Pakistan's Anny from an Institutional Pressure Group to Final Arbiter in Governance
| Published date | 01 July 2015 |
| Date | 01 July 2015 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0019556120150318 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
PAKISTAN'S ARMY
FROMAN
INSTITUTIONAL
PRESSURE GROUP
TO
FINALARBITER IN
GOVERNANCE
VEENA
KUKREJA
This article seeks to focus on the role
of
the military in
governance
of
Pakistan-from
institutional interest groups
to
final arbiter
of
the
country-and
how this situation has
developed.
The
case
of
Pakistan represents an apt example
of
how an apolitical military could slowly be drawn
into
the political
field due to the failure
of
political institutions, politicians,
political parties, low political mobilisation, and international
factors. In the first instance, being a well organised and skilled
organisation, it helped every government to maintain law
and
order,
slowly became an important factor in the decision
making process, and ultimately displaced the civil authority
and
becam~
an arbiter. Besides,
it
also takes into account
military s changing role
and
parameters in Pakistan. In the
19
5Os
and 1960s under Ayub Khan the army played the role
of
an agent
of
modernisation. In the 1970s, it moved
to
conquer
the people
of
East Pakistan and Baluchistan as a Punjabi-
dominated army
of
a ruthless state. In the 1980s,
it
assumed its
role as a defender
of
the dominant political ideology. Finally,
the military has been able
to
translate its dominance over the
state structure to become deeply entrenched in the political
economy
of
the state. Thus, the military
in
Pakistan
is
the
most formidable and autonomous political actor, capable
of
influencing the nature and direction
of
political change.
ACCORDING TO Almond and Powell, institutional interest groups are
'found within such organisations as political parties, legislatures, armies,
bureaucracies, and churches. These are formal organisations, composed
of
professionally employed personnel with designated political or social
functions other than interest articulation'.
1
In the 20th Century, the armed forces have become a universal and
integral part
of
a nation's political system and no longer remain completely
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