance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_regime
I think Hussain Haqqani’s words carry a lot more weight over that of a RW student of musicology when it comes to political science
https://x.com/husainhaqqani/status/1985306845217698250
I object very strenuously to being called “Right wing”. Don’t do that again.
You seem to not even be aware of “hybrid regime” being a technical term. So there is no point in even having this conversation.
You have your opinion of yourself, others can disagree. You seem to be comfortable hurling fake accusations of “right-wing”, or “hating Pakistan” at me. I know that they aren’t true, but I’m not trying to censor you. Your comment history reflects your political and sociological stance far more accurately than your self-labeling. With all due respect, others are allowed to disagree.
It’s very rude to tell people they are right-wing when they have repeatedly said that they are center-left. We went through this with the pushback from the “saffroniate” about being labeled “Brahaminical”.
PML-N is a centrist party by the way.
“Your comment history reflects your political stance…”–So does yours, my dear. You despise Pakistan. As for your being “right-wing”, you are certainly not a supporter of Indian National Congress are you? So you’re by no means a center-left Indian.
Its also very rude to tell people that they ‘hate’ Pakistan especially when they have repeatedly clarified that the negativity is limited solely to the kleptocratic entity that is PakMil, and not the state or its citizens.
It reflects a very …limited and 101 understanding of politics to bucket people in binaries. But then again, we aren’t talking Alankaar and Raags here.
Sure. Your record on this site speaks for itself. You have never had anything positive to say about Pakistan.
ha! claiming that PML-N is a “centrist” party now are we? ๐ That’s ….hilarious. Thanks for the morning entertainment.
Wikipedia will tell you that PML-N is a center-right party.
You really know next to nothing about Pakistan. I’m done wasting my time on you.