By IANS
Islamabad : Business enterprises run by the Pakistani military are inefficient and unprofitable, says a security analyst whose book on the country’s armed forces has created a storm here.
Ayesha Siddiqua also maintains that the Pakistani military budget is larger by between Rs.60 billion ($990 million) and Rs.70 billion ($1 billion) than what is cited in official figures.
Siddiqua, the author of “Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy”, was speaking at Washington’s Woodrow Wilson Centre, Daily Times reported Thursday.
According to the author, Pakistani military businesses – which she terms Milbus – are neither very transparent nor are several of these run in an efficient or profitable manner.
Such enterprises are characterised by a “lack of accountability”, which makes them “illegal”.
In this context, she pointed to the example of the Pakistan Air Force-run Shaheen Airlines that was closed down after some years because of heavy losses.
With the aid of a power point presentation, Siddiqua listed the various enterprises in which the Pakistani military is engaged, ranging from cornflakes to banking.
She also spoke about the induction of serving and retired military personnel in civilian posts, as well as in businesses enterprises run by one or other of the military’s welfare organisations.
Siddiqua maintained that her book was not about the Pakistan Army as has been made out, but about the larger question of “military capital” with Pakistan serving as a case study.
She said she wanted to study the impact of military business on the country in the context of authoritarian rule and wanted to investigate their impact on the economy and society in general.
In the process, she discovered that other stakeholders such as the feudal classes and the privileged sections of society had become willing partners of the military for protecting their own privileges, Siddiqua pointed out.
On the defence budget, she said that military pensions that accounted for Rs.30 billion ($445 million) to Rs.35 billion ($500 million) were not shown in the document and if all the unreported or camouflaged figures were added up, Pakistan’s military spending would be over six percent of its GDP.