M.D. Nalapat
Manipal, India — Since the 1980s, about six
years after Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq took control from Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, the
Pakistan army has been less a symbol of national unity than an instrument to
ensure the supremacy of the Punjabi element in all reaches of Pakistan society.
Today, the army is replicating in the
northwestern frontier what has always been the case in Baluchistan and Sindh --
frank control over local government through the use of bullets. Although the
Pashtun and Baloch elements have been allowed some representation within the
officer corps, ultimately it is the Punjabi element that decides policy.
Since2003, when they turned against Pervez
Musharraf because of the Pakistan coup master's proclivity to cling to his post
as Chief of Army Staff, the Punjabi element has moved closer to China,
countering moves by Musharraf to align his country firmly with the United
States in the ongoing War on Terror. From 2003 onwards, under cover of the need
to confront Indian control in Kashmir, they have continued to give assistance
to the jihadis. They have blocked U.S. moves to get the Pakistan army to mount
an effective defense against the Taliban sheltering in almost every city in Pakistan,
including Islamabad, where a cluster has set up base about five miles from the
U.S. Embassy complex.
