Reforming Command Without Weakening It - Part 1 - A Pragmatic Approach for Systemic reform in Pakistan starting with the Army

[Oscar]

For the last 20 years civilians are being given the chance and support to evolve , grow and get smarter... problem is that civilians get cocky , they are like kuttay ki dum .

Or the establishment is insecure.
Chicken or the egg.

The way to address this is NOT to tackle one issue - but rather look at the overall national characteristic that creates this - and instead of demonizing one arm of the state - enable it to recognize patterns so it can then encourage the other parts to get over theirs.

 

[Oscar]

You took your time to come up with these suggestions and these are good, but there is one big problem. Military leadership Do Not want these reforms (Most of them).
They support corrupt civilian leadership so that no one can challange their rule. Previously there was no social media so the information to the public was managed, but now with social media everyone has access to information which makes it hard for them to hide their true face.

And you have affirmed what I have already outlined in the article - that if the guilt is already decided - why would anyone in the military want change?
The polarization will only go further and just because everyone has access to information and can speak about it - they should mistake speaking as ability to decipher or state truth.

 

[Oscar]

Problem with Pakistan, is that NOBODY inside Pakistan, wants to fix it

That is also of the assumption that the process is already lost.
For e.g. - a flock of flamingoes that landed in Islamabad was slaughtered en masse by some elements.

One can take that as two ways -
The people are beyond redemption and should be allowed in their path to destruction undeterred.

OR

The state has failed utterly and needs a rethink that even those with myopic short term selfish gains are now running out of space to make those gains and could be convinced otherwise.

 

[Oscar]

@Oscar

This is a very good piece and I read it with serious interest.

Military reform is a need of the time and civilian political institutions are needed but I would suggest that a cultural change within the military itself can be created by reforms to the force structure.

what if, for eg, the military wasn’t so officer heavy? I.e. there was a conscript structure similar to Israel that brought in large numbers of “Citizen soldiers” for short term service and offered the career path to select few based on performance? In the Pakistani context, the “professional military” creates a permanent officer class with an incentive for personal enrichment followed by a large permanent underclass of NCOs and losers which tends to concentrate the pain of military service in certain geographic areas. This would also reduce the pension burden and create a system where the nation’s culture grew stronger through shared experience and service.

The military does have a strong institutional culture that civilian institutions could use more of, which this method could promote over time rather than direct intervention by the military. As civilians from different backgrounds would enter the military, this would also break down barriers and cause irreversible permanent change to the worst aspects of Pakistani military culture.

The biggest challenge to all of this would be the fact that the military has very large institutional holdings in significant parts of the economy that would have to be privatized which is something that would be very difficult to make happen in order to break the ossified top heavy culture that the current system tends to create.

What is the average background of the resources that make up the military? What is their background - what is the traditional response of that background to responsibility, power and teamwork?
An officer isnt an immediate officer the second they join Kakul - the academy makes(in every form of resource) to turn those young men of a variety of backgrounds who still will carry a lot of their cultural baggage into some form of cohesive operating individuals.

 

[nervouscar]

Bhai aap ko day dain 6 maah k liye mulk ko sanbhalna?

I bet you won't be able to sort it out!

You know it too no?

I cannot bet but can hope of having less disaster than currently present people .Policy making is core to many issues solution. Enforcement comes afterwards . Currently there is no will in current rodents occupying critical positions to even correct the course..

 

[nervouscar]

My 2 paisas suggestion..
A drastic change can be a merger of some level between army medical core and the civilian medical side. 18 amendment to further include joint control mechanism. Uplifting the quality of health care. Removing fake doctors and fake staffs roaming in hospitals. More involvement of NIC based healthcare. Posting and field works in remote district hospitals.
Starting by public awareness on how improving healthcare will benefit everyone. Special benefits to professional acquiring skills and returning to pakistan. Special focus on medical university students in senior or final years of degree completion.clinic registration specially in karachi with mandatory license picture outside clinic