So Ayesha Siddiqa surely knew what she was in for when she published “Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy” (292 pages. Oxford University Press Pakistan). And true to form, the authorities halted the book’s official launch at a government-run club last week, though distribution and sales have not been affected. Siddiqa, a leading defense analyst and former director of research for the Pakistani Navy, has written a blunt critique of how the Army has used its political clout to build up an enormous business empire. For the first time, she details how extensively the military’s business interests have grown over the past four decades. She estimates the military’s share of the economy at more than $10 billion in total assets—plus 4.7 million hectares of land. Aided by heavy state subsidies and tax breaks, Siddiqa writes, the armed forces have become a huge conglomerate, holding interests in banks, insurance, fertilizer, cement farms, dairies and gas stations, many of them controlled by five “welfare foundations.” Siddiqa asserts that few military businesses file financial records, and she lists some senior military officers, mostly retired, who have been allotted urban as well as agricultural plots.
No wonder military officials balked. They alleged the book contains “a plethora of misleading and concocted stories” aimed at giving the military a bad name. Its timing heightened their jitters; since Musharraf suspended the country’s top judge on March 9, he has faced a rising tide of pro-democracy demonstrators. In an attempt to suppress the mounting criticism of the military, Musharraf last week clamped down on the media. Coverage of demonstrations against the government and any criticism of the armed forces are banned—only reinforcing the need for Siddiqa’s important book.
