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Pakistan’s tragic flaw
The Pakistani military is in some ways an admirable institution, but it is obsessed with India and Kashmir.
The writer is a director at the South Asia Free Media Association, Lahore khaled.ahmed@tribune.com.pk
One book that many people in Pakistan must be reading is Anatol Lieven’s Pakistan a Hard Country (Allen Lane 1011). Lieven is a sympathetic observer of Pakistan, visits it repeatedly and painstakingly interviews all stakeholders of the state. He doesn’t believe that Pakistan is a failed or failing state. Therefore, when he points to our flaws we should listen to him.
A British scholar with old family ties to the benign side of the British Raj, he comes with great credentials. He calls the Pakistan Army paranoid but notes that all armies are trained to be paranoid (but not to be in control), his book America Right or Wrong: An Anatomy of American Nationalism (2004), proving the point. If anyone thought he was going after the US too much, he should read his Chechnya Tombstone of Russian Power (1998) for even-handedness. And he has advice to give to the superpower in Ethical Realism: A Vision for America’s Role in the World (2006).
Lieven is upset about the Pakistan Army. He writes: “The Pakistani military is in some ways an admirable institution, but it suffers from one tragic feature which has been with it from the beginning, which has defined its whole character and world view, which has done terrible damage to Pakistan and which could in some circumstances destroy Pakistan and its armed forces altogether. This is the military’s obsession with India in general, and Kashmir in particular. (Yet) Pakistani politicians share responsibility for encouraging ordinary Pakistanis to see jihad in Kashmir as legitimate” (p.185).
About ‘strategic depth’ he notes: “(Territorial narrowness and proximity of Lahore to India) led in the past to a frequent obsession with strategic depth in the Pakistani military, which has had particularly damaging effects on Pakistani policy towards Afghanistan — seen as a potential source of that increased depth” (p.177).
Lieven is sceptical of Pakistan’s liberals. He responds to liberal complaints about the media being too religion-oriented by saying: “a very considerable portion of the educated middle class is conservative and even Islamist by sympathy…. The media are therefore a microcosm of the Pakistani middle classes” (p.231). He continues to take liberal objections with a pinch of salt, as for instance, the revelation by someone in Multan that in the elite school Bloomfield Hall 75 per cent of the pupils sympathised with the Taliban (p.299).
Lieven trusts Mullah Zaeef’s word — that the Taliban were always sceptical of Pakistan’s patronage — more than Matt Waldman’s LSE report. He, however, accepts that the ISI encouraged and helped the Haqqani group to carry out the destructive attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul in July 2008. He thinks that the Pakistan Army’s support to the Taliban is not based on Islam, but that “lower-level operatives engaged since the 1980s in helping the Afghan Islamist groups on the ground undoubtedly developed their own strong local allegiances” (p.407).
The army’s security fears are “kept alive by the support of the Kabul government and India — albeit very limited — for Baloch rebels in Pakistan; and by the Karzai administration’s refusal to recognise the ‘Durand Line’ between Afghanistan and Pakistan (p.408). Pakistan would prefer that Afghanistan be run by Pashtuns rather than by non-Pashtuns who are more hostile towards Pakistan” (p.412).
About a feared pro-Taliban tendency within the ISI, Lieven says: “Some of them must have such sympathies, given the public attitudes of retired senior officers such as former ISI chief Hamid Gul, and a number of retired lower-ranking officers with whom I have spoken” (p.413).
Lieven should be glad to know that ex-army chief Musharraf has accepted that those who hid Osama in Abbottabad could be from among the lower-ranks of the ISI.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 29th, 2011.
Reader Comments (41)
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This ridiculous policy of strategic depth is inspired by Russia’s use of its vast territory against Charles, Napoleon and Hitler. But Russia had immense manpower and resources that kept the army in operational condition, despite giving away huge territory to the enemy. Russian army avoided battle against Charles and Napoleon to wear down the enemy whose lines of communications extended over hundreds of miles. Red army was torn apart by the Wehrmacht, but the Soviets managed to shift 1700 industrial unit beyond the Urals, which was beyond the range of Luftwaffe.
But in case of Pakistan, major cities are located along the eastern border. A cordon like defense is the only option. How can the army abandon its entire territory, retreat into Afghanistan and launch a counter offensive. Firstly you need a Manstein to pull off such a miraculous retreat across major rivers. And suppose the retreat does succeed, the Indians would simply shut down the mountain passes, and blow up the bridges. Without any industrial base, fuel and resources, how would the counter attack materialize? If officers had read Clausewitz instead of Nasim Hijazi, such childish ideas would never have taken the form of state policy.Recommend
a brilliant article.regarding balochistan,india only gives moral support specially indians(i doubt indian govt hardly gives any kind of support).but get ready to be bombared by tainted comments from your fellow countrymen.some may level you as CIA or RAW agent.but sadly no matter how much you write,your people have become hallucinated by conspiracy opium and i dont see any change in their mindset in near future.Recommend
Everyone knows that the Army, Bureaucrats and Mullahs, are the three ominous forces who stand behind the throne and the veil working in tandem are fully responsible for creating this strategic mess we are in.Recommend
And perhaps not so glad to know that Musharraf was complicit in keeping the threat of al-Qaeda and its affiliates alive, tricked the US into believing that he needed more money to thwart the growing influence of jihadist forces, created MMA and systematically destroyed state institutions, especially the judiciary. In keeping with his duplicity, he did nothing to reform some 32,000 madaris across Pakistan, many of which brainwashed and trained suicide bombers in plain sight and for nearly a decade he cried hoarse about his ardent dedication to Enlightened Moderation.Recommend
And perhaps not so glad to know that Musharraf was complicit in keeping the threat of al-Qaeda and its affiliates alive, tricked the US into believing that he needed more money to thwart the growing influence of jihadist forces, created MMA and systematically destroyed state institutions, especially the judiciary. In keeping with his duplicity, he did nothing to reform some 32,000 madaris across Pakistan, many of which brainwashed and trained suicide bombers in plain sight and all this while he cried hoarse about his ardent dedication to Enlightened Moderation.Recommend
I think the guy talks sense. I will definitely read this book.Recommend
It is self-preservation pure and simple. Take India out of the equation and the need for maintaining the world’s fifth largest army disappears.Recommend
I think it is unfair to blame the army. When school text books tell you that India had designs on Lahore in 1965 and invaded the country without any provocation and that India and Hindus caused the partition of Pakistan, I cannot blame the ordinary Pakistani if he views India as a major threat. The army recruits simply carry that opionion into the forces. It was hilarious on one talk show where you had Moeed Pirzada and Talat Hussain on either side of a retired general talking about how the Mehran attack benefitted India. And all along the general kept saying that these elements are simply Jihadi elements and there is no hint of Indian involvement.
The country believes that India is the enemy – the army is a part of that society.Recommend
What does “strategic depth” mean in the age of long range missiles? Even otherwise, say hypothetically, in a state of war, what would Army do? Shift base to Afganistan? Shift strategic assets there? Would force Afganistan govt to bow to its will? What is this doctrine?
The only rational argument is to use Afgan soil to train ‘non-state” actors and keep them there till they are called upon. (This is in line with ex-ISI director Durrani’s doctrine of use of terror as an instrument of state policy). Other than that in real war situation this is a flawed and obselete doctrine. The art of war today is vastly different than at the time of WW2. IN today’s war its not terroritories, but the markets which are of real value. The fight is for these markets.Recommend
sorry Mr author. you speak against the thinking of ordinary pakistan..for them, everything is conspiracy theory, and everyone is working against pakistan…as if the world hasnt got anything worthwhile to do..
i am sure…even if some angel descent to earth to clarify that there is no such thing, the pakistani will say, oh damm, this is not angel, this is some conspiracy by everyone , and a animation work by hollywood jews to destroy pakistan..Recommend
Well India has most of its army stacked up on the Pakistani border…..you clap with two hands, not one, the india pakistan rivalry is mutual. Most extremist on the Pakistani side claim that the mumbai attack was a response to hindu extremists who attacked samjhauta express and killed 68 Pakistanis.
.
And if you read any indian newspaper, you’ll feel that indians are obsessed with pakistan at a completely different level. No mainstream newspaper or even any newspaper in pakistan has ever really been obsessed with india, but indian newspapers are a completely different monster. No wonder indians are so obsessed with pakistan, even the first people to comment on pakistani news websites are indians. Get a life guys.Recommend
“by the Karzai administration’s refusal to recognise the ‘Durand Line’ between Afghanistan and Pakistan”
Did the Taliban, when in power, recognise the Durand Line?Recommend
” by the Karzai administration’s refusal to recognise the ‘Durand Line’ between Afghanistan and Pakistan”
Did the Taliban, when in power, recognise the Durand Line?Recommend
Pakistan’s favourite past-time : Conspiracy theoriesRecommend
Pakistan’s tragic flaw is lack of national identity and ideology. Just defining itself as ‘land of the pure’ islamists is like saying ‘pursuit of excellence’ without defining what is excellence.
This has allowed many folks to enforce a vision of Islam that is both retrogressive and destructive. Civil society in general hasn’t fought such definition of Islam, thus the nation is going down the tube.
Pakistan will be a nation only when majority of its citizens think of their welfare, security, future of their next generation as the most important thing.
They need to think of the collective well being – above ‘bomb’, above ‘kashmir’, above ‘islam’ (What ever their individual definition).
Islam is defined by Allah and Prophet. It doesn’t need protection from mortal men!! They should focus on helping themselves.Recommend
@Tarek
Both Pakistanis and Indians are worried about what happens in Pakistan. In fact, entire world is fussing over Pakistan because it is worrisome.
If you think there is hatred for Pakistan in India, you’d be wrong. Except for a small minority, There is just fear (of a nuclear nation that’s not under clear control of rational civilian players) and pity (for daily innocent deaths).
If majority of India hated Pakistan, then Manmohan singh, who pledged not to go to war for mere terror attacks, wouldn’t have won.
It is sad that Pakistan Army doesn’t realize that there is no scenario in which it can achieve its objectives (Kashmir, Strategic depth) vis-a-vis India. But, there is a possibility for both Pakistan and India to loose, if situation goes nuclear.
Have you ever questioned yourself – Does any sane/normal nation have ‘independent’ army? Thousands of private militia?Recommend
@deep:
The Indians can are in a position to remove this fixation of Pakistan Army. The USA Govt. keeps telling Pak Army to go into Northern Waziristan and dont worry about Indian threat. The Indians can make it a lot easier if they withdraw say 50 miles east from the border, so that Pak Army can go 100 miles west with lock stock and barrel. If these bloody terrorists are a common enemy of INDIA/USA, then why doesn’t MILKE MULLEN advise INDIA to put at ease Pak concerns and withdraw to a safe distance. At that point Pakistan Army will not have any excuse to delay a ruthless, full bloodied onslaught against all terror outfits. So instead of lecturing PAKISTAN, do something practical. After all proof of pudding lies in eating. Rest is all hogwash.Recommend
@harkol:
Completely agree. For once you would be happy to know Harkol that you still have some sane Pakistanis around. National loss of sanity cannot be reversed until insane militant minority can be restrained and de-fanged and destroyed completely. This is the only choice left for Pakistan. Unfortunately there is no leadership and no sense of direction. The very soul of the country is at risk of dying. May Allah help us.Recommend
Tarek
It is because of the delusions of Pakistanis like you, in a land in which hatred of India is imbibed with the mothers milk in the education system, that Pakistan is in the mess it is in. Because of the delusion and denial of supposedly liberal Pakistanis. There is no hope for your land. You are becoming an international pariah because of your hatreds, myopia, paranoia and politics of hysterical demonisation and jehadi bigotry, so deep rooted, most can’t even distinguish it from the norm, so much is it a part of the Pakistani atmosphere.Recommend
@Ahmad
Take India out of the equation and the need for maintaining the world’s fifth largest army disappears.
The 20 billion dollar question is, how? Three wars later India is still part of the equation. May be the time has come to rewrite the equation, say, Pakistan AND India, instead of Pakistan OR India, Pkistan + India, in place of Pakistan-India, Pakistan x India, against Pakistan/ India.
Try it, may just work.
PS- However, the ‘fifth largest army disappearing’ voluntarily is not guaranteed.Recommend
People in RAW are very surprised at their own power in Pakistan. That is why the Onion had a headline: “RAW mystified by amazing exploits of unknown agents”Recommend
forget strategic depth we need a stable and friendly afghanistan who supports us if there is a threat from East. India which thinks it should be super power lwet alone regional poer and Pakistan to submit to its yoke .
Muslims of sub-continenet never will and want to submit or feel less equal or independant to hindhu dominated India be it maldives, bangadesh,pakistan, afghanistan, kashmir. periodRecommend
Because of its India obsession,Pakistan is now like a train-wreck in slow motion being watched helplessly by the world.Pakistan Army loves U.S handouts.Common man get a dose of Wahabi-Salafi Islam from Saudi Arabia.No wonder there is so much paranoia.China is a great friend of Pakistan but how much has it helped financially? Chinese are too smart for Pakistan.As regards Kashmir,they dont realize the havoc it will create for 150 million muslims if Kashmir is forcibly taken from India.Recommend
Lets say Kashmir gets solved, that is, either India or Pakistan benefits with mutual consent. Will Pakistani army and ISI still take the biggest pie? Will they still try to keep the minimum deterence to India’s self-defeating buildup which it intends to scare China?Recommend
Pakisan’s exertions in Afghanistan is the result of its realization that India can do Pakistan what Pakistan is doing to India currently: using non-state actors to inflict death and destruction. Jihadis and the “Bomb” allow the Pakistan army, the real power in Pakistan, to create mischief in India. This mischief has many purposes but the most important purpose is that it elevates the need for the Pakistan army to be the singular most important political institution in Pakistan. Which is what the game is all about.
Now however, the chickens have come home to roost. Still the narrative remains the same. The Pakistan army will not give up its position in Pakistani society. And as the jihadis continue to play havoc the shrill cries of the Hindu, Jew, Amrika are started become defeaning. How else can you couch reality?Recommend
@hasan mehmood:
Move 50 miles away from our own border? So that it becomes easy for the Pakistan army to attack us. We have not forgotten your Gibraltar and Kargil misadventures.Recommend
@Cherish Raj:
Then dont expect Pak Army to concentrate single mindedly on North Waziristan.
We have suffered eyeball to eye ball confrontation by Indian Army’s forward mobilization
for more than a year in recent past.
Kargil was not an internationally recognized border. Even the Economist (the particular issue banned in India but not by Pakistan) recognizes neither India nor Pakistan as rightful owner of Kashmir. But we should not get side tracked.Recommend
@micheal:
We want to be economic superpower. All other things will follow.Recommend
@hasan mehmood:
The major cause for Army to stay to fight the virtual war sponsored by pakistani state like LeT,Hizbul.If pakistan can dismantle terror infrastructure in pakistani side kashmir, then pakistani no need to fear.It is is the Pak Army that is bascially designing the foreign policy.Pak army’s policy, you can see through Media propaganda(Nation,GEO Tv).If the civilian will control the state then there will be ever peace in Pak india border.You can ssee the Headly’s revealation how the covert operation of ISI is not known to Civilian leadership.
We have issues with china, we don’t have any virtual war nor we accuse china of any wrongdoing because china is controlled by civilian leadership who has patience to solve the dispute.Recommend
@hasan mehmood
If kargil is not international border then India is free to mobilize its army into Pakistan occupied kashmir right?Recommend
People who suffer from this india centric ‘security’ mindset ignore that in all those 4 wars it was Pakistan who fired first.Recommend
@Hasan Mahmood
Then dont expect Pak Army to concentrate single mindedly on North Waziristan.
North Waziristan is a deal between US and Pakistan. Whether Pakistan wants to be single minded, half minded, double minded or absent minded about it is also something between US and Pakistan.
India would be happy if Pakistan could be single minded about Muridke, Bahawalpur, Muzaffarabad and a certain address in Clifton.
How about it?Recommend
@Hasan Mehmood
The Indians can make it a lot easier if they withdraw say 50 miles east from the border, so that Pak Army can go 100 miles west with lock stock and barrel.
On August 13th, 1948, the UN resolved,
As the presence of troops of Pakistan in the territory of the State of Jammu and Kashmir constitutes a material change in the situation since it was represented by the Government of Pakistan before the Security Council, the Government of Pakistan agrees to withdraw its troops from that State.
Please go lock stock and barrel and prove that you are sincere to the UN Resolutions and to the people of Kashmir.
http://www.jammu-kashmir.com/documents/jkunresolution.htmlRecommend
@observer:
The Government of India and the Government of Pakistan reaffirm their wish that the future status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir shall be determined in accordance with the will of the people This was repeatedly acknowledged by NEHRU.
Instead of technicalities / procedural matters the big picture has to be kept in mind. If Pak Army withdraws from its part of Kashmir, nothing will happen. But can you honestly say the same about Indian Army?
But why are we being sidetracked? This is an endless debate. My original plea remains the same. Take away the fear of Indian opportunism and leave Pak Army with no excuse to single mindedly go after terrorists. Its in your own interest. If we get overrun by Taliban, imagine the security nightmare it will create for India. Believe me Mumbai attack will look like a firecracker.Recommend
@abhi:
If kargil is not international border then India is free to mobilize its army into Pakistan occupied kashmir right?
Sure why not? In that case Pakistan will do what India did in 1965.
Please do not distract from the issue. Be practical.
In any case India can provide necessary assurance through third party.
Remember we under American pressure /advise did not take advantage of Sino-India war in 1962.Recommend
@Hasan Mehmood:
Nehru is dead. And so is that defunct UN Resolution.
Don’t blame us for that. Blame ‘Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’.
First, he fomented a genocide of East Pakistanis (Bangladeshis).
Then, he made a fool of himself and bought shame on West Pakistan,
by walking out on the world’s comity of nation in the Security Council no less.
Then, he stopped at Heathrow airport to call the British names.
Then, he promised to make people eat grass (which they still are economically),
to make nuclear bombs. Then, he facilitated the opening of China to the US …
talk about being a a lackey. Then, he signed the Shimla Accord,
a fig leaf given by Indira Gandhi, to give a few more extra years of life
to a man with a painted bullseye on his Saville Row bespoke suit.
Then, he promoted Zia Ul Haq to the rank of a general.
And, finally succumbed to that dastardly man’s own machinations.
There, I have repeated the entire continuum to the continued dissolution of
a state, that could have been very progressive had it given the East Pakistanis,
the very rights, that you accuse us Indians of denying our own Kashmiri brothers.
You have alienated us from them, just as you alienated yourself from us.
Because we weren’t Muslims. Were we not humans then. Are we not so now?
Furthermore, you alienated yourselves from your erstwhile compatriots as well.
Now, you want to persist on the same path … yet again.
Don’t read history in the dark with coloured glasses. Understand the mistakes,
which your leaders and army continues to make repeatedly … IN YOUR NAME.Recommend
@Hasan Mehmood:
India had not attacked Pakistan in 1965 first. Pakistan had, in its infinite stupidity, believed that it could send its armies of private militia into Kashmir and snatch it from India. Naturally, India responded, and responded hard. Problem with Pakistani education is: Brainwashing starts at school and the reems of history taught there are all caricatures of what had actually happened. We, in India, have read about the Mughals and great Muslim rulers such as Akhbar – we have great respect for them as our history books did not teach us a bigoted, one-eyed version of biased history. This tinted and tainted view of the world and history has to be changed in Pakistan – else, justification for subversion, terrorism and aggression is destined to continue.Recommend
@Hasan Mehmood:
“Instead of technicalities / procedural matters the big picture has to be kept in mind. If Pak Army withdraws from its part of Kashmir, nothing will happen. But can you honestly say the same about Indian Army?”
The taste of pudding is in its eating. Remove and see. You will get the true picture.Recommend
@Santanu:
A reply should be to the point, rational and shorn of jingoistic emotions and not a chance to go off on a propoganda offensive. When will we start behaving in a mature manner.All I said is that India is welcome to attack our part of Kashmir and we shall do the same in response similar to what India did in 1965. If you justify your act in face of our supposed stupidity in 1965, why you dont give us the right of same response in case of your similar stupidity?
I would again request my Indian brothers not to side track the issue. If extremists are supposed to be our common enemies, the least India can do is to remove threat of pincer movement. We dont want to be trapped between Extremists and Indian forces.As I said earlier a Taliban dominated Govt. will be 100% times more dangerous for India. Why? Because they dont worry about sanctions / economic meltdown / civic facilities / inflation etc like normal political parties.Recommend
@hasan mehmood, for your own development, don’t say India attacked pakistan in 1965.
This is wrong.
If there was a competetive exam ( for international recruitment for job or study) don’t answer that India Attacked Pakistan in 1965, You will lose marks probably the seat for job or study also.
For your information try to study history from other authors of pakistan/india/world over also.
Try to reason why others are saying something different than what you have studied.
This is from a well wisher. Rest god bless you.Recommend
@Hasan Mehmood
Take away the fear of Indian opportunism and leave Pak Army with no excuse to single mindedly go after terrorists.
Well all the opportunistic interventions, be it 1948 Kabailis, or 1965 Gibraltarians or 1999 Mujahidin of NLI, came from the same source. And that source was NOT India. Incidentally, Kargil happened when the Indian Army had withdrawn from its forward posts.
So there.
If we get overrun by Taliban, imagine the security nightmare it will create for India.
Ever seen a child trying to blackmail the world by holding his breath? Stop negotiating with a gun to your temple. Fighting the monsters is first and foremost in your own interest.Rest assured if India has not attacked in response to Indian Parliament and Mumbai, India will not attack in response to Pak Army taking the fight to Muridke and Bahawalpur.Recommend