STATE OF CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN PAKISTAN A Study of 5 Years: 2013-2018 Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency STATE OF CIVIL-MILITARY RELATIONS IN PAKISTAN A Study of 5 Years: 2013-2018 Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency PILDAT is an independent, non-partisan and not-for-profit indigenous research and training institution with the mission to strengthen democracy and democratic institutions in Pakistan. PILDAT is a registered non-profit entity under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860, Pakistan. Copyright © Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency - PILDAT All Rights Reserved Printed in Pakistan Published: January 2019 ISBN: 978-969-558-734-8 Any part of this publication can be used or cited with a clear reference to PILDAT. Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development And Transparency Islamabad Office: P. O. Box 278, F-8, Postal Code: 44220, Islamabad, Pakistan Lahore Office: P. O. Box 11098, L.C.C.H.S, Postal Code: 54792, Lahore, Pakistan E-mail: [email protected] | Website: www.pildat.org P I L D A T State of Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan A Study of 5 Years: 2013-2018 CONTENTS Preface 05 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms 07 Executive Summary 09 Introduction 13 State of Civil-military Relations in Pakistan: June 2013-May 2018 13 Major Irritants in Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan 13 i. Treason Trial of Gen. (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf 13 ii. The Islamabad Sit-in 14 iii. Disqualification of Mr. Nawaz Sharif 27 iv. 21st Constitutional Amendment and the Formation of Military Courts 28 v. Allegations of Election Meddling 30 vi. Bajwa Doctrine 30 vii. Media Censorship 31 viii. Expanding Profile of the Successive Army Chiefs 31 Conclusion and Recommendations 48 List of Tables Table 1: Timeline displaying major irritants in Civil Military Relations: 2013-2018 15 Table 2: Regional and International Visits and Interactions of COAS 32 Table 3: Call-ons & Interactions of COAS with Visiting Foreign Dignitaries and Ambassadors in 34 Pakistan Table 4: Meetings of the National Security Committee May 2013-May 2018 36 P I L D A T State of Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan A Study of 5 Years: 2013-2018 Prefaceeface Following our belief that a constitutional equation in Pakistan's civil-military relations is fundamental to consolidation of democratic governance in Pakistan, PILDAT has been monitoring civil-military relations in Pakistan and working towards a Constitutional and democratic oversight of defence and national security since 2004. Pakistan witnessed its first civilian transfer of power, under a democratically-elected President, through the General Election 2013. This report analyses the state of civil-military relations in Pakistan during the 5-year tenure of elected Government from 2013-2018 through focussing on major developments that have impacted civil-military relations. Disclaimer PILDAT team has used publicly available data and published sources in putting together this report. Any omission or error, therefore, is not deliberate. Lahore January 2019 05 P I L D A T State of Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan A Study of 5 Years: 2013-2018 List of Abbreviations and Acronyms AFIC Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology C-in-C Commander-in-Chief CCNS Cabinet Committee on National Security CJP Chief Justice of Pakistan CNIC Computerized National Identity Card COAS Chief of Army Staff DCC Defence Committee of the Cabinet DGMO Director General Military Operations ECL Exit Control List FATA Federally Administered Tribal Area FC Frontier Corps GHQ General Headquarters ISI Inter-Services Intelligence ISPR Inter-Services Public Relations JIT Joint Investigative Tribunal KP Khyber Pakhtunkhwa LEA Law Enforcement Agencies MML Milli Muslim League MNA Member National Assembly MPA Member Provincial Assembly MQM-P Muttahida Quami Movement-Pakistan NAB National Accountability Bureau NACTA National Counter Terrorism Agency NAP National Action Plan NID National Intelligence Directorate NSC National Security Committee PAT Pakistan Awami Tehreek PCNS Parliamentary Committee on National Security PEMRA Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority PIO Principle Information Officer PkMAP Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party PML-N Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz PTA Pakistan Telecommunication Authority PTM Pashtun Tahaffuz Movement PPPP Pakistan Peoples Party (Parliamentarian) PTI Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf SC Supreme Court SHC Sindh High Court TAPI Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India TLYRA Tehreek-e-Labbaik Ya Rasul Allah (later enlisted with the ECP as Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan – TLP) 07 P I L D A T State of Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan A Study of 5 Years: 2013-2018 Executive Summary Summary A review of 5 years of civil-military relations in Pakistan shows that instead of moving towards a constitutional equation of civil-military relations in Pakistan, the imbalance has worsened between 2013-2018. While in form, democracy appears to be moving towards consolidation; Pakistan has seen yet another peaceful democratic transfer of power from one elected civilian government to another through 11th General Election held in July 2018; however, the substance of democracy – of exercise of real executive power by democratically-elected governments – has seen rapid erosion in these 5 years. As always, the age-old question is whether civilian governments have ceded space and power to the military or has the military encroached upon constitutionally-mandated powers of the elected executive. Towards the end of the Constitutional term of 5 years of the previous PML-N government, the latter appeared to be the case amidst widely-held perceptions that despite holding executive power, the PML-N stood weakened and unable to maintain and exercise its executive power and protect and preserve its electoral mandate against covert, consistent and systematic onslaught by the military. The period under review started with the 10th General Election in 2013 that brought in the first democratic transition of power under a democratically-elected President. The PML-N, led by Mr. Nawaz Sharif, who had been removed from office by the 199 Coup d'état of Pervez Musharraf, was expected to bring about comprehensive national security reforms, which did not materialise except for the formation of a National Security Committee. While the NSC brought the elected civilian leadership together with the military leadership in the much-needed institutional setting, it remained mostly dormant and met for only 23 times in 5 years with an average of 4.6 meetings per year. Such has been the self- acknowledged importance of the NSC by the PML-N that while it took credit of almost everything else in its 2018 electoral manifesto, it failed to even take credit for forming the National Security Committee as its achievement and its stance shifted from “democratic oversight of defence” to “inter-institutional dialogue” in its manifesto for 2018 General Election. With the NSC failing to bring about the required synchronisation in matters of statecraft between the two sides, Civil- Military relations only worsened during the 5 years period. Differences in stances continued to be made public with open spats witnessed through the 5-year period on issues such as the trial of former COAS Musharraf, Opposition Dharnas largely believed to be engineered, implementation of the National Action Plan, Dawn Leaks, extension to Gen. Raheel Sharif and support to the ouster of Mr. Nawaz Sharif and decimation of the electoral mandate of the PML-N in 2018 General Election. While both sides continued the mantra of being on the same page, the divide between them could not be starker during these 5 years. Mr. Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from holding public office on July 28, 2017, four years into his tenure by the Supreme Court under Article 62(1)f for failing to declare un-withdrawn receivable income from a Dubai firm.1 Pakistan's political history once again saw an elected Prime Minister unable to complete his tenure. The most-damning indictment of civil-military relations in the past 5 years came from the then-Federal Minister of Defence, Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan, MNA, who publicly said that there is indeed 'tanao' or tension in civil military relations in Pakistan. In conversation with Mr. Saleem Safi in his televised talk show Jirga on Geo TV on December 30, 2017,2 the then Defence Minister, referring to Constitutional equation of civil-military relations, said that “we have to “search for truth in facts;” that while the Constitution is an ideal and inspiration but facts, on the ground, are different.” In terms of democratic oversight of defence, he also went on to say that “Defence Minister is merely a facilitator at best and most of the time even marginalised at that while Prime Minister directly deals with leadership of the Armed Forces” also acknowledging the reasons behind these anomalies that“We [PML-N] have learnt that individually good relations between Services Chiefs and PM do not solve issues in civil-military relations. There have to be good inter-institutional relations. ” When asked what is the minor difference of opinion on foreign relations between the civilian Government and the Armed Forces, he said that they are absolutely on the same page as far as relations with the US are concerned but on Afghanistan there are minor issues. He rather profoundly said that “ham bar bar yeh clarity chahtey hain Afwaj-e- Pakistan sey keh jo kuch bhi Afghanistan mein ho raha hai, us ka koi ta'aluq Pakistan sey nahin hona chahiye.” [We are always looking for this clarity from Pakistan Military that whatever is happening in Afghanistan, Pakistan should have nothing to do with it.]. 1. Dawn.com, [website], 2017, Nawaz Sharif steps down as PM after SC's disqualification verdict, https://www.dawn.com/news/1348191 (accessed on September 28, 2018) 2. Youtube.com, [website], 2017, Jirga-30-December-2017, https://youtu.be/lJPxVD-SF9A (accessed October 24, 2018) 09 P I L D A T State of Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan A Study of 5 Years: 2013-2018 The personalisation of relationship as a strategy to mend civil-military relations indeed did not work also.