Pakistan Army: Institution that Matters

Described variously as a ‘garrison’ or ‘praetorian’ state’, Pakistan is the only country in South Asia that has been under military rule for almost three-quarters of its sovereign existence. Even after the restoration of civilian rule, the Pakistani military has continued to call shots on the key domestic and foreign policy issues. Ashish Shukla’s book, Pakistan Army: Institution that Matters identifies a variety of factors that have led to this in an attempt to explain the military’s enduring dominance in Pakistan’s state structure since its creation as a separate independent country for Muslims of the Indian sub-continent by making a historical analysis of the problematic process of state-building. While sustained hostility with India and the security alliance with the US have strengthened Pakistan’s military, its political weight is derived partly from its self-appointed role as a guardian of the state; and in greater part by the legal-constitutional powers accorded to it after each direct political intervention. The book also discusses the domestic as well as regional implications of Pakistan military’s institutionalised political primacy especially in the context of the growing Islamisation of the army given its sentry role as the defender of the country’s ideological borders.