If we look at the history of Pakistan, it is vividly evident that Pakistani army
has always had a strong hold on all the political and religious parties
of the country. Out of 65 years of independence, army dictators have
ruled Pakistan for about 32 years. Other countries like America, UK and
other imperialists also supported dictatorship to protect their
interests. It is believed that the army of a country should be strong
enough to protect its national interests but in Pakistan, army not only
became the defender of identity and sovereignty of the country but also
felt itself responsible for running the governmental matters.
The role of army is to defend the
country and not to rule it. The democratic governments of Pakistan
always failed to deliver and because of that, the army felt the time of
the need and took bold steps to increase its presence in the state
affairs. Another fact is that the leading democratic parties are a group
of culprits and corrupt people, who always paved the path for the
military to interfere in parliamentary affairs. Due to the inefficiency
of the political leaders and overwhelming corruption on all levels,
Pakistan once ranked among the most corrupt countries of the world.
First martial law was imposed by the
Gen. Ayub Khan in 1958, after that a series of martial laws started. In
1969, Gen. Yahya Khan imposed second martial law and as a result,
Pakistan has to face a severe loss of East Pakistan in 1971, which
eventually became Bangladesh. Third martial law was imposed by Zia ul
Haq who took over the charge of the country in 1977. The worst patch of
military government was of Gen. Pervaiz Musharraf. He has made many
changes in the military act for his personal interest in 2007. Various
incidents like Lal Mosque Operation, Bugti murder and inter-provincial
were all offshoots of his policies, which put hatred in the people for
each other and had a very negative impact on the international integrity
of Pakistan.
Along with the negative aspects of
military role in Pakistan, there have been a lot of positive impacts of
army interference in Pakistan as well. Our army is the 7th largest in
the world in terms of active troops. Pakistani army has always proved
that they are one of the best organized group that helps and even take
the responsibility of protecting the civilians. Army played an admirable
role across the country by helping people during earthquake and flood.
Military plays an extra ordinary role in the disaster relief campaigns
and programs and manages one of the most advanced and reliable disaster
management and control infrastructures. It was the armed forces of
Pakistan that protected sovereignty of the country during the wars of
1965, 1971 and the crises of 1984, 1999 and the war on terror that
started in the later years. Our army has taken many appreciable steps
like the issue of Baluchistan militancy, northern areas and FATA.
Military has always tried to produce a viable solution without getting
into any strife and bringing all segments of the country together and
for this reason, it is one of the most prestigious parts of Pakistan.
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