Politically involved army

A HISTORY OF THE PAKISTAN ARMY - Wars and Insurrections: Brian Cloughley; Lancer Publishers and Distributors, 56, Gautam Nagar, New Delhi-110049. Rs. 595.

A HISTORY of the Pakistan Army as written by an Australian army officer who has served as a military attache in Pakistan, is very relevant material for all those who are seriously concerned with the Indo-Pakistan military conflicts.

The book details the start of the Pakistan Army from the early days of the Partition when it barely inherited about a lakh of troops and very little hardware, to its position in the 1990s when it has grown to a five-lakh-strong field army strength with over 800 modern tanks and state-of-the-art artillery, engineering equipment.

There is no doubt that in Pakistan, the army forms the core of decision making thanks to its enormous political clout, social esteem and ideological base. The book also analyses its organisational structure, training methodology and logistics build-up. In the author's words, Pakistan was wise enough to lean heavily on the United States for lease and aid to strengthen its arsenal when it did not possess military industry complex worth its name.

Col. Brian has written in an objective manner Pakistan's conflicts with India starting from 1947 to the latest conflict in 1999. Having outlined the genesis of Pakistan Army and the tremendous efforts put forth to modernise its structure, its performance in the field has been commented with verve, empathy and critical measurements.

Particularly, command failures due to poor leadership and faulty intelligence, both in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistan wars, have been written without any discolouration. Conversely, the author also has made some scathing remarks on the Indian Army's command failures both in the 1965 and 1971 wars quoting particularly the formations and the sectors where they were deployed. In the 1971 operations, the book brings out the faulty dispersal of Pakistani formations and lack of coordination between the General Headquarters (Pakistan Army), its Eastern Army commander and the field staff. As a result of this, resistance to the Indian Army's offensive crumbled in spite of good preparations.

The book's analysis of the involvement of the Pakistan army top brass in politics and their manoeuvring of political space right from the time of President Ayub Khan to General Musharaff has been highlighted to bring out the extraordinary ideological base promoted by its religious leaders. At the same time Pakistan Army's involvement in civic affairs, running of administration in troubled areas and even meddling in military industries have been berated as the cause of deterioration in its basic duties. The author has also brought out that due to lack of higher education there has been a fall in the standard of junior leaders; however, he pays tribute to the commanding officers of the combat arms for their willingness to innovate, adopt bold tactics and use highly motivated techniques to achieve their aims. Readers of the book would note that Pakistan's army officer and junior leaders cadre have benefited enormously from the motivation of Islamic literature and the extraordinary powers enjoyed by their Army Chiefs over the past decades.

Brig A. THYAGARAJAN (Retd.)

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