The khakis have been able to dominate our polity because they are the only ones in our polity able to distinguish between individual and institution and never allow the interests of the former to trump those of the latter.
I stopped right there, because it is a load of bull. The frequent dictators that Pakistan had, stopped promotions throughout the system because there was no room at the top and they were stuffing the rank with their cronies because they didnt want a Yahya-Ayub redux. If the Khakhis were thinking about the institution and not the individual, why all this field marshal giri, Mushy never retiring and Kayani getting extensions after extensions? Ayub stuffed the top with his cronies. Zia made everyone grow beards, promoted people based on their displays of piety. Also stuffed the top with his cronies. Musharraf never retired, stuffed the top with his cronies, who were bought off with American money. Kayani got extensions, blocked promotions*. It is not easy being a dictator, you have to fight off the lootinent jernails who want to be the next dictator because they know that they can never get promoted to chief of army staff. You have to constantly buy them off, stuff the rank with your cronies. Think of family run political parties stuffing the ranks with their "loyalists". Except here it is much worse because promotions are supposed to be on merit and people tend to get very upset if they dont promoted, especially if they are well qualified and dont like things like coups.
The difference between politicians in Pakistan and Jernails in Pakistan is that the Jernails have all the guns and an intelligence agency which have dossiers of omissions and commissions of politicians. And that is why the wield power. The jernails and politicians have one thing in common though, they are interested in enriching themselves and looting Pakistan and giving a big finger to mango abduls. They send mango abduls to training camps and then to Afghanistan and JK where they get mowed down by Unkil and SDREs. When they cant cross over and demand better living conditions, they send other idiot TFTA abduls to fight them so they kill each other. All the while other mango abduls are sweltering without electricity and getting polio, while the top of the pyramid retires in Australia and makes expensive trips to harrods.
The myth of a competent Pakistan army is just that. A myth. They havent won a single war. They have even lost wars inside their own territory, against their own people and were caught with their pants down when Americans pretty much invaded them and snatched OBL some 500 meters from their military academy.
So much for "Well organized, professional, selfless" army.
*I have a theory about coups in Pakistan. Whenever a general does a coup, it is like a stoppage in a sewer pipe. Pakistaniyat gets stuck. The jernail then stuffs it with his cronies and the cronies form factions. When the jernail retires/gets mango crated, the next jernail is unable to do a coup because other factions dont like him. Think of it like another stoppage getting prevented because the pressure in the pipe is getting relieved. It takes a few years for Pakistaniyat to get flushed out of the pipe and return to its natural state when a new COAS can pay off all the crore kammandus and conduct a coup and stop the pakistan pipe again.
