Using Islam for Political Power and Jobs

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Using Islam for Political Power ,Job
Quotas and US Dollars
Agha Humayun Amin
ISBN-13: 978-1507772157
ISBN-10: 1507772157
L19aircraft@gmail.com

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TEN PHASE HISTORY OF INDO PAK
MUSLIMS

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BY
MAJOR AGHA H AMIN (RETIRED)
I find analysis of the Indo Muslim
history by singling out extremism or
Ahmadis or Mullahs as superficial and a
classic case of losing oneslf in trees
rather than seeing the whole wood or
mosaic of many woods from a classic
vantage point.
I hold the view that much of
responsibility of the present ongoing
Muslim extremism with the so called
educated and feudal classes of Indo Pak
Muslims.

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PHASE ONE
MUSLIMS ATTACK INDIA AND FINALLY
SUBJUGATE MOST OF IT 711 AD TO
1600
Muslims attacks on India start in 711 by
Arabs.A foothold is established in Sindh
and South Punjab then known as
Multan.
Muslim attacks under Turks start from
around 1000 AD first major attacker
being Mahmud of Ghazni and a Muslim

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kingdom being established in Lahore
and later at Delhi by Ghauri general
Aibak in 1206.
Expansion and conquest of India by
Tughlaqs ,various Delhi Sultans and
Mughals till 1605 by Akbar.
Consolidation of Mughal Empire by
Jahangir and Shahjahan.
PHASE TWO
Muslim Primacy is challenged 1670-
1737
The first serious challenge to Muslim
primacy came in person of Sivaji in

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1670.Sivaji established a successful blue
print of military success against Muslim
military power long before Indira
Gandhis so called epic triumph in 1971
in a situation in which the odds were far
higher against him than in 1971.
Without doubt the real reason of the
decline of Mughal Empire was Sivajis
and his successors guerrilla wars from
1670 to 1737 when the Marathas raided
suburbs of Delhi.
Between 1737 and 1761 the Marathas
dominated the Muslim political centre of
Delhi and after 1770 till 1803 it was the

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Marathas who controlled Delhi and the
Muslim primacy in India after 1770 had
ceased to exist.
The Muslims of Delhi were however
saved by the private army of English
East India Company in 1803 , as were
the Muslims of Punjab and Frontier in
1845 and 1849.
PHASE THREE
The Muslims re-discover Islam 1761 to
1857
as their supremacy is challenged and
India is conquered by English East India
Company

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While Aurangzebs enforcement of Islam
was act of a monarch , Maratha
occupation of Delhi and Sikh occupation
of Punjab and Frontier did produce a
significant Islamic political reaction in
intellectual terms as signified by Shah
Waliullah and Syed Ahmad Barelvis
Jihad Movement.
Although Syed Ahmad failed in mortal
terms he established a blue print of Holy
War , since then replicated in various
forms.
PHASE FOUR

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The Muslim centred 1857 Rebellion is
defeated and Muslim Elites are faced
with the European system of democracy
and competitive examinations and their
re-discovery of Islam as a political
weapon -1858-1940
Faced with a system of European
education , and competitive
examinations the Indo Pak Muslim elite
under Syed Ahmad Khan re-discovered
Islam.They lobbied for job quotas
successfully on communal basis
although Syed Ahmad dismissed many
Islamic concepts like Miraj etc.

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Using Islam as a tool of class interests
the Muslim elite lobbied for a separate
political entity which came to be known
as separate electorate based on votes
according to religious divisions,Muslims
voting for Muslims and Hindus voting for
Hindus.
The British found the Muslims a useful
tool in their Roman policy of Divide et
Impera.
PHASE FIVE
The Muslim Elite devise a geographical
slogan known as Pakistan to achieve a
position of unfair advantage in which

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division of India would eliminate non
Muslims from a new Muslim state
Till 1940 the Muslims had no clear
slogan although the British top
bureaucrats notably O Dwyer had
already given the concept of an
autonomous Pakistan like Muslim
province in North west India in 1930s.
At Lahore in 1940 the Muslim solution to
the Indian British Hindu political
problem was devised as Pakistan.
The Congress had already annoyed the
British with non cooperation in the war
effort in 1939 and was punished by the

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British by adopting a favourable view
towards a possible division of India.
PHASE FIVE
PAKISTAN IS CREATED AND THE WEST
WING MUSLIM ELITE STRUGGLES TO
SIDELINE THE MAJORITY EAST WING
MUSLIMS FROM POLITICAL SUPREMACY
BY VIRTUE OF HAVING A
PREPONDERANT POSISTION IN THE
ARMY ,INDUSTRY AND CIVIL SERVICE-
1947-56
The Muslim elite thanks to division of
India gained an unfair advantage in
Industry by occupying the business

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vacuum created by departure of Hindus
, Memons and other Gujrati castes and
Chinioti Punjabis in the forefront.
These in league with the majority West
wing bureaucrats manoeuvred to create
unfair monopolies known as 21 families
etc.
The West Pakistani politicians used the
mili.tary and civil service and threats of
dissolution of provincial assembly into
making the East Pakistani Bengalis their
55 % majority into surrender to a 50 %
parity level in 1956
PHASE SIX

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PAKISTAN REDUCED TO A WEST WING
DOMINATED STATE AND A PUNJAB
DOMINATED STATE BY ONE UNIT AND
1956 CONSTITUTION WITH THE SAME
STATUS CARRIED FORWARD BY
IMPOSTION OF MARTIAL LAW IN 1958
LASTING TILL 1969
The West Wing politicians used an unfair
majority in military and civil service into
making the Bengalis surrender their
majority in poulation into a parity.This
was not seen as sufficient and still
fearing a progressive government the
West Wing majority army imposed
martial law in 1958.After 1958 the East

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Wing was literally reduced to a colony
by the West Wing.
PHASE SEVEN
THE BENGALIS DISCOVER THAT THEY
WERE FOOLED BY THE UP AND PUNJAB
DOMINATED MUSLIM ELITE IN NAME OF
RELIGION FROM 1906 TILL 1969 AND
DECIDE TO SECEDE
The East Pakistani Bengalis realised
soon after 1947 that they would not be
allowed a political voice.This feeling
intensified after 1969 Martial law was
parity in votes was replaced by actual
representation as per population.

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The result was the 1971 Crisis as a
result of which the country called
Pakistan was divided into Pakistan and
Bangladesh.
PHASE EIGHT
AN ATTEMPT TO REFORM THE SOCIETY
WITH MIXING SOCIALISM AND
POPULISM WITH ISLAM
ZA Bhutto
a great leader attempted reform by
nationalisation of industry and land
reforms.

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He was misled by characters like Hafeez
Pirzada who influenced him into
declaring Ahmadis non Muslims.
His progressive regime was sabotaged
by an unwilling military and civil service
class from within and international
sabotage by US who was angryb with
him because of his role in the oil
embargo of Arabs and his attempts to
pursue a military nuclear programme
PHASE NINE
ISLAM IS RE-DISCOVERED AS A
POLITICAL TOOL 1977-2001

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As a reaction of ZA Bhuttos political
reforms the urban classes in
Lahore,Karachi and Pakistan reacted to
create a psuedo religious centrist
alliance known as PNA demanding an
Islamic system known as Nizam e
Mustafa.
The US aided this political movement.
The Afghan leftist coup of 1978 brought
in the USSR and the USA also picked
Islam as a useful tool of politics and
state craft.
Pakistan was Islamised to suit the
military junta of Zia then acting as a

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political vassal of USA and Saudi Arabia
in the Soviet Afghan war.
The school syllabus was reformed and
Islamic ideas of Jihad projected a
propaganda tool.
After the USSR withdrawal the same
Islamic card was used like a chewing
gum by Pakistans military in Kashmir
and post 1989 Afghan civil war.
PHASE TEN
Islam

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is no longer fashionable and Pakistan
needs to be more secular- September
2001 till todate
Kicked by USA and also given carrots of
US Dollars Pakistans shameless rulers
abandoned Islam as a political tool.As
shamelessly as they had picked it in
1977 !
After 9/11 Pakistans military rulers
decided to abandon ideology at least
outwardly.
The result was Pakistani civil war
between Islamic Extremists and the

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Pakistani state which continues till to
date.
CONCLUSIONS
Islam was used as a political tool by
Muslim elites to achieve their class
interests all along from 1858b till 1901.
This inadvertently and without a design
created Islamic extremism in
Pakistan.While Muslim elites were
fooling Muslim masses in order to
achieve class advantages the Muslim
common man actually started believing
that Pakistan is an Islamic ideological

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state.This however was not the aim of
the Muslim elite.
Jihad was picked as a useful tool by the
Pakistani military for institutional
aims.When under US pressure this
contradiction was exposed Pakistan
became witness of a civil war.
Islamic Extremism as witnessed today is
result of misuse of Islam as a political
tool by Muslim elite and educated
classes.The Islamic extremists did not
produce this situation but were
produced as a result of this promiscuous

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mixing of political opportunism with
religion.
The Pakistani elite classes including the
so called secular PPP used religion as a
tool to get political mileage , most
notorious of this effort being the
constitutional second ammendment
declaring Ahmadis as non Muslims in
1974.The direct result of this is the
present Ahmadi massacres in Lahore.
The Pakistani military and all politicians
shamelessly used Islam as a political
tool by embarking on a full timer so
called Jihad in Afghanistan,Kashmir

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ect.This includes all Pakistani political
and military regimes from 1977 till 2001
including Benazir Bhutto.
The present political and military crisis
in Pakistan is a direct result of misuse of
religion as a cheap political slogan by
Pakistans so called most educated
Military and Political Classes.
The hard reality is that so called Islamic
extremists have a large number of
sympathisers in Pakistan and are not a
small minority as many in Pakistan
would like the world to believe.

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The final result of this ongoing crisis
may be Pakistans Balkanisation in the
next few years.

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Op Zal Zala (Earthquake). In late
2007, the Mehsuds declared war on the
State of Pakistan and there was an
escalation in the conflict. Forts at
Siplatoi, Ladha, Sararogha and Jandola
were under intense attack. Sararogha
was demolished and the FC platoon
within slaughtered, Siplatoi was holding
out but just barely and Ladha was under
siege with a demoralised force that was
on the verge of surrender. Jandola was
under rocket attack from Spinkai
Razagai. 14 Division was ordered to
clear road Jandola-Kotkai and to pacify

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the area. The Division moved with one
brigade and the divisional reserve
including armour and established
itself in Jandola. It Commenced
operations with a battalion attack on
SpinKai at night, cleared it and captured
the village. Tanks were inserted in the
Tank Zam (river) and they manoeuvred
behind the enemy TTP. The road to
Kotkai including Kotkai was captured in
4 days, a distance of 24 Kms. Total
causalities were 4 on Pakistan army
side and it is assumed about 50 of the
enemy but some bodies were recovered

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of which photos etc are available with
the 14 Division.
The operation will be remembered for
three basic things;
i. Insertion of tanks for the
first time into FATA.
ii. Air Assaullt to relieve
Ladha Fort successfully.
iii. Breaking the invincibility
myth of the Mehsuds and
conducting operation
deep into South
Waziristan, so far not
having been undertaken.

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iv. How to secure line of
communication. Through
heights and ridges.
v. Logistics

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MAJOR GENERAL TARIQ KHAN IN
FRONT OF BAITULLAH MEHSUDS
HOUSE
MAJOR GENERAL TARIQ KHAN-IG
FC- IN FRONT OF BAITULLAH
MEHSUDS DESTROYED HOUSE

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ANNEXURE 1
Pakistani states manipulation of
Pashtuns
Let the pictures speak as the first part
of this summing up of a sad chapter of
history !

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When I started preparing for my first
major bid in Afghanistan " Naghlu-
Kabul" Electric transmission line I went
for pre bid survey on Kabul Lataband
Road.The locals all Pashtuns told us that
they were paid 100 USD per tower for
destroying a pylon in Soviet Afghan War
!
Extremism is a very Pakistani export to
all neighbouring countries.

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Off course the US was also a monster in
this situation as were the Pakistanis who
were the US vassals.In course of my 8
years in Afghanistan I discovered that
major damage of Afghan war was in
Pashtun belt as it was closer to Pakistan
and it was easier to logistically support
the characters destroying pylons.
As I travelled north I discovered that
the north was literally undamaged as it
was farther away from Pakistan ! I leave
it for experts in Pashtun history to judge
whether Pashtun area was damaged in

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order to keep Pashtuns backward or it
was a coincidence !
It would be wrong to brand a Pashtun as
a born lunatic !
The greatest poets in the sub continent
starting from Nawab Shefta Khan
Bangash ,Josh Malihabadi Afridi Akhtar
Sheerani and Ahmad Faraz were
Pashtuns !
Indeed the most progressive Afghans
and Pakistanis have been Pashtuns !

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Without Aslam Watanjar the indomitable
Paktiawal or without Said Gulabozai the
Saur Revolution may have totally failed
in Afghanistan !
My dear Zazi lady friend from Khost
smoke the maximum joints and drank
more vodka than any man that I met in
Afghanistan and preferred being
intimate with the curtains open !
It would be correct to term Pashtuns as
victims of geography , of being divided
in two states , being regarded as a
political threat by non Pashtuns in both

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Pakistan and Afghanistan ! Being more
adventurous and brave than any race in
the region , thanks to geography ,
historical circumstances and I hate to
say some racial factors !
The Pashtuns were thus regarded as
cannon fodder by Iranians,
Mughals,Turks ,Sikhs ,British and
Pakistanis and a useful reason to remain
in Afghyanistan by the USA !
When the German Kaiser wanted a
revolt against British in India the only

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ones who cameto rise in revolt were
thetribal Pashtuns !
A Pashtun tribe Afridi is the only tribe in
history where the British Emperor
awarded a Victoria Cross to one cousin
and the German Kaiser the Iron Cross
to the other cousin ! Both fighting in the
same area !
The Mughals imported Iranians against
Pashtuns and were ultimately betrayed
by the Irianians when the Marathas and
Nadir Shah attackedthe Mughals.

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The backbone of Nadir Shahs armys
were the Abdali Pashtuns ! The best
Mughal army soldiers apart from Uzbeks
were Pashtuns !
Yet this race was regarded by fear and
apprehension and throughout history
used to fight proxy wars ! Just because
it was though politically dangerous that
they remained free and grew politically
and economically !
There is no denying that a Pashtun is
formidable in any role ,be it a leftist

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Khalqi or a Taliban ! This is so because
he is brought up to be totally committed
to an idea that he believes in ! This may
be an anthropological or sociological
explanation !
A Safi or a Zadran or a Kharoti is
formidable reagrdless of the fact that he
is Rahmatullah Safi with the ISI or a
Watanjar who was a die hard leftist or a
Gulabozai who was Afghanistans best
Interior Minister and yet polled the
highest number of votes from Khost in
2005 Elections.

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My friend a pro Pakistan Pashtun to the
core heading an ISI sector confessed
that even the best dogs used in dog
fight are bred in Pashtun areas ! It may
be ironically symbolic but true.
My personal observations indicate that
the Pashtuns were regarded as cannon
fodder to be used in Kashmir and
Afghanistan by the Pakistani
establishment . Thus ironically while the
most progressive section in Afghan
socoety were Pashtun Khalqis without
whom there would have been no leftist
coup in Afghanistan ,the Pashtuns

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suffered the most in Afghan war and the
non Pashtuns gained the most ,
politically and economically !
Demography is cruel ! It is devastating
and Pakistans demography is changing !
Karachi is the largest Pashtun city in the
world and we are at a watershed when
Pashtuns may not be manipulated any
longer the way they have been
manipulated in the past !
As they say the wheel turns in history !

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ANNEXURE 2
Pakistans Strategic Failures
We hold the view that Pakistan has been
a strategic failure despite tactical and
mid level successes.
The reason for this failure lies not in
good or bad luck but consequences of
tangible and precise decisions taken by
key Muslim decision makers ,initially
British Indian subjects and after 1947
Pakistani citizens.

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Reasons for Strategic Failures and
Ineptitudes
 Anti Intellectualism
 Opportunism overriding substance
and real talent
 Ethnic Rivalry and Chauvinism
 Violation of merit and parochialism
 British policy
 India’s multi ethnic character and
clash of egoism complicated by
diversity in religion
 System of promotion and
assessment of leaders which

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rewards docility ,meekness,
submissiveness and sycophancy
rather than real talent
 Lack of institutional job security in
military as initiated from Liaquat
tenure in 1951 and in civil services
as initiated by Ayub Khan in 1958
 Destruction of freedom of thought
and speech as implemented by
Ayub Khan under the Qudratulla
Shahab –Gauhar Ayub clique
There are something’s which you write
in life which remain central and classic

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to your intellectual progress and you
keep on returning to those thoughts. To
define anti intellectualism I would like to
quote from my book Pakistan Army
since 1965 , also published as an article
in Defence Journal Karachi in December
2000 :--
There are historical reasons for this
anti-intellectualism. The irony is that the
situation was not remedied after
independence. Education in British India
was aimed at acquiring degrees so that
Indians could become lawyers doctors
or government officials. That they surely
did, in the process of which some

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acquired great wealth and also became
political leaders, senior civil servants
and prosperous middle class
professionals. The intellectual basis of
modern Europe’s success was the
renaissance, the French Revolution and
the Industrial revolution. During this
period great progress was made in
Europe in political thought, philosophy
and scientific advancement. The Indo-
Pak sub-continent was introduced to
modern thought by the British by virtue
of being colonial subjects of the English
East India Company. Thus research
intellectual activity etc were never

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important or of any consequence for the
people of the Indo-Pak. On the other
hand a mad rush towards acquiring rank
and status, government jobs or political
power by claiming to be champions of
Hindu and Muslim rights plagued the
Indo-Pak Sub-Continent! Once this mad
rush for government patronage and jobs
got an impetus from 1858,
communalism became a major factor in
Indo-Pak politics. This was since at this
time the other parts of the world were
talking about nationalism, socialism and
political liberties. All the intellectual
thrust of Indians was towards

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interpreting laws in communal terms!
This was a Godsend blessing for the
British colonial rulers! They encouraged
communalism since it divided the
Indians and ensured that they stayed
away from dangerous ideas like war of
liberation against the colonial state or
from socialism or communism. The
British very cleverly introduced
parliamentary institutions, which
enabled the leading Indians to divert
their energy into harmless constitutional
debates!

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The fathers of communalism as an idea
in Indian politics were Syed Ahmad
Khan, Lala Lajpat Rai, Gandhi and the
Jauhar brothers! The British on the
other hand right from 1858 followed a
subtle but brilliant policy, introducing
parliamentary democracy as bait to
divert the energies of the more
prominent Indians! A bait, which
aroused ambition, whether based on
ego, lust for glory, social recognition or
material rewards! Peaceful yet heroic!
Safe yet glorious! The double advantage
of pursuing a prosperous law practice or
business career or wielding feudal power

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while at the same time also being
leaders of the subject Indians and the
possible successors of the British
Viceroys! Parliamentary democracy or
its prospects once the British finally left
India produced two distinct kinds of
reactions, both of which helped the
British and went against the people of
the Indo-Pak Sub-continent! The leaders
of the Hindu majority saw themselves as
successors of the British Viceroys while
the principal leaders of the Indian
Muslims hypothesised that
parliamentary democracy in
independent India would mean Hindu

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ascendancy and Muslim subservience or
more correctly all power in the hands of
the Hindu politicians! The Hindu-Muslim
question in reality was a ‘Hindu-Muslim
leaders clash of ego’ question! It all
started once the British introduced local
self-government based on elections
from the 1860s and aggravated more
and more as leaders who were Hindu by
accident of birth tried to sideline other
leaders who were Muslim by accident of
birth! Initially leaders from both the
communities talked in terms of high
sounding slogans like ‘Nationalism’
‘Liberty’ ‘Democracy’ etc but became

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more narrow in approach once their
religion became a psychological
disqualification in being leaders of all
Indians! The fact that the vast majority
of Indians whether Muslim or Hindu
would remain poor as they were before
1947 and are in the year 2000 was not
important for these men. The Congress
and League were essentially bourgeois
parties with a larger feudal presence in
the league and a larger urban business
presence in the Congress. Both these
parties employed religion as a tool to
further their party agendas, middle class

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business class or feudal on the whole
and egoistic at the higher level!
Nehru was an atheist and a socialist, Mr
Jinnah was a highly Westernised man,
and yet both were great Hindu and
Muslim leaders. Both the parties were
instruments of business professional
and feudal classes to achieve maximum
power and both increasingly divided
Indian society on communal lines simply
because their leaders were essentially
highly egotistical men! The irony of
Indo-Pak history is the fact that modern

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Indo-Pak history is a story of clash of
great men like Nehru and Jinnah who
employed religion as a tool simply
because they correctly albeit ironically
realised that the people of the Indo-Pak
were too naive to understand vague
slogans like liberty or democracy and
could only be galvanised or mobilised by
raising religious slogans! In a more
advanced Indian society Nehru and
Jinnah may have been leaders of all
Indians rather than only Hindu Indians
or Muslim Indians! India, however, was
like Europe around the time of the 30
years war and thus both these great

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men were forced by historical
circumstances to be only communal
leaders! Both wanted to be leaders of all
Indians regardless of race or religion,
but both were forced, thanks to the fire
of religious communalism lit by glorified
agitators or complex and outwardly
impressive hypocrites like Gandhi to be
communal leaders! Nehru was too
sophisticated a man to be a Hindu and
Jinnah was too enlightened a man to be
only a leader of Indian Muslims. It was a
twist of fate that both are today
remembered albeit rightly as leaders of
Hindu or Muslim India.

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Thus while the other parts of the world
intellectually as well as materially made
great progress during the period 1850-
1950 all the energies of the Indians at
all levels were increasingly diverted into
communalism; thereby ensuring that
intellectually as well as materially the
Indo-Pak Sub-Continent remained
backward! History was written as
Muslim or Hindu history, politics was
practised as Hindu or Muslim politics
and while Europe was experimenting
with radical social legislation, all the
energies of Indian constitutionalist were

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absorbed in debating representation on
basis of religion! College or University
education was important because it was
a pre-requisite for government jobs or
to practise in the law courts! Research
teaching and writing were unproductive
jobs since they did not enable a man to
be a deputy collector or barrister or
doctor! It was a mad race made further
mad by frequent outbursts of communal
frenzy, which increased as population
increased during the period 1890-1940.
All this helped the Britishers who had
been traumatically shaken by the Sepoy
Rebellion of 1857 when a largely Hindu

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majority army had rebelled under
Muslim leaders! The British were thus
happier playing the role of judges
resolving Hindu Muslim disputes rather
than performing the more unpleasant
task of facing a combined political
movement of all Indians regardless of
race or religion as in 1857, 1919 or
1922 ! This is the basis of anti-
intellectualism in the Indo-Pak Sub-
continent. It is more true for Pakistan
since the Muslims were educationally
more backward and relatively less true,
yet still true and applicable to India too!

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Pakistan and India have produced very
few serious military writers. In Pakistan
the situation is worse since an unofficial
ban was imposed on military writing by
various military usurpers who ruled the
country for the greater part of its
history. Unfortunately the larger number
of men who joined the officer corps of
both the Indian and Pakistan Army were
from the relatively less educated or
superficially educated classes of Indo-
Pak society. There were some military
writers in Pakistan like Attiq-ur-Rahman,
Fazal Muqeem, Shaukat Riza and A.I
Akram. Attiq-ur-Rahman wrote well but

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was more obsessed with more outward
forms of military discipline and was
more of a martinet and proper soldier
than a military writer of depth. A man of
impeccable integrity, a man of Honour
and a most cultured and proper soul,
Attique did not have any of the
dynamism or subtlety of a Liddell Hart
or Fuller. He was never remembered as
an inspiring field commander but as a
100 percent proper soldier who was
obsessed with military drill and
haircut.As a retired officer he was
obsessed with Golf Courses which he
rightly regarded as a waste of time and

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effort. However, this was where his
concern ended. He stopped writing after
1990 and thus retired from the army’s
intellectual life at a time when the army
needed a serious military writer.
General A.I Akram wrote well but his
books dealt with seventh and eighth
century Arab Wars and had little
relevance as far as practical utility in
terms of modern warfare unit level
tactics or operational strategy was
concerned. General Shaukat Riza
dabbled more with military writing but
his writing lacked depth, broad outlook
and dynamism. He was employed by

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Zia’s military regime to write a heavily
doctored trilogy on the history of the
Pakistan Army at a time when the man
was semi-senile and sick. The resultant
three books thus lacked depth of
analysis, their only significance being, a
collection of three rudimentary
handbooks which provide basic facts
about order of battle, broad outline
plans and other basic details which
untouchable low caste retired majors
like this scribe cannot ever obtain
access to through normal official
channels available to any researcher in
any civilised country! Major General

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Fazal Muqeem Khan stands out as the
relatively most competent clearheaded
and coherent out of all the above
mentioned gentlemen. His books lacked
strategic vision and a broad outlook but
nevertheless were precise and forthright
without confusing layouts which are
hallmarks of all Shaukat Riza’s books.
The unfortunate part about Muqeem’s
writings was the fact that Muqeem
wrote first as a sycophant serving
general hopeful of getting the next rank
and later as a retired general to please
or at least cover up an all powerful
serving prime minister. The positive

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aspect about Muqeem’s works was the
fact that Muqeem was generally precise,
correct and exact in analysing a fallen
gladiator, a typical quality of all
successful men, at least in the Indo-Pak
Sub-continent, where a primitive
historical state of civilisation and
political system do not allow
dispassionate, blunt critical and
forthright analysis. This is relatively
more true for Pakistan which has
witnessed military rule or dictatorship in
guise of democracy for the greater part
of its history; I would say, for its entire
history from 1947. Lack of critical

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analysis due to dangers of being labelled
blasphemous is the greatest tragedy of
history writing in all countries where
Muslims live! Perhaps the reasons can
be found in the fact that Christianity is
500 years older than Islam and may be
in the year 2500 we in this part of the
world will be writing history the way
Europeans are doing in 2000! The
problem with history writing in Islamic
countries is lack of tolerance. Those in
power are sacred figures by virtue of
authority and totalitarian powers.
Analysis or forthright analysis is
dangerous in most cases and injudicious

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in many! Muqeem may have been an
excellent historian in West Europe! But
the question is that Muqeem was not
willing to be sidelined or isolated or
persecuted in a society, which does not
tolerate criticism of those in the higher
echelons of power! Thus each of
Muqeem’s work although relatively
better than others was a condemnation
of the previous regime’s military efforts!
Thus in his first book he criticised
Liaquat the first Prime Minister for
incompetence in the Kashmir War while
raising Ayub to the level of a modern
Napoleon. In his second major book

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Fazal rightly criticised Ayub for
structurally weakening the army by
encouraging sycophants and retiring
relatively better officers who were
perceived as likely political threats.
Similarly Muqeem’s analysis of the 1971
war is reasonably balanced, but
exonerates Mr Bhutto of all blame and
also exonerates the Pakistan Army of
the terrible genocide that it carried out
in East Bengal in 1971. Shaukat
criticises Bhutto since he was Zia’s
principal political opponent but
exonerates Ayub of all the blunders and

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the follies committed in the period
1950-1969!
A very learned gentleman who I hold in
very high esteem by virtue of being a
close friend of one of my dearest friends
rightly told me to reduce what he called
‘polemics’ in the first volume of this
history. A conceptual difference arises
about the use of the word ‘Polemics’.
The term has different meaning for
different people and is unfortunately
used in a sweeping manner to dismiss
valid historical criticism! There is no

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denying of fact in stating that ‘Polemic’
may be an unpleasant figure of speech
for a professor of English literature or a
criminal error of conduct for a sycophant
or a man of this world. The fact that
polemics i.e. ‘practice of controversial
discussion’ is something, which is the
essence of all historical writing, is
absolutely undeniable and
incontrovertible. The historian cannot be
a diplomat in order to escape being
branded as one who indulges in
polemics. The historian has to indulge in
controversy because there are no
archives or source material in any

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library or records office in this world,
which enable a research scholar to
understand the innermost depths of
human personality. Every historian who
wants to be loyal to posterity has to be
polemical. History is but another name
of a never-ending controversy! At some
point in time or text all historians enter
the realm of polemics! It’s a part of
their craft or calling! I wrote an article
for the Command and Staff College
Quetta about two years ago. It
contained some criticism about the
higher organisation of the Pakistan
Army. The article was surprisingly

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published since the Staff College was
headed at that time by one of the most
upright and intellectually honest
generals of Pakistan Army; a rare
commodity in a sub-continental army
and I would say in any army of the
world. In addition the staff college’s
principal magazine’s editor at that time
was one of the most dynamic and
boldest colonels, (at least in my humble
opinion), of the army! The colonel editor
who twice risked his career by attacking
the Quetta Police over an entirely
honourable issue in 1979, and by
refusing to supervise Degchas in a

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general officers daughter’s wedding in
early 1987 was being posted out to
command a tank regiment. Somehow he
managed, or I should say was
instrumental in ensuring that my article
criticising the higher command
organisation be published in the ‘Citadel’
magazine. The Editorial Introduction
was, however, written by another
colonel who succeeded him as the editor
and belonged to the majority ‘go safe’
calculate a decade ahead ‘take no risk’
breed of career officers! The clever
editor exonerated himself of all that I
had said in the article by stating that

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‘the article lacks documentation for
certain controversial assertions’. The
gentleman’s point was valid but this is
what historical analysis is all about; i.e.
dealing with controversy in face of fog
and obscurity and lack of
documentation! Who in this world can
find documentary evidence for saying
that many wars that this world fought
were to satisfy egos of Kings, Presidents
or Prime Ministers! That revolutions
killed millions or that countries were
divided simply because one politician did
not want the other to be the country’s
next Prime Minister or Governor

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General! So much for ‘Polemics’, bad
word for professors, careful men, career
officers, successful men! But one of the
most essential tools in historians craft.
Opportunism overriding substance
and real talent
I again want to quote from an article
which I wrote based in two decades of
study and analysis in January 2001 :--
‘Heroism’ and ‘realism’, ‘bravery’ or
‘cowardice’ are powerful words pregnant
with multiple meanings and thus often
misunderstood in common discussion.

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This is not exactly an article but a
cursory examination of how certain
individuals in various stages of world
history made remarkable achievements
by being ‘Heroic’ ‘Realistic’ etc.
The ‘Hero’ is a man who does not
surrender in face of overwhelming odds
and thus emerges ‘victorious’ or is
perceived by posterity to have been
morally victorious despite having been
physically destroyed. Khalid Bin Waleed,
Napoleon, Alexander, Churchill etc may
be grouped in the first category and

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Joan of Arc, Syed Ahmad Shaheed may
be grouped in the latter category. All
these men did well and are even today
well known figures in history.
We will first examine the issue in
relation with the fact ‘Whether the hero
had an exact knowledge and sufficient
time’ to assess decisions that he made
and which ultimately elevated him to
the pedestal of a hero in history! This is
important but very often forgotten or
not understood at all by many. We will
take the ‘Rebels’ or the ‘Freedom

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Fighters’ of 1857 as an example. All
existing facts as we know them today
prove that these ‘Rebels’ never really
understood the real power and potential
of the English East India Company. The
Rebellion began not because of any
deliberately pre-planned conspiracy but
as a series of spontaneous reactions
against a ‘perceived attack on caste and
religion’. It was a mechanical reaction
and those who took it felt that
‘Rebellion’ was the only option. These
were the common soldiers of the Bengal
Army led by the more hot headed
Ranghar and Hindustani Pathan Muslims

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of the Bengal Cavalry. The 3rd Light
Cavalry rebels. A spontaneous decision,
sparked by court martial of 80 of their
colleagues in a manner that was
perceived as unjust. The execution was
‘Tactically Brilliant’! A rebellion on
Sunday at the evening service time
when the Europeans were most
vulnerable, followed by the seizure of
Delhi! I would say that the decision was
even strategically brilliant since Delhi
was the political heart of India and one
of the strongest fortress cities of India.
The Sepoys so far did exceedingly well!
They proved that they were superior in

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terms of ‘Resolution’ and ‘Intellect’ to
many who later planned very Quixotic
schemes executed in all three Indo-Pak
Wars and till the Kargil Affair to date!
Full stop here! The Sepoys never
appreciated the naval potential of
Britain and never understood that a
country who could survive a French
Revolution or armies led by world class
military geniuses could not be defeated
simply by seizure of Delhi! Despite all
this the Meerut Cavalry troopers of 3rd
Light Cavalry took a brilliant decision,
once we keep in mind their knowledge
of the external world, their nominal

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education and their subjective life
experiences! Those men were heroes,
far superior to most post-1857 Muslim
politicians and this includes all who have
been on the scene to date!
An answer was provided by General
Jang Bahadur the military ruler of Nepal
to Sir Colin Campbell in March 1858.
The situation was as following; the
British had almost won the Sepoy
Rebellion and were about to assault
Lucknow which had been in Sepoy
hands since July 1857. Jang Bahadur

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had led a Nepali Gurkha army to assist
the British and his army was part of the
force tasked to assault Lucknow! Jang
Bahadur told Colin Campbell as soon as
he joined him with his army ‘had he not
visited England he would have been
fighting against the British instead of
with them! The readers can now
compare the difference! The Sepoys
were ‘Heroic’ but they were ‘Heroic’
because they unlike Jang Bahadur had
never visited England. Delhi was the
ultimate city for these brave albeit naive
Rohtakis from villages like Kalanaur and
Kanar!

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It appears that the British realised that
the Indians needed to be educated
about the reality of the British Empire.
Warburton records such an incident in
his beautiful ‘Eighteen Years in Khyber’.
This was when Warburton arranged a
visit of the Khyber Maliks to Calcutta
and Bombay so that it may widen their
horizon and make them less ambitious
in their plans to fight against Britain.
The exercise it appears was not very
successful since the Khyber Afridis once
again rebelled in 1897! Heroism is good
but the hero is different from a stock

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broker or a banker! His calculations are
in terms of moral values which he
perceives as more sacred than material
gains. The hero lives after his death
while the businessmen dies everyday
despite living much longer than the
hero, but goes on suffering indignities to
gain greater dignity as that great man
Bacon said! I remember an incident of a
great bureaucrat as narrated by one of
his relatives! The old fox, an ex-ICS and
at that time a very senior man in a
political government that once ruled
Pakistan comes home and proudly tells
his wife ‘Oh dear you know today what

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happened! Mr Prime Minister abused
me! Oh dear he uses the particular word
that he used only for those with whom
he is very intimate’!
Ranjeet Singh was a great realist. At the
height of his power a courtier asked him
‘Sir you should attack the English East
India Company’s territory’. Ranjeet
replied dismissing his sycophant
advisors’ I may advance with my army
as far as Aligarh but then the
Englishmen would destroy me’. A fine

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assessment by a man who had not been
to any War College or Defence College!
Syed Ahmad Khan was another great
realist! In Bijnor he restrained the
Indians from attacking English civilians
and non-combatants and from joining
the anti-British camp at a time when the
Hindus of Bijnor were in full rebellion
against the English Company! It was
very unheroic and opportunistic as some
may say! But the Syed had his reasons!
Deep inside his heart was a conviction
that the British would win and in the

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long-term the rebellion would do more
harm to the Muslims than good! The
Syed was much condemned by many
Muslims after the rebellion as an ‘Ibnul
Waqt’ but the Syed atoned for his
‘unheroic’ behaviour by establishing the
MAO College Aligarh. Opportunism is
excusable if the end result is positive,
but this unfortunately is not the case in
most ‘scenarios’. The Syed is
remembered for his educational
achievements today and not for any
business empire that he left. He would
have been a smaller hero had he died
fighting against the British at Bijnor! He

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had a strategic vision and would have
been an excellent Chief of General Staff
or more had he been alive today in any
Indo-Pak Army!
Now compare the Syed with later
Muslim leaders. He advised the Muslims
to desist from identifying themselves
with Egyptian, Turk or Afghan Muslims
in the period 1878-1898. The Turks
were too far to be of any help to the
Indian Muslims! The Egyptians too
insignificant and again too far and the
Afghans were the worst predators who

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had shamelessly looted the Indian
Muslims during the period 1739-59. This
golden advice was forgotten by
outwardly more educated Muslims in
1920 when the Khilafat Movement was
launched!
Isoruku Yamamoto later famous as
Admiral Yamamoto was another great
realist. He had studied at Yale and
Harvard in between his military career
and understood the limits of US military
effectiveness! He counselled repeatedly
against war with the US but his advice

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was over ruled by the more powerful
Japanese Army and Japan went into a
suicidal war that finally concluded with a
nuclear holocaust at Hiroshima and
Nagasaki.
Clausewitz makes a very fine distinction
between types of courage and boldness
and the level of command! Clausewitz
put the lesson by using a beautiful
example! Clausewitz thus stated ‘If a
young man to show his skill in
horsemanship leaps across a deep cleft,
then he is bold; if he makes the same

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leap pursued by a troop of head
chopping Jannisaries he is only resolute.
But the further off the necessity from
the point of action, the greater the
number of relations intervening which
the mind has to traverse in order to
realize them’. As a matter of fact
strategic decision making is more
difficult since the time period is much
greater than in tactical encounters and a
much greater mind is required. This
explains why ‘Military Crosses’ or
‘Military Cross Bars’ failed in East
Pakistan. These men had earned fame
imported from junior positions and did

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not deserve the ranks that they
reached. In the final summing up their
bad luck was the fact that a war broke
out and they were exposed while their
successors since 1971 have been far
more lucky!
In my humble capacity I saw how
perceptions are distorted during the Gulf
war. The seniormost decision makers in
our military thought that it would be a
prolonged affair! I was at the School of
Armour Nowshera. The Allied attack had
not yet commenced and this was

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December 1990. I think it was Colonel
Moin Rauf one of our senior instructors
who said that the Iraqis would not last
for more than a week! This was at a
time when many far more senior people
had totally different opinion. Moin Rauf I
think had been to Fort Knox for a course
and kept his eyes open. This scribe’s
father who had been to Fort Belvoir in
1964 said that how could Iraq defeat
USA once it had miserably failed to
defeat Iran in far more advantageous
circumstances in 1980! All this was
crystal clear but all those who were
something had ridiculous perceptions.

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Pakistan was lucky that Ghulam Ishaq
Khan saw things more realistically and
restored some sanity in the higher
decision making echelons!
Unfortunately we have had too many
meteors who came and disappeared but
no great man with the slow solid but
massive presence of a heavenly body in
Clausewitzian terms! This is our
tragedy! Mediocrity which as the saying
brilliantly puts it ‘knows nothing higher
than itself’ has been institutionalised on
both sides of the Radcliffe Line! God

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help us! An Anglo Saxon westernised
Nadir Shah to spread fire and sword
may not be a remote possibility!
‘Realism’ ‘Courage’ ‘Vision’ and
‘Opportunism’ all have their limits and
uses. We hope that those who at the
moment are sitting on the pinnacles of
power will understand this and will act
in a judicious manner! The tide of
history as Machiavelli says can be
manipulated with if dykes are built in
time ! In case this is not done it

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becomes irreversible and destroys
anything that comes in its way!
 Ethnic Rivalry and Chauvinism
Muslim politics was signified by marked
ethnic chauvinism and class distinctions.
Prime parties were Hindustani Party
composed of Muslims from North West
Provinces of Agra and Oudh later known
as UP. The Punjabi Muslim party gained
great prominence after collaboration
with the English East India Company in

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1857 Rebellion . However even in this
case Hindustani party was not far
behind as leading UP Muslims like Syed
Ahmad Khan and Bilgramis etc had
collaborated with the company. Pashtun
Muslims were junior partners as were
Sindhi Muslims. In addition Muslims
from Bihar ,Bombay ,Madras and
Central Provinces were culturally similar
to UP Muslims and considered equal.
Since initially there was no concept of
India sans British majority in population
was not important priority in eyes of the
Muslim elite. Prime measure of a groups
power or influence was land holdings,

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property, official influence or patronage
by virtue of having a government rank
or appointment in military ,civil
service,police or judiciary.
Muslim politics was centered around
acquiring special quotas in government
jobs and in supporting British Empire in
military recruitment in case of external
war or internal war as 1857 or hur
Rebellion Frontier expeditions.
This elite particularly regarded the
majority Bengali Muslims as inferior race
of Dravidian origins right from the start

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once Muslim revival initiated under Syed
Ahmad Khan in 1878.
British policy as prime strategic script
There is absolutely no doubt that British
policy was paramount and constituted
the prime strategic script written for all
Indians Muslim, Hindu or Sikh.
All tales of heroism and freedom
Struggle on part of Indians are largely
romance barring few individuals and
communities like tribal Pashtuns ,Sinhdi
hurs , Bengali extremists like Ras Bihari
Bose , ghadrite Sikhs communists ,etc.

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Notable British strategic successes were
as following :---
1. Indians played by British rules and
were forced to accept British
political system of local
government etc.
2. No Indian agitation movement
from 1857 to 1947 succeeded in
achieving independence .
3. British policy after 1857 at
strategic level divided Indians wit h
religious and class quotas in army
and civil service.
4. Greatest British triumph was
enforcement of system of separate

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electorates according to religion
which practically divided Indians
after 1906.
5. Pakistan particularly at strategic
level was a British creation and
British strategists saw Pakistan as
a subsidiary base against USSR
after 1947.
6. Pakistan became part of the
problem after demise of USSR as it
is now regarded as an anachronism
and oddity in the new global design
of Muslim extremism and US China
rivalry.

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Indias multi ethnic character and
clash of egoism complicated by
diversity in religion
India’s communally pluralistic character
complicated politics as politicians were
limited and marginalized by religious
beliefs .Thus secular men like Jinnah
and even Nehru were forced to operate
within communal/religious frameworks.
System of promotion and assessment
of leaders which rewards docility,
meekness, submissiveness and
sycophancy rather than real talent

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British system of selection of military
and political leaders was based on
loyalty and docility.
While India as a democracy broke away
to an extent from this tradition, Pakistan
by virtue of military take over’s or fear
of military take over’s remained a victim
of this system of conspiracy against
originality and boldness.
Lack of institutional job security in
military as initiated from Liaquat
tenure in 1951 and in civil services
as initiated by Ayub Khan in 1958

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Pakistani military officers had no job
security after Pakistani premier Liaqat
Ali Kan amended rules creating a
system were any military officer could
be retired or dismissed without
assigning any reason in 1951 in the
aftermath of Pindi Conspiracy case , lack
of job security enjoyed by an officer was
removed.Thus military officers became
glorified clerks of the state and their
only survival lay in extreme sycophancy
and docility .
Pakistani civil servants suffered the
same fate under Ayub Khan once civil
services rules were degraded to remove

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job security that a civil servant enjoyed
under British rules.
Destruction of freedom of thought
and speech as implemented by
Ayub Khan under the Qudratulla
Shahab – Altaf Gauhar -Ayub
clique
1958 martial law saw removal of all
basic rights and freedom of speech
under Ayub Khans martial law and
notoriously loyal sycophants like
Qudratulla Shahab etc led the crusade
against free speech.

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The subject is sad and volumes can be
written . So I will prefer to quote a brief
analysis of the matter that I carried out
in 2008 titled as death of idealism:--
When we were young our hopes were
high and our imagination knew no
bounds.
Lahore was the centre of brilliant liberal
free thinkers and Government College,
Islamia College and Forman Christian
College had some brilliant professors
and similarly outstanding students.

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Discussion was of international level and
the best philosophers in mankind’s
history were quoted and counter
quoted.
There was Pakistan Times that citadel of
Intellectual honesty led by the brilliant
team of Mian Iftikharuddin and
Nawabzada Mazhar Ali Khan.There were
indomitable and heavenly poets like
Faiz,Jalib and Faraz.

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The list is long, Safdar Mir , Burney ,
Tariq Ali,Idris and many more.
Karachi had impregnable and priceless
political activists like Mairaj Mohammad
Khan.
Pakistan had students like Tariq Ali who
worsted and spiked heavy weight US
politicians on the BBC.
The NWFP had its own group of
intellectuals mostly in Peshawar

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,Charasadda and Kohat and when the
Pashtun combines Pashtun individualism
with the ideals of French Revolution and
Russian revolution he is simply
invincible.
Balochistan had indomitable and proce
less jewels like Ataullah Mengal,Khair
Baksh Marri,Bizenjo , Nawab Akbar
Bugti and Gul Khan Naseer.
Sindh had ZAB who was matcless and
GM Syed who was factional but
nevertheless brilliant.

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It was a galaxy of giants.
And then a dark age begain in
1958.With sycophants and darbaris like
Qudratullah Shahab and Altaf
Gauhar.Takent and individualism was
destroyed.The civil servants were
stripped of their immunity from
arbitrary dismissal by Ayub
Khan.Pakistans generals and their
darbari civil servants destroyed
talent.The process was accelerated in

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1977 and refined in 1999 to the highest
pitch.
Punjab was the worst hit.Being the
major province it became a prime target
for intellectual castration,intellectual
slavery and economic
manipulation.Today it is a sorry example
of a paid press , leaders whose only
distinction is that they are dirty rich and
eat paya and all similar nonsense.Court
with the generals and talk about
democracy after throwing their workers
in blast furnaces.

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Balochistan is a war zone and no Baloch
worth his salt wants to have anything o
do with the thekedars of pakistan sitting
in Islamabad and Pindi in civvies and
uniform.
Sindh is divided and factionalised with a
sharp urban rural divide,multiplying
poverty and the danger of
Talibanisation.

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The NWFO is in shatters with corrupt
politicians, with or without beards and
moving towards a new geopolitical
arrangement.
The Northern Areas are fast moving
towards a new geopolitical arrangement
and the two choices of being in a
Chinese sphere of influence or a US
base for a future guerrilla war against
China.

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Kashmir is condemned to be destroyed
either by natural calamities or by a final
Indo Pak war.
All roads lead to chaos and doom.
Idealism started dying in 1958 and its
death was geared up between 1977 and
1988 and perfected by a cheap social
climber in between 1999 and 2008.

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Muslim Separatism began in UP as a
competition of Muslims against Hindus
for government jobs.
Hindus were seen as a political threat to
Muslims as Muslims could not compete
with Hindus in competitive examinations
for government jobs.
Muslim League in essence was created
as a political platform of loyal Muslims
wo wanted British support in state jobs
and political influence. Although created
at Dacca in Bengal it was immediately
hijacked by UP Muslims and its
headquarters shifted to UP.

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At Lucknow in 1916 UP Muslims and
Jinnah did not hesitate a second in
arbitrarily sacrificing Muslim majority in
Bengal from 52.6 % to 40 % and in
Punjab from 54.8 to 50 % !
The following diagrams show the
progress of this jaundiced process of
creating an unfair advantage:--
1858 to 1947

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At a non representative Muslim League
session at Lucknow in UP with 400 out
of 433 attendees from Lucknow Mr
Jinnah as president of the session
reduces Muslim majorities as below :--

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Province Actual
Muslim
Population
IN %
Muslim
representation
of seats in
counsuls as
agreed at
Lucknow Pact
of 1916
Bengal 52.6 40
Bihar and
Orissa
10.5 25
Bombay 20.4 33.3
Central 4.3 15

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Provinces
Madras 6.5 15
Punjab 54.8 50
UP 14 30
The pact severely divided Muslims:--
 Sir Mohammad Safi leader of
Punjabi Muslims disassociated
Punjab Muslim League from Central
body.
 Prominent Muslim leaders Sir Abdul
Rahim and Chaudry Nawab Din
refused to sign it.

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 Even Chaudry Khaliq Uz Zaman a
prominent albeit blunt UP Muslim
leader described it in is book
Pathway to Pakistan (page 37) as
seeds of partition of India were laid
at Lucknow and this led to Pakistan
loosing large portions of Bengal
and the Punjab at partition.
 Bengali Muslims remained
extremely politically unstable till
1947 and were forced to form
unstable coalition ministries with
Hindu parties .
 Punjab Muslims were only saved by
forming Unionist Party but Muslim

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League became a non entity in
Punjab thanks to Lucknow Pact and
was destined to remain so till
Britishers saved it in 1940 once Mr
Jinnah agreed to support British
war effort in Second World War.
 Contrary to prevalent propaganda
in Pakistan neither the Congress
nor the Indus never accepted
Indian Muslims as a separate
nation at Lucknow Pact of 1916 !
In sum Lucknow Pact was a strategic
blunder of magnanimous proportions .

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Flawed and vague mechanics of
partition was a great failure of Muslim
leadership .
Rather than agreeing to a simple
formula that princely states join
Pakistan or India based on majority of
their subjects religious composition Mr
Jinnah insisted on ideas that states with

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majority Hindu population like Junagadh
,Bikaner ,Hyderabad etc join Pakistan
.This illogical stance weakened
Pakistans cause in case of Kasmir state
were majority population was Muslims
but its ruler joined India.
Mr Jinnah had developed differences
with last British viceroy Mountbatten.In
this situation in order to retain greater
control the ideal was to appoint a

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Pakistani army chief who would listen to
Mr Jinnah . however Mr Jinnah
appointed a Britisher, as well as army
number two and at the critical moment
the British acting chief refused to obey
Mr Jinnahs orders to move Pakistan
army into Kashmir.
Mr Jinnah and his hand picked premier
inducted Malik Ghulam Mohammad a
wily ex bureaucrat into Pakistani cabinet

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,thus vindicating his mistrust in
politicians. Knowing Mr Jinnahs
character it is difficult to imagine that
Liquat could have inducted the man on
his own.In addition Liaquat inducted
ministers like Gurmani , Abdul Qayyum
Khan who had just jumped the band
wagon !
This man later played a most negative
role in destroying Pakistans democracy .
Thus by virtue of a flawed
administrative decision a virus was
institutionally injected in Pakistans body
politics.

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Entire strategy of Pakistans creation was
based around a Gujrati-Bombay-UP –
Punjabi alliance of convenience.
A simple sketch below shows main
players:--
1. Majority population of East Bengal
now is seen as an anachronism and
appendix.At the ulterior level they
are regarded as a greater threat
now than Hindus as they could

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threaten the UP-Punjabi-Bombay
hold on Pakistans political scene !
It was fashionable to label Bengalis
as erratic , a special attack on
Fazlul haq , or as decadent , an
attack on Suharwardy or as volatile
! That their majority was reduced
at Lucknow in 1916 was no longer
the case ? So what to do ? This
was the real reason why Pakistans
constitution was delayed till 1956 ,
way paved for actual pre martial
law destruction of Pakistans
democracy in 1954 ! And finally
way paved for martial law in 1958 !

162
162
All these were strategic losses but
class and ethnicity was paramount.
2. In the division of partition spoils
industry left by Hindus went to
Bombay mercantile classes , main
financiers of Muslim League ,
Punjabs most fertile canal irrigated
lands to refugees from East Punjab
which was an unproductive and
barren area. All loans of Punjabs
landlords written off ! Prime urban
properties of Hindus and Sikhs
were occupied by local refugees
i.e those who are not actually
refugees but pose as refugees !

163
163
3. A huge vacuum in civil service
almost wholly filled by Punjabis
and UPites.
4. By 1948 we have a state whose
political control is with a bunch of
politicians and bureaucrats in
Karachi and Pindi. Ministry of
Defence , my paternal grandfather
was an assistant secretary had one
to Pindi as was the army
headquarters !
5. British officers and civil servants
play lead role in an ingenious
scheme to use tribal Pashtuns as
cannon fodder to win huge tracts of

164
164
lands in Kashmir .Unfortunately or
fortunately (!) this plan too failed
because of incompetent strategic
failures of Pakistans leadership.

166
166
Mr Jinnah and veteran Bombay business
magnate Adamji

173
173
There is one extremely important event
which has generally been ignored by
most historians .
This was a conference held between
30th October and 4th November.

174
174
Brigadier Akbar Khan the military man
incharge of the raiders operations had
returned to Pindi after a visit to the
frontline at Srinagar.
The tribesmen had not yet been
repulsed and were planning infiltration
operations with the aim of capturing
Srinagar airfield.
Akbar Khan’s analysis about the
operational solution to the problem of
tribesmen’s inability to attack well
entrenched Indian infantry, supported
by aircraft and artillery was to provide
the tribesmen with armoured cars.

175
175
Major Masud from 11 Cavalry stationed
at Rawalpindi volunteered to take his
own squadron’s armoured cars
to Srinagar, on his own initiative,
without informing any superior
headquarter.
Akbar Khan states in his book ‘Raiders
in Kashmir’ that Major Masud said that
the armoured cars would go without
official permission, at his own risk and
that the men would be in civilian
clothes.

176
176
This fact is proved by two independent
authorities who were not from armoured
corps and thus had no ulterior
motivation or desire to project 11
Cavalry.
One was General Akbar who was
present at the conference and the other
was Brigadier Amjad Ali Khan Chaudhry
who was a gunner, and was also present
at the same conference.
Akbar states that as the conference was
coming to an end Raja Ghazanfar Ali
Khan a Muslim League leader

177
177
and Central Government Minister
entered the room.
Brigadier Sher Khan who was the
Director Military Operations had also
joined the discussion.
This, Raja Ghazanfar (despite being
from a so-called martial area) was
horrified about the armoured cars
proposal, and according to both Akbar
Khan and Amjad Chaudhry opposed the
idea.
He was supported by Brigadier Sher
(Lion) Khan! Both the Minister and the
Lion Hearted brigadier feared that such

178
178
a step would lead to an open war
between Pakistan and India. Amjad
Chaudhry states that one of the
participants at this conference a Muslim
League minister Raja Ghazanfar Ali
Khan even voiced an apprehension
that the unruly tribesmen may get
unruly and damage the Maharajas
palace at Srinagar ! Thus in the end
Akbar Khan who was not directly in
charge of the operations of tribesmen
was overruled by a pacifist Minister
more keen to enjoy ministerial perks
and a paper tiger brigadier wearing the

179
179
mask of the high-sounding appointment
of Director Military Operations!
Mr Jinnah and Pakistan Armys first
British Commander in Chief Messervy

181
181
Pakistani failure to select correct timing
of ceasefire in 1947-48 Kashmir war
was a major strategic failure of
Pakistan’s leadership.
It appears tat little tout was iven to tis
matter.
Thus Pakistan ended accepting a
ceasefire only after its military position
was most disadvantageous.

183
183
Jinnah and Liaquat developed serious
differences over differences between
Liaquats wife and Jinnahs sister over
seniority precedence in December 1947
and this seriously affected coordination
and smooth functioning of the
government.

184
184
Liaquat Ali Khan was a miserable failure
in constitution making .
Liaquat Ali Khan was a miserable failure
in Kashmir war.
Objectives Resolution was an attempt to
gain cheap popularity by paying lip
service to Islam.
It was a vaguely worded resolution
declaring that Sovereignty belonged to
Allah only ! This means that Liaquat
preferred a vague view of sovereignty
not linked with tangible constitutional
facts !

185
185
The law has been twisted and
misinterpreted by forces of
obscurantism and extremism since its
creation in 1949.
A Cardinal strategic failure whose
responsibility rests with all Pakistani
leaders from Jinnah , Liaquat , Ghulam
Mohammad,Nazimuddin etc.
Main issue which delayed constitution
making was fear of Bengali political

186
186
domination . No West Pakistani politician
wanted to accept Bengalis 54 %
majority which had been destroyed in
1916 at Lucknow Pact.They regarded
Bengalis as a genetically inferior
race.Bengalis were finally coerced and
forced with army actively involved to
finally renounce their majority and
agree to parity in 1956 constitution.
This delayed constitution making by 9
years leading to unstable governments
and finally martial law of 1958 which
laid foundations of Pakistans future civil
wars in Balochistan and Pakistans

187
187
breakup and division into two states in
1971.
Denial of ethnic existence of Sindi
,Balochi, Pashtuns and grouping all
nationalities under a single giant
province known as West Pakistan was a
serious strategic failure . This led to an
insurgency in Baluchistan from 1958 to
1969 , from 1973 to 1976 and even the

188
188
present insurgency in Baluchistan from
2002 till to date.
Pakistan army chief Ayub Khan was the
central culprit in this exercise which
occurred in 1955-56.

189
189
Although Mr Jinnah initiated Benali
recruitment in army in 1947-48 , Ayub
Khan stopped this process after
1951.Thus there were only 3 Bengali
infantry units in 1965.
This seriously affected East Bengal and
the Pakistani military came to be
regarded as an occupying force in all
provinces outside Punjabi districts.

190
190
Ayub Khans constitution of 1962 again
denied due representation to East
Pakistan and directly contributed to
breakup of Pakistan in 1971.
Indirect system of elections contributed
to massive political and financial
corruption and severely weakened
democratic institutions.

191
191
Fruits of massive US aid were sabotaged
by creating a class of robber industrial
barons who made massive profits in sort
spans and paid minimum taxes to the
state.
Foundations of Pakistan’s economy of
tax evasion were thus laid in 1960s and
have continued with devastatingly
negatively and massively accumulating
results till todate.

192
192
1962 when China attacked India was
the right time to settle disputes with
India however Ayub Khan lost his nerve
and simply disappeared on a vacation in
the mountains.

194
194
Ayub Khans inept handling of Pakistans
Operation grand Slam offensive at
Akhnur was a major strategic failure of
Pakistani military.

196
196
Pakistan was in a decisive opposition to
sever Indian strategic line of
communication in Ravi Sutlej Corridor
and impose a major strategic defeat in
war on India.
Pakistani failure occurred at operational
level as its offensive failed because of
faulty operational organization and inept
operational doctrine .

200
200
Ayub Khan initiated a rapprochement
with USSR after 1965 War.
USSR supplied about 100 tanks and
helicopters to Pakistan.
Pakistani officers were sent on tank
warfare courses to Kiev ,Kharkov and
Aviation School at Tiflis .
However Ayub Khans successor Yahya
Khan reversed this process.

201
201
This resulted in far closer USSR Indian
cooperation and Pakistans most
humiliating military defeat and breakup
of the country .
Pakistan Army failed to conceive a clear
cut strategy about Pakistan Armys
counter offensive to save East Pakistan .
This resulted in Pakistans breakup and
defeat in December 1971.

202
202
Indian Armys Western Command Chief
general Candeth on record admitted in
his book Western Front in 1971 that if
Pakistan had launched a pre emptive
attack on India before October 1971 , all
Indian plans to attack East Pakistan
would have been thrown to the winds.
This failure dated from 1951 and
persisted till 1971 . It was a major and
purely military strategic failure of
Pakistani state.

203
203
Pakistan Army’s major failure to cause
severe dislocation to Indians occurred in
Pakistan’s 1 Corps area were Pakistan
failed to take advantage of its central
position in Shakargarh Bulge and to
credibly threaten and dislocate Indians
with its superior armour resources.
Major general Fazal Muqeem and
Shaukat Riza in their books tried to
white wash this failure.

204
204
however this failure was pointed out in
hamood ur Rehman commission report.
In an interview with this Pakistan Armys
Major general N.U.K Babar also
highlighted this failure as below:---

206
206
In 1973 Mr Z.A Bhutto was instrumental
in creation of a law which declared a
sect known as Ahmaddiya as non
Muslims.
This was a strategic failure as it
strengthened forces of Islamic
extremism in Pakistan.

207
207
The origins of failure to construct
hydel power dams date from military
usurper Zias era.
Today this issue is Pakistans gravest
economic issue.More serious and
treatenin for Pakistans economy than
even terrorism or Indian threat.

208
208
Massive tax evasion is Pakistans most
serious strategic threat.Failure to
implement tis can lead to severe
instability and even demise of Pakistani
state.The issue has achieved very
serious implications since 1977.Tax as
share of gross domestic product as
declined from 18 % to 9 % in last 15
years.

209
209
Mr Bhuttos dissolution of NAP-JUI
coalition governments in Balochistan
and NWFP in 1973 was a serious
strategic failure ,Particularly in
Balochistan this event contributed to
Baloch alienation with Pakistani state
which since 2002 as assumed form of an
existential threat both to the Baloch and
to the Pakistani state.

210
210
Appointment of an unknown
professionally pathetic non entity to
rank of army chief by Mr Z.A Bhutto was
a major strategic failure of Pakistani
history.
While Mr Bhutto paid the price with his
head ,Pakistan and whole region is
paying a very high price of Zias
adventurist policies as practiced in
Afghanistan since 1978.

211
211
Interestingly Zia was not recommended
by the army and was not in run for the
appointment but was selected out of the
blue by Mr Z.A Bhutto with a severe
misconception that Zia was docile and
politically no threat to a civilian regime.

212
212
Zia contrary to western perceptions was
not a Jihadist but a religious man who
was using religion as a façade to hide a

213
213
shabby personality handicapped with a
humble background.
When a western analyst states that the
military usurper Zia was determined to
deter the USSR from reaching the warm
water ports of Arabian Sea and Indian
Ocean, this is good romance in style of
James Bond but not serious history.
Three crucial factors forced General Zia
, a man who had usurped power illegally
on 5 July 1977 and was known to be a
man with US connections since 1950s.

214
214
Zia had played a key role in suppressing
the PLO in Jordan as Pakistani military
attaché in Jordan.
The first factor was that Zia military
junta was politically isolated and
financially broke and needed
international aid and support.
The second factor was that Zia military
junta needed internal political support in
Pakistan and the easiest way of
mustering some was to use Islam.
The third factor was that since 1947 the
Punjabi-Urdu elite dominating Pakistan
had regarded Pashtuns as a threat and

215
215
the Pashtun belts secessionist or
autonomist tendencies were regarded as
a threat by this Pakistani ethnic mafia.
Initially the Punjabi-Urdu establishment
elite regarded the Bengalis as the
greatest threat to their unfair political
economic and military dominance of
Pakistan.
After Bengalis were removed from the
political-strategic scene because of
creation of Bangladesh , this ethnic elite
viewed Pashtuns as a major threat.
Between 1974 and 1977 Balochistan
and NWFP provinces saw a high

216
216
intensity insurgency in the former and
low intensity insurgency in the latter.
These three factors were crucial in
propelling the Zia junta to use Soviet
invasion of Afghanistan as a golden tool
to gain political and moral legitimacy
and financial support from the west and
the rich arab states of Gulf and Saudi
Arabia.
Pashtuns were used as cannon fodder
by the military junta as proxies in
Afghan war and thus the seeds of
religious extremism were planted in
Pakistan .

217
217
Foreign policy and all security and
defence matters in Pakistan became
the preserve of Pakistani military which
continues till to date !
Since Afghan war was a gold mine for
Pakistans fatherless military elite they
wanted it to continue for as long as
possible.The strategic objective of
Pakistani generals was to stay in power
and that required the Afghan war gold
mine to yield US Dollars.
Thus while the Afghan war was fought
for a twisted political goal , the wagers

218
218
of the game had their own personal
agendas the region got radicalized.
The US policy makers of that time failed
strategically in not outmanoeuvring
Pakistans greedy generals and being
taken for a ride by them.
Reagan with no intellectual caliber and
depth bit the Pakistani generals bait and
generals who used to sell eggs to
survive became the personal
benefactors of the USAs greatest covert
operations aid program.
The policy was a failure as ultimately
the Islamists became a Frankensteins

219
219
monster and started regarding its
original fathers the Pakistani military as
un Islamic and impure .
Today the Islamists are a major
existential threat to Pakistani state.

220
220
In the Zia era Pakistani military started
relying on a class of urban business men

221
221
, Sharif family who combined business
with extreme financial corruption.
As a result Pakistani politics degraded
into a dirty money making game .
Today Pakistan is facing an existential
treat because of highly corrupt breed of
money making politicians like Sharifs
and Zardari.
Initiation of such characters in
Pakisatans politics was a severe
strategic failure of Pakistani military
under Zia , Beg , Asif Nawaz,Kakar and
Musharraf regime.

223
223
Benazir Bhutto in 1988 adopted a policy
of total opportunism discarding the
liberal and secular ethos of ZA Bhuttos
PPP.This was a major strategic failure of
PPP and the PPP has since 1988.

224
224
The right time for Pakistani military to
steer a change of posture regarding
Islamist non regular proxies was
November 2001.
However Musharraf remained double
minded and secretly continued
supporting Afghan Taliban wile clamping
down on smaller militant groups.
This was Pakistan Armys strategic
failure as Pakistani military was still
branded as a traitor to the cause of
Islamists.
Furthermore the process introduced a
strategic confusion of principle which

225
225
since then has irrevocably worked
against Pakistan.
In the decade since 2001 Islamists have
become a serious existential threat for
Pakistani state and one can safely
assume that Musharrafs double game
was Pakistan’s strategic failure.

226
226
In all probability some officer who
attended a military course in China
came up with the idea of demographic
change in Pakistan’s Baluchistan and

227
227
Musharraf tried to implement this
starting early 2001.
Balochistans demography is fragile as
far as its Baloch population is concerned
.
When Musharrafs initiated mega
projects like gwadar Port and Kachhi
Canal in Baluchistan in all probability
the aim was to transform Baluchistan’s
demography.
Baloch population perceived this threat
accurately and reacted with a low
intensity armed insurrection.

228
228
It appears that while Baluchistan
insurrection is indigenous Baloch are
getting international support from
various state actors like
Indians,Oman,US who view a Chinese
presence in Balochistan as a long term
strategic threat.
Most of the Baloch grievances are
legitimate and the Punjabi-Urdu-
Pashtun establishment of Pakistan
actually looks down upon them and
regards them as aborigines or as lesser
species.

229
229
Pakistani duplicity with NATO landed
Pakistan into more problems than it
solved and was thus a bad strategic
decision.

230
230
True that Pakistani military supported
vast bulk of Taliban in Afghanistan , the
sad part and hard reality is that all
Islamic extremists will unite at some
stage and destroy the Pakistani state as
it exists today.

232
232
Musharrafs white washing all sins of
Pakistani politicians known as NRO was
a decisive strategic failure of the
Pakistani state .
In the process Musharraf
institutionalized corruption as a
legitimate system and Pakistani military
almost irrevocably lost any remaining
moral credibility that it enjoyed inside
Pakistan.
Pakistani military may find it difficult to
recover from this strategic defeat in the
long run.

234
234
In 2008 Pakistani military lost a good
chance to destroy FATA rebels .

237
237
Pakistan Army was in a position to
destroy the TTP but Pakistani chief Kiani
a man of indecisive nature failed.
It stands as a major strategic failure of
Pakistani military.

238
238
In 2007 Pakistani military under Kiani
and Pasha initiated a lift and kill policy
in Baluchistan.

239
239
This policy was a strategic failure since
it reinforced Baloch resolve to fight
rather than dampen it.

240
240
How to sum it up .
Pakistan’s most serious challenges are
neither India , nor terrorism but :---
1. Energy generation
2. Tax Collection
Pakistani state needs to abandon the
following :--
1. Islam as a tool of strategy and
policy.
2. Ethnic chauvinism, like regarding
any of Pakistan’s ethnicities as
inferior.
3. Abandon the idea that only
Punjabis are entitled to make

241
241
money while others should act as
military proxies, colonial subjects,
and lesser citizens.
In simple terms Pakistan can survive
only if: ---
1. Abandons Islam as a strategic or
military tool.
2. Abandons confrontation with
India.
3. Overcomes its two critical issues
(a) Energy (b) Tax evasion.
4. Reforms its administrative
structure creating smaller

242
242
provinces, more self sufficient,
self contained.
5. Pakistani state whoever runs it
ensures that development funds
reach the right people.
6. Forget about its neighbors
specially Afghanistan as a source
of strategic depth.
7. Abandon duplicity as a strategy
in foreign policy.
All these are hard challenges.
Pakistanis must realize that Pakistan
was not inevitable .

243
243
It was created by British strategic
design , survived with US largesse ,later
supplemented by Chinese and Arab
money.
Pakistan s mafia style political and
military Dons must understand that
today major part of worlds stake holders

244
244
are perplexed about what to do with
Pakistan and Pakistan since 1991 has
been a problem rather than a solution !
While British strategy makers and policy
wizards painstakingly visualized a
Muslim strategic subsidiary base in
Indias North West to act as tactical
garbage collector against USSR , today
worlds think tanks , policy makers and
most powerful statesman spend
sleepless nights worrying over Pakistan ,
a garrison state gone rogué !

245
245
An unwritten question of profound
scholar Dr Ishtiaq when he wrote his
magnum bonum Pakistan-garrison state
was , how can an imperialist creation
gone wrong , be corrected ?

246
246
Or is there only a harsh Stalinist
solution to Pakistan , a strategic
anachronism par excellence !
Pakistans political and military Dons
must not take solace in the fact that its
nukes can act as strategic umbrellas for
corruption and massive fraud and tax
evasion ! What is unprecedented can
also finally be practiced in strategy !

247
247
Above all that states cannot survive
forever on foreign states largesse .
One day a state must stand on its own
feet or be ready to cease to exist ?????

248
248
The party cannot go on forever ????
One day even Nawaz Sharif , Zardari
and Pakistani military will have to pay
?????

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