Speakers at an International Conference on Civil Military relations have called for establishing a relation of trust between military and democratic institutions which is the only way of strengthening the institutions and thus paving the way for country's progress and prosperity.
They expressed these views in a conference organised by Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency (Pildat) here on Tuesday.
They said civil and military relations should be balanced so that the norms of the society should not be disturbed. They also discussed that how military intervention in the world should be prevented.
They also said that the emphasis of the military rulers was on the management of the political leadership and not on the political participation. They also said that the military top brass will continue to work as power bloc in most developing countries, although their actual clout will vary from political system to political system. They said that military influence policy making to protect their professional and corporate interests from the sidelines through different formal and informal channels.
They said direct military take over was going to be the last resort except in the state where the political elite is small and narrow based with hardly any credible political institutions and processes or where the state apparatus is virtually paralysed by internal strife.
Speaking on the occasion Senior Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab Sardar Zulfiqar Khan Khosa has said that we can stop military intervention in Pakistan only by implementing Charter of Democracy which was signed by both the leaders of the major political parties PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif. He said that government should be run by political parties and not by military. He criticised military rulers for openly patronising the political leadership of their choice.
Former Governor Sindh Lt General Moinuddin Haider (retd) has said that first the Pakistani rulers welcome the military rulers and then these rulers were disgraced by the people because they failed to solve their problems. He said that Pakistan have failed to evolve a system of smooth transfer of power. He denied the impression that military came into power to safe guard their economic interests.
Former Indian Secretary Defence Production and Supplies Narendra S Sissodia while speaking on the Civil-Military Relations in India said that roots of democracy was very strong in India because institutions such as election commission were very strong and there was a balance in the powers of executive, legislative and judiciary. He said that it is very difficult to amend the constitution in India because it needs consensus whereas in Pakistan every ruler made amendments according to his own wishes.
He said that army has no right to question the policies of the government. He also said that agencies should be accountable before the government. In India, however, sufficient authority has been delegated to Armed Forces in matters of finance. Defence budgets and important policy issues are discussed in Parliament and its Standing Committee on Defence. Audit Reports and expenditure are scrutinised by other parliamentary committees, namely the Public Accounts Committee and Estimates Committee.
He said that the relationship between the Civilian Government and military in India has been under strain on a few occasions, but the ultimate supremacy of the government has never been questioned.
He stressed the need of good relations with Pakistan because the world is now without boundaries. On the question of stoppage of water in the rivers by India he said all the issues should be solved according to the international treaties and bilateral talks. He also said people of Pakistan have the courage to maintain democracy.
Justice Saeeduzzaman Siddiqui said new civilian government should take steps for the consolidation of democracy.
Later, civil-military relations in Turkey and Indonasia were discussed by the speakers. Former Finance Minister Sartaj Aziz while summing up the discussion said that people of the country would accept those rulers who would work for the betterment of the economy and they will not accept those rulers who would do nothing for the economic uplift of the people.
Sartaj Aziz said that while discussing the Indonesian case, we should remember that President Suharto's decline in 1998 was the direct result of economic crisis and caused the per capita decline by 20 percent. Dictatorship prevailed during this time but as soon as Asia recovered from the economic crisis, the need to revive the civilian rule was felt.
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