pakistan’s

Civil-Military Relations: The Struggle Continues
Along with the judiciary, the PPP government (2008–13) had to contend with the military,
which is arguably Pakistan’s most powerful institution. The military has ruled the country directly
for more than three decades of its 68-year history as an independent nation and has been the most
influential actor in shaping Pakistan’s internal security mechanism and formulating its defense
and foreign policy.
Although Pakistan ranks only 172nd in GDP per capita (purchasing power parity) at $4,700 and
ranks 147th on the Human Development Index, it ranks 35th in the world in defense spending. 18
Defense expenditures consume a large percentage of GDP, having averaged 4.5% from 1995 to
2009. 19 In the budget year 2013–14, the allocation for the defense sector was around 1.014 trillion
rupees ($10 billion), or approximately 30% of the total budgeted expenditure. This figure includes
military pensions but excludes 70 billion rupees ($690 million) in coalition support funds and
other security-related spending that falls under “civilian armed forces,” such as the rangers. 20
In the year 2014–15, budgetary allocation for the defense sector was 1.113 trillion rupees
($11 billion), which was approximately 28% of the total budgeted expenditure. The figures exclude
163.4 billion rupees ($1.618 billion) allocated for military pensions from the civilian budget,
165.0 billion rupees ($1.625 billion) from contingent liability, and 85.0 billion rupees ($837 million)
from the coalition support fund. 21
The military budget is presented before the parliament in the form of overall allocations for
the army, air force, and navy, but no additional details are provided nor are allocations discussed.
The military justifies the allocation of a huge portion of the annual budget for defense spending
on the basis of long-standing conflicts and an arms race with India, insurgencies in FATA and
Baluchistan, Pakistan’s geostrategic position in the Afghan war, the military’s increasing role
in internal security in major cities, and more frequent incidents of terrorism. In addition to the
budgetary allocations, the military and military-sponsored organizations, institutions, and
enterprises are able to mobilize enormous resources by running state-of-the-art medical facilities,
schools, colleges and universities, industrial and commercial corporations, banks, engineering
and construction companies, and nationwide real-estate development schemes. 22
Given the history of tension-ridden relations between PPP governments and the military during
the Zulfikar Ali Bhutto government (1972–77) as well as the two governments of Benazir Bhutto in
the late 1980s and mid-1990s, one could not expect much cooperation between these two former
adversaries upon the election of Zardari as president in 2008. Tensions began to surface very early
in the PPP government’s tenure with a move to place the powerful ISI under the direct control of
the Ministry of Interior so as to increase its accountability to the civilian government—a step that
was switly reversed under the pressure of the military. 23 Zardari also had to reverse his decision
18 Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), The World Factbook (Washington, D.C.: CIA, 2015), https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/rankorder/2004rank.html;
and Human Development Report (New York: UN Development Programme, 2015).
19 Muhammad Zafar Anwar, Zain Rafique, and Salman Azam Joya, “Defense Spending-Economic Growth Nexus: A Case Study of Pakistan,”
Pakistan Economic & Social Review 50, no. 2 (2012): 163–82.
20 Kamran Yousaf, “Defence Budget Hiked by 15 Per Cent,” Express Tribune, June 13, 2013.
21 Ismail Sheikh and Kamran Yousaf, “Budget 2014: Govt Announces 700bn Defense Budget,” Express Tribune, June 3, 2014.
22 Ayesha Siddiqa, Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy (London: Pluto Press, 2007), 2.
20
NBR
23 Jon Lunn and Gavin Thompson, “Pakistan in 2013,” House of Commons Library, Research Paper, no. 12/76, December 6, 2012.
SPECIAL REPORT u FEBRUARY 2016