The Pakistan Armed Forces have been criticized for eroding democratic processes in Pakistan, for being the largest business conglomeration in the country and for excessive control over the domestic and foreign policies of Pakistan. Critics of the Pakistan Army, such as human rights activist Manzoor Pashteen, have been jailed while like-minded Pakistani citizens are warned against criticizing the military establishment. [1] [2] In Pakistan, the military is considered a part of what is known as The Establishment; they control the state through a backdoor and are a part of a working deep state.
The Establishment's runs Pakistan's largest business conglomeration with more than 50 business entities worth over US$20 billion; owned through Army Welfare Trust, Defense Housing Authority, Fauji Foundation and Shaheen Foundation; runs Pakistan's largest business empire ranging from petrol pumps to huge industrial plants, banks, bakeries, schools and universities, hosiery factories, milk dairies, stud farms, and cement plants, as well as 8 jewels in their crown Defence Housing Authority townships on prime lands across Pakistan in which awards military personnel farm lands and housing plots. [3]
The Establishment has control over the foreign, [4] and domestic policy of Islamisation of Pakistan. [5] [6] [7]
According to the historian Professor Mubarak Ali, textbook "reform" in Pakistan began with the introduction of Pakistan Studies and Islamic studies by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1971 into the national curriculum as a compulsory subject and the military dictator Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, under a general drive towards Islamization, started the process of historical revisionism in earnest and exploited this initiative. 'The Pakistani establishment taught their children right from the beginning that this state was built on the basis of religion – that's why they don't have tolerance for other religions and want to wipe-out all of them.' [8] Also , non muslims aren't allowed to serve on high ranks in the Armed forces or the government establishment , as it's clearly mentioned in the Pak constitution that a non muslim can't be a head of state
Core principles/values of the Establishment are the policy of treating India as an arch-rival and existential threat, the Kashmir liberation from hindus , Islamisation of Pakistan, Punjab as the heartland/core of Pakistan, strategic use of non-state militants and other Islamic states as Pakistan's natural allies. [9]
During the rule of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq a "program of Islamization" of the country including the textbooks was started to ingrain school kids with Islamised fundamentals. [10] [11] According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, since the 1970s Pakistan's school textbooks have systematically inculcated hatred towards India and Hindus through historical revisionism. [12] These school books played a key role in spreading hatred against non-Muslims, particularly against Hindus and distorted the history. [13] Professor Marwat blamed General Zia for “sowing seeds of discord in society on religious and ethnic lines by stuffing school curricula with material that promoted hatred now manifested in the shape of extremism, intolerance, militancy, sectarianism, dogmatism and fanaticism ... after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 countless lessons and chapters were introduced that spread hatred among the students and portrayed India as the biggest enemy of the Muslims. That stuff should be done away with." [14] According to Tufts University professor Seyyed Vali Reza Nasr, Indophobia in Pakistan increased with the ascendancy of the militant Islamist Jamaat-e-Islami under Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi. [15] Indophobia, together with Anti-Hinduism and racist ideologies, such as the martial race theory, were the driving factors behind the re-writing of school textbooks in Pakistan (in both "secular" schools and Islamic madrassahs) in order to promote a biased and revisionist historiography of the Indian subcontinent that promulgated Indophobic and anti-Hindu prejudices. These narratives are combined with Islamist propaganda in the extensive revising of Pakistan's history. By propagating concepts such as jihad, the inferiority of non-Muslims, India's perceived ingrained enmity with Pakistan, etc., the textbook board publications used by all government schools promote an obscurantist mindset. [16]
The Establishment is allegedly responsible for the thousands of kidnapping and disappearances. [17] and described as epidemic by Human Rights Watch (HRW), [18] forced appearances, extrajudicial killings and targeted killings of people which the establishment consider enemy of the state. [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] [27] Through direct involvement of military and ISI in these activities. [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] In July 2011, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan issued a report on illegal disappearances in Balochistan which identified ISI and Frontier Corps as the perpetrators. [34] The Establishment in Pakistan is responsible for the ongoing forced disappearance in Pakistan, a form of kidnapping, torturing and extrajudicial killing its own citizens without any judicial due process. After the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, forced disappearance in Pakistan began during the rule of military dictator General Pervez Musharraf (1999 to 2008). [35] After Musharraf resigned in August 2008, he was charged with various human rights violations. [36] During Musharraf's tenure, many people were forcibly taken away by government agencies. [36] [37] [38]
Shariazation of Pakistan as "primary" policy of Pakistan [39] [40] was initiated and implemented by the government of military dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the ruler of Pakistan from 1977 until his death in 1988, who is "the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam". [41]
Despite the partition of India, and resulting creation of Pakistan based on the concept of separate Islamic nation for the self determination of Muslims, [42] [43] [44] Constitution of Pakistan has Islam as its state religion, [45] teaching of quran and islamiyat is compulsory, [46] [47] Only Muslims can become Prime Minister or President of Pakistan [48] and non-Muslims have not been raised to the highest level in the government recently. However, there remains a precedence of appointing non-Muslims to higher offices as well.
In the judiciary, Rana Bhagwandas and Alvin Robert Cornelius have served as former Chief Justices of Supreme Court. [49] [50]
In the government, Muhammad Zafarullah Khan served as Foreign Minister of Pakistan. Between 1961 and 1964, he was Pakistan's Permanent Representative at the United Nations. From 1962 to 1964, he was also the President of the UN General Assembly. He later rejoined the ICJ as a judge from 1964 to 1973, serving as President from 1970 to 1973. [51]
In the military, General Akhtar Hussain Malik, overall commander for Operation Grand Slam in the Second Kashmir War is regarded as a war hero. His brother, Lieutenant General Abdul Ali Malik, has also served in the army as a 3-star general and commanded the I Corps during the third war with India in 1971. Major General Iftikhar Khan Janjua is the most senior Pakistani officer to have been killed in action [52] and has held command of formations such as 6 Armoured Division, which has seen action in notable battles such as Battle of Mogadishu.
In Pakistan Air Force, non-Muslims have been promoted to the highest ranking position in the past. [53] This is demonstrated by the promotion of Zafar Chaudhry, to the post of Chief of Air Staff. [54] He has also served as managing director of the Pakistan International Airlines. [55]
However, Ahmadis are constitutionally banned from calling themselves Muslims. [56]
The Establishment also engages in the institutionalised persecution of minorities in Pakistan, specially Ahmadiyya, Shias and Hazara after the Islamization of Pakistan by the military dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq who took over the power through military coup. Pakistan is known for widespread discrimination against religious minorities, with attacks against Christians, Hindus, Ahmadiyya, Shia, Sufi and Sikh communities being widespread. These attacks are usually blamed on religious extremists but certain laws in the Pakistan Criminal Code and government inaction have only caused these attacks to surge higher. [57] [58] Sunni militant groups operate with impunity across Pakistan, as law enforcement officials (The Establishment) either turn a blind eye or appear helpless to prevent widespread attacks against religious minorities. [58] The rise of The Establishment in Pakistan-backed Taliban in Pakistan has been an influential and increasing factor in the persecution of and discrimination against religious minorities in Pakistan, such as Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, and other minorities. [59]
Bleed India with a Thousand Cuts is a military doctrine followed by Pakistani Establishment against India. [60] [61] [62] It consists of waging covert war against India using insurgents at multiple locations. [63]
According to scholar Aparna Pande, this view was put forward in various studies by the Pakistani military, particularly in its Staff College, Quetta. [64] Peter Chalk and Christine Fair cite the former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) explicating the strategy. [65] This doctrine was first attempted to flame the Punjab insurgency and then Kashmir insurgency using India's western border with Pakistan. [66] [67]
In a 1965 speech to the UN Security Council, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto declared a thousand-year war against India. [68] [69] Pakistan Army Chief General Zia-ul-Haq gave form to Bhutto's "thousand years war" with the 'bleeding India through a thousand cuts' doctrine using covert and low-intensity warfare with militancy and infiltration. [70] [67] [66]
Ajmal Kasab, a Pakistani [71] [72] member of Pakistan-based [73] globally banned terrorist organization [74] by the United States, [75] [76] Lashkar-e-Taiba, which operates several terrorist training camps in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, [77] launched 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks [78] [79] killing 72 people. [80]
The U.S. Country Reports on Terrorism describes Pakistan as a "Terrorist safe haven" where terrorists are able to organise, plan, raise funds, communicate, recruit, train, transit, and operate in relative security because of inadequate governance capacity, political will, or both. [81] [82] Pakistan's tribal region along its border with Afghanistan has been described as a safe haven for terrorists by western media and the United States Defense Secretary. [83] [84] [85] In 2019, US issued series of official statements asking Pakistan to immediately end support and safe haven to all terrorist groups. [86] A report by Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution states that Pakistan was "the world's most active sponsor of terrorist groups... aiding these groups that pose a direct threat to the United States. Pakistan's active participation has caused thousands of deaths in the region; all these years Pakistan has been supportive to several terrorist groups despite several stern warnings from the international community." [87] Pakistani government's top leaders and Pakistan Army's top leaders are often seen in public sharing stage with the UN and US designated terrorists. [88]
In July 2019, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan on his official visit to the United States admitted the presence of 30000-40000 armed terrorists in the country and that the previous governments were hiding this truth particularly from the US in the past. [89] In 2018, former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif admitted that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attack. [90] Former Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf, a military dictator who took over the power by military coup, conceded that his forces trained militant groups to fight India in Indian-administered Kashmir. [91] He confessed that the government ″turned a blind eye″ because it wanted to force India to enter into negotiations, as well as raise the issue internationally. [91] He also said Pakistani spies in the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) cultivated the Taliban after 2001 because Karzai's government was dominated by non-Pashtuns, who are the country's largest ethnic group, and by officials who were thought to favour India. [92]
The Politics of Pakistan takes place within the framework established by the constitution. The country is a federal parliamentary republic in which provincial governments enjoy a high degree of autonomy and residuary powers. Executive power is vested with the national cabinet which is headed by Prime Minister of Pakistan, who works with the bicameral parliament and the judiciary. Stipulations set by the constitution provide a delicate check and balance of sharing powers between executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government.
Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq was a Pakistani military officer who served as the sixth president of Pakistan from 1978 until his death. He also served as the second chief of the army staff of the Pakistan Army from 1 March 1976 until his death.
Jamaat-e-Islami, or Jamaat as it is commonly known, is an Islamist political party based in Pakistan and founded by Abul Ala Maududi. It is the Pakistani successor to Jamaat-e-Islami, which was founded in colonial India in 1941. Its objective is the transformation of Pakistan into an Islamic state, governed by Sharia law, through a gradual legal, and political process. JI strongly opposes capitalism, communism, liberalism, and secularism as well as economic practices such as offering bank interest. JI is a 'vanguard party', whose members are intended to be leaders spreading party beliefs and influence. Supporters not thought qualified to be members may become 'affiliates', and beneath them are 'sympathizers'. The party leader is called an 'ameer'. Although it does not have a large popular following, the party is quite influential and considered one of the major Islamic movements in Pakistan, along with Deobandi and Barelvi.
Islam is the largest and the state religion of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. Pakistan has over 240 Million adherents of Islam. As much as 90% of the population follows Sunni Islam. Most Pakistani Sunni Muslims belong to the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, which is represented by the Barelvi and Deobandi traditions.
Islamization or Shariazation, has a long history in Pakistan since the 1950s, but it became the primary policy, or "centerpiece" of the government of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the ruler of Pakistan from 1977 until his death in 1988. Zia has also been called "the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam."
The Inter-Services Intelligence is the largest and best-known component of the Pakistani intelligence community. It is responsible for gathering, processing, and analyzing any information from around the world that is deemed relevant to Pakistan's national security. The ISI reports to its director-general and is primarily focused on providing intelligence to the Pakistani government.
Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan, formerly Tehreek Nifaz Fiqah-e-Jafaria (TNFJ) was the dominant Shia political party in Pakistan between 1979 and 2000. Belonging to the Ja'fari school of Islamic jurisprudence, TNFJ was founded in 1979 by Syed Arif Hussain Al Hussaini supported by Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Hussain Najafi Dhaku. Its creation coincided with the enforcement of controversial Islamic laws by then President of Pakistan, General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq. At the same time, 1979 Iranian Revolution in Shi'a Iran added extra confidence and comfort in the movement.
Rahimuddin Khan was a general of the Pakistan Army who served as the 4th Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1984 to 1987, after serving as the 7th governor of Balochistan from 1978 to 1984. He also served as the 16th governor of Sindh in 1988.
The situation of Human Rights in Pakistan is complex as a result of the country's diversity, large population, its status as a developing country and a sovereign Islamic democracy with a mixture of both Islamic and secular law.
Sectarian violence in Pakistan refers to violence directed against people and places in Pakistan motivated by antagonism toward the target's religious sect. As many as 4,000 Shia are estimated to have been killed in sectarian attacks in Pakistan between 1987 and 2007, and thousands more Shia have been killed by Sunni extremists from 2008 to 2014, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW). Sunni Deobandis and Barelvis have also suffered from some sectarian violence, with attacks on religious shrines killing hundreds of worshippers, and some Deobandi leaders assassinated. Pakistan minority religious groups, including Hindus, Ahmadis, and Christians, have "faced unprecedented insecurity and persecution" in at least two recent years, according to Human Rights Watch. One significant aspect of the attacks in Pakistan is that militants often target their victims places of worship during prayers or religious services in order to maximize fatalities and to "emphasize the religious dimensions of their attack".
Madrassas of Pakistan are Islamic seminaries in Pakistan, known in Urdu as Madaris-e-Deeniya . Most madrassas teach mostly Islamic subjects such as tafseer, hadith, fiqh and Arabic ; but include some non-Islamic subjects, which enable students to understand the religious ones. The number of madrassas grew dramatically during and since the rule of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq. They are especially popular among Pakistan's poorest families, in part because they feed and house their students. Estimates of the number of madrasas vary between 12,000 and 40,000. In some areas of Pakistan they outnumber the underfunded public schools.
Pakistan and state-sponsored terrorism refers to the involvement of Pakistan in terrorism through the backing of various designated terrorist organizations. Pakistan has been frequently accused by various countries, including its neighbours Afghanistan, Iran, and India, as well as by the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, and France, of involvement in a variety of terrorist activities in both its local region of South Asia and beyond. Pakistan's northwestern tribal regions along the Afghanistan–Pakistan border have been described as an effective safe haven for terrorists by Western media and the United States Secretary of Defense, while India has accused Pakistan of perpetuating the insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir by providing financial support and armaments to militant groups, as well as by sending state-trained terrorists across the Line of Control and de jure India–Pakistan border to launch attacks in Indian-administered Kashmir and India proper, respectively. According to an analysis published by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution in 2008, Pakistan was reportedly, "with the possible exception of Iran, perhaps the world's most active sponsor of terrorist groups... aiding these groups that pose a direct threat to the United States. Pakistan's active participation has caused thousands of deaths in the region; all these years Pakistan has been supportive to several terrorist groups despite several stern warnings from the international community." Daniel Byman, a professor and senior analyst of terrorism and security at the Center For Middle East Policy, also wrote that, "Pakistan is probably 2008's most active sponsor of terrorism". In 2018, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, suggested that the Pakistani government played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that were carried out by Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based Islamist terrorist group. In July 2019, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, on an official visit to the United States, acknowledged the presence of some 30,000–40,000 armed terrorists operating on Pakistani soil. He further stated that previous administrations were hiding this truth, particularly from the United States, for the last 15 years during the War on Terror.
The 1977 Pakistani military coup was the second military coup in Pakistan that took place on 5 July 1977. It was carried out by Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, the chief of army staff, overthrowing the government of prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Antisemitism in Pakistan is the presence of hostility and discrimination against Jews in Pakistan based on prejudices against the Jewish people and/or the religion of Judaism. Alongside the prevalence of general stereotypes, Jews are commonly subjected to negative views, feelings and rhetoric in Pakistan, most of which overlap with and are directly related to the antisemitic views prevalent throughout the Islamic world. Widely regarded as miserly within Pakistani Muslim circles, Jews residing in Pakistan have also faced periodic intolerance by the state, which has intensified since the Islamization period of the 1980s under Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, who propelled Pakistan towards the adoption of strict and highly-conservative Islamic practices and laws. The Jewish population of Pakistan has rapidly decreased since the state's founding and separation from neighbouring India in August 1947, and as of 2019 estimates, stands at less than 200 people amidst Pakistan's total population of over 200 million, the majority of whom are Muslims.
The story of history of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan began on 14 August 1947 when the country came into being in the form of Dominion of Pakistan within the British Commonwealth as the result of Pakistan Movement and the partition of India. While the history of the Pakistani Nation according to the Pakistan government's official chronology started with the Islamic rule over Indian subcontinent by Muhammad bin Qasim which reached its zenith during Mughal Era. In 1947, Pakistan consisted of West Pakistan, East Pakistan and Hyderabad The President of All-India Muslim League and later the Pakistan Muslim League, Muhammad Ali Jinnah became Governor-General while the secretary general of the Muslim League, Liaquat Ali Khan became Prime Minister. The constitution of 1956 made Pakistan an Islamic democratic country.
The 1988 Gilgit massacre refers to the state-sponsored mass killing of Shia civilians in the Gilgit District of Pakistan who revolted against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's Sunni Islamist regime, responsible for vehement persecution of religious minorities as part of its Islamization program.
Conservatism in Pakistan, generally relates to the traditional, social, and religious identities in the politics of Pakistan. American historian Stephen Cohen describes several political constants in Pakistan's conservatism: respect for tradition, the rule of law and the Islamic religion which is integral in the idea of Pakistan.
Bleed India with a Thousand Cuts is a military doctrine followed by the Pakistani military against India. It consists of waging covert war against India using insurgents at multiple locations. According to scholar Aparna Pande, this view was put forward in various studies by the Pakistani military, particularly in its Staff College, Quetta. Peter Chalk and Christine Fair cite the former director of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) explicating the strategy.
The Establishment, also known as military establishment, is a term used in Pakistan which refers to the deep state cooperation of the Pakistan Armed Forces, the Pakistani intelligence community and other pro-military government officials and civilians. Responsible for various military coups, the military-dominated Establishment has directly ruled Pakistan for nearly half of its existence since its creation in 1947, while frequently exerting covert dominance over the political leadership during the remainder. The Establishment in Pakistan includes the key decision-makers in the country's military and intelligence services, national security, as well as its foreign and domestic policies, including the state policies of aggressive Islamization during the military dictatorship of General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq.
The Tehreek Nizam-e-Mustafa or the Nizam-e-Mustafa was a populist, Islamist movement and a slogan which was started in Pakistan by the Jamat-e-Islami and the Pakistan National Alliance in 1977 to overthrow the secular and socialist government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto and establish an Islamic system in Pakistan, inspired from the Sharia, the PNA, which had started this movement believed that the 1977 Elections of Pakistan had been rigged by Bhutto, and therefore, lacked any legitimacy.
Zia ul-Haq is often identified as the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam. Undoubtedly, Zia went farthest in defining Pakistan as an Islamic state, and he nurtured the jihadist ideology ...
... Zia made Islam the centrepiece of his administration.
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ignored (help)A Pakistani human rights group that has accused the military of widespread abuses as it battles Islamist militants in Pakistan's rugged border region with neighboring Afghanistan has emerged as a force among the country's Pashtun minority, drawing tens of thousands to rallies to protest what it contends is a campaign of intimidation that includes extrajudicial killings and thousands of disappearances and detentions.
Several Pakistani journalists and scholars in the United States interviewed over the past week said that they were approached regularly by Pakistani officials, some of whom openly identified themselves as ISI officials. The journalists and scholars said the officials caution them against speaking out on politically delicate subjects like the indigenous insurgency in Baluchistan or accusations of human rights abuses by Pakistani soldiers. The verbal pressure is often accompanied by veiled warnings about the welfare of family members in Pakistan, they said.
In Pakistan, everyone says they have incontrovertible evidence about India's involvement in destabilizing Balochistan. They only won't share the evidence with you because they insist that when evidence is already too evident then why should one make the evident, evident?
... Zia made Islam the centrepiece of his administration.
Zia ul-Haq is often identified as the person most responsible for turning Pakistan into a global center for political Islam. Undoubtedly, Zia went farthest in defining Pakistan as an Islamic state, and he nurtured the jihadist ideology ...
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Pakistan's security apparatus has in the past angrily rejected politicians linking it to militancy. Nawaz Sharif, the former prime minister, faced treason charges last year after an interview where he suggested the Pakistani state played a role in the 2008 Mumbai attack that killed 166 people.