Article

2010-02-11 India-Pakistan

A brigadier without brigade has a history of thrashing

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Posted by Fred 2010-02-11 00:00|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top

#1 What did I just read?

Posted by Pstanley 2010-02-11 01:18|| 2010-02-11 01:18|| Front Page Top

#2 Compare wid PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > CANADA TRIES TO RAISE TROOPS MORALE AFTER ARREST OF COMMANDER FOR MURDER.

Uh, uh, EAY!?

Gut nuthin.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2010-02-11 01:18|| 2010-02-11 01:18|| Front Page Top

#3 What you just read was that the Brigadier (retd) is a thug who's in the habit of beating up anybody who doesn't agree with him. He's in a sinecure job in an academic institution and he's beaten one of his students to a pulp. Since he got away with that, he's since beaten a professor to a pulp.

Criminal justice in Pakistain follows a civil model, rather than a criminal model. Rather than having "The State vs. Mahmoud" somebody has to file a First Information Report (FIR) or the government doesn't take official notice of the battery or even of murder. If Mr. Brigadier (retd) should happen to beat the snot out of whoever files the FIR and cause him to withdraw it then case dies.

Pakistain is a military oligarchy dressed in the trappings of a democracy. If you want to take care of your family you lay out the rupees to get your boyz into military academy and you marry your daughters into military families that have a shortage of first cousins.

Unless the government starts a war with India the boyz' life expectancy will be good. Promotion runs by academy year group. And when they retire there are land grants (making them landed gentry) and employment -- sinecures for those without especially powerful connections, safe election seats for those with them.

Posted by Fred 2010-02-11 10:27|| 2010-02-11 10:27|| Front Page Top

#4 Thank you.

Posted by Pstanley 2010-02-11 11:11|| 2010-02-11 11:11|| Front Page Top

#5 A Pakistani General is guaranteed to become a millionaire.

Documented in the book Military Inc by Ayesha Siddiqa

Pakistan's generals, Ayesha Siddiqa shows, control empires that would put to shame those of many despots worldwide. On average, senior commanders of the Pakistan armed forces retire with legally acquired assets of between $2.5 and 6.9 million, depending on their rank. President Pervez Musharraf alone, she states, has eight properties, including a 2,000-square yard (1 sq yard = 0.836 sq metre) plot in Karachi, a 1,200-sq yard plot in Rawalpindi, a 12,000-sq yard plot in Gwadar, a 900-sq yard plot in Peshawar and a farmhouse in Islamabad.

According to Ayesha Siddiqa's research, this private wealth is a spin-off of a private military empire: five conglomerates, which are estimated to control one-third of all heavy manufacturing and run almost 100 subsidiaries with interests in everything from cement to cereal production. These enterprises have helped create massive networks of employment and patronage, which sustain the armed forces' control of civil society. While the armed forces claim that their operations are self-sustaining, just nine of the 96 major armed forces-owned businesses file public, audited accounts - and they have often received massive bailouts from the state, not to mention extensive subsidies.

Approximately 12 per cent of the Pakistani state's total landholding of 93.67 million acres (1 acre = 0.405 hectares) is controlled by the armed forces. While other institutions such as the railways, Ayesha Siddiqa notes, also have significant lands, the armed forces are unique in having the power to put public holdings to private use. Thus, of the armed forces' 11.58 million acres, 6.8 million acres of rural land is held directly by individuals, retired and serving. Another 35,000 acres have been handed over to subsidiaries controlled by the armed forces, such as the Army Welfare Trust, the Fauji Foundation and the Bahria Foundation.

Posted by john frum 2010-02-11 14:08|| 2010-02-11 14:08|| Front Page Top

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