While taking over Pakistan through Martial Law in 1958, Field Marshal Ayub Khan proclaimed, “I have no intention of perpetuating martial law. As soon as conditions permit, a democratic system suited to the genius of our people will be introduced.” However, he did not restore the pre-1958 parliamentary democracy. Instead, he prolonged his stay for as long as he could physically sustain (11 years), and then handed over to yet another military general, Yahya Khan. Later, General Zia-ul-Haq also claimed after his military takeover in 1977, “I have no intention of staying in power a day longer than is necessary. Elections will be held in October 1977.” He too suffered convenient amnesia and continued for over 11 years before dying mysteriously in an air crash. Later, General Pervez Musharraf was to make a similar promise in his inaugural address following a coup: “I have no political ambitions. I will restore true democracy in this country.” He, too, ruled for nine years until he was forcibly removed.
Today, Pakistan is yet again caught in a vortex of militaristic manipulation that amounts to the usurpation of complete power, albeit under the cover of constitutional ratification. Following the footsteps of militaristic overreach as initiated by the first self-appointed Field Marshal, Ayub Khan, the current, similarly self-appointed Field Marshal, Asim Munir, has tightened his vicelike grip over the Pakistani narrative via the infamous 27th Amendment to the Pakistani Constitution. Herein, besides doing away with the post of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), and instead anointing himself also as the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), thereby controlling even the Navy and the Air Force, the Field Marshal will be granted permanent immunity from prosecution for life and will retain the rank and privileges for life. He also gets to choose the army-based Commander of the National Strategic Command, thereby retaining the vital levers over the critical nuclear wherewithal. Effectively, the Field Marshal has privileged his absolute control over all major elements of governance for life, with no accountability.
But, unlike the ham-handed coup d’états of the past, the five-star Field Marshal Asim Munir has been far more guarded, wily, and surreptitious in his takeover approach. By empowering himself beyond questioning, he has effectively ensured that he and subsequent military chiefs have the protective cover of the Pakistani Constitution to rule de facto, without any official responsibility, as the ceremonially senior-most and highest posts of the executive will ostensibly be held by the civilian President and the Prime Minister, respectively. For all practical purposes, the well-established principle in a participative democracy — that the military is subservient to the civilian government-remains a farcical pipedream.
The remit of the 27th Amendment also simultaneously destroys the powers of other institutions of authority, ie, the Supreme Court, the last remaining vestige of checks and balances, as that too would be brought under the will of the executive powers (which in any case will always remain beholden to the military “establishment”). Therefore, the courts could be expected to be populated by “friendly judges” who will do the bidding of the government, thereby curbing independent and unbiased decisions. With all such suppression of the institutions of checks and balances, and the concurrent valorisation of the Pakistani “establishment”, the Field Marshal will have the final say on all matters of governance.
Already, the Field Marshal is making surreal dashes from Washington DC to Riyadh to Ankara, making some extraconstitutional pitches — for example, the images of the Field Marshal brandishing and pitching rare metals in a suitcase to a clearly excited Donald Trump. This led Asim Munir to earn the dubious honour of Donald Trump calling him “my favourite Field Marshal.” This further signals the approval of the Pakistani constitutional coup d’état by the United States of America, and the obliging sheikhdoms will merrily toe the same line. The only other key player in the Pakistani calculus, ie, the Chinese, would also be more than happy to let the Field Marshal run the show, as he would remain their most effective bet to protect the Chinese investments in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
The unnatural and unhappy alliance between the two erstwhile political rivals, ie, Pakistan Muslim League — Nawaz faction (PML-N) and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), would meekly continue with the current coalition arrangement, as their own disrepute in the eyes of the masses, and the parallel popularity of the incarcerated leadership of Imran Khan’s Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI), will be an existential fear.
It is a fact that, should the Pakistani military pull the rug from the current coalition government and allow free and fair elections, Imran Khan would romp home; thus, the current coalition would remain pliant, beholden, and subservient to the will of Field Marshal Asim Munir. Thus, with little or no opposition to their operational mandate, given the constitutional cover, the absence of any political opposition, and the acquiescence of all international stakeholders, Field Marshal Asim Munir will rule with utter immunity and impunity.
With plausible deniability for any wrongdoing (for which the civilian government will bear the blame), the democratic government in Pakistan will run Pakistan in theory, not in practice, as all roadblocks for a coup d’état-like situation favouring the Pakistani military, are in place. Democracy in Pakistan will exist only in name.
The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lieutenant Governor of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Puducherry; his views are personal
