1) Read the following Washington Post article and tell me where it is wrong?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/26/AR2007062601826.html?noredirect=on
"Active-duty or retired officers now occupy most key government jobs, including posts in education, agriculture and medicine that have little to do with defense. The military also dominates the corporate world; it reportedly runs a $20 billion portfolio of businesses from banks to real estate developers to bakeries."
"History in Pakistan is on the generals' side. They have ruled the country for more than half of the 60 years since independence. Even when civilians have ostensibly been in charge, they have had to bow to the military just to keep their jobs. Of the nation's past three civilian leaders, two are in exile and one was hanged."
"Yet the military's imprint is everywhere. It's by the side of the road, where men in orange jumpsuits labor for a military-run foundation that controls a huge share of the nation's construction industry. It's also present up and down the ranks of the civilian bureaucracy, where government workers answer to retired military men and complain that loyalty is consistently rewarded over hard work or competence. And it's in Riaz's health clinic, where his doctors say they take heat from army inspectors if they spend more than 10 minutes with a patient."
"For Pakistani professionals -- particularly highly trained lawyers, doctors and professors -- the movement has become a chance to decry intrusions in their fields by less educated military men. Civil society, they say, has badly atrophied during Musharraf's tenure."
"For Pakistani professionals -- particularly highly trained lawyers, doctors and professors -- the movement has become a chance to decry intrusions in their fields by less educated military men. Civil society, they say, has badly atrophied during Musharraf's tenure."
"In Rawalpindi, the teeming garrison town just down the road from Islamabad, retired and active-duty officers live in sparkling new gated communities that feature luxury homes, tree-lined streets and grassy parks. Mohammed Shafiq, a 36-year-old clerk, can see one such development from the weedy field in front of his old, squat brick home. "Before, people had good opinions of the army," he said. "Now they are afraid. If soldiers come, we think they are coming to take our land." Land is one of the military's most prized assets, distributed as a perk to top officers, with major generals getting at least 50 acres apiece."
2. The Pakistani military is powerful within Pakistan because it is seen as defending Pakistan against India. This requires that India be seen as a threat. Constantly poking India and getting Indian retaliation helps making India seem as a threat.
From the same article: "One reason for the changed attitude is geopolitical. Pakistan's military has traditionally acted as a bulwark against a hostile neighbor to the east, India. But relations between the two nuclear powers have been warming, and the threat has become less imminent."
While the negative impact of the Pakistani Army is most on Pakistani civilians, the low level war also results in Indian lives lost.
3. In history, military domination of a country has ALWAYS resulted in a bad economy. Don't expect to be any different.
4. Getting Pakistan to advance economically is in the interests of the Pakistani civilians, especially the poor. If you think that you can continue having military domination along with economic growth you are mistaken. Think about this calmly.
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