Book review: The Army and Democracy, by Aqil Shah
Pakistan is on shaky terms with democracy. Since the Muslim state won independence in 1947, only once has it spawned an elected government that finished its tenure and peacefully passed power to a successor - in May 2013.
by Aqil Shah
Harvard University Press
3 stars
Pakistan is on shaky terms with democracy. Since the Muslim state won independence in 1947, only once has it spawned an elected government that finished its tenure and peacefully passed power to a successor - in May 2013.
Otherwise, Pakistan has largely been run by its coup-prone army, notes Harvard University foreign policy scholar Aqil Shah. His chronicle charts the army's rise on the heels of its British forerunner, which treated politics as beyond its scope. In contrast, exploiting the young state's weak solidarity, the Pakistan Army steered public policy, buoyed by pride that persists.
"Often in stark contrast to the facts, military officers exhibit a strong tendency to contrast allegedly successful military enterprises with corrupt and inefficient civilian public-sector corporations," Shah writes. The army reserves the right to ditch its declared political aloofness and meddle at will, he adds.
Yet the army's administrative record is poor. Its most obvious flaw: its insatiable appetite for coups.
Worse, Pakistan is incapable of besting its arch rival, India, judging by the fruitless spats it has had with its Hindu neighbour over Kashmir, among other issues. The army's nadir came in 1971 when it tried to quash its breakaway Bengali-dominated eastern part. India intervened. The resulting religion-themed war lasted just 13 days, but up to 93,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian Army. Humiliatingly, Pakistan lost the land, which became Bangladesh.
