United Pakistan – Republic of Egypt (1953–1958) relations
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Egyptian Revolted
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PAKISTAN
(Occupied Kashmir)
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It is useful to compare Egypt with Pakistan. There, the military budget is beyond the purview of the parliament. However, the reasons for the army's dominance in the Pakistani polity are different from those in Egypt. Within months of the founding of the state in August 1947, Pakistan's military fought a war with the Republic of India over the disputed territory of Kashmir. The army emerged as the pre-eminent institution in the country, with General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the commander-in-chief, becoming the defence minister in 1954, breaking the protocol whereby a civilian always occupied that position. The following year he extended the reach of the military into the civilian sector by establishing the Fauji ("Army" in Urdu) Foundation, an economic entity charged with protecting the welfare of ex-servicemen.
Under Khan's dictatorship, which ran from 1958 to 1969, the ambit of the Fauji Foundation expanded, with serving and retired army officers being posted to run factories. Later, officers were given large plots of virgin land on retirement. The military's penetration into the civilian economy accelerated under the 11-year dictatorship of General Muhammad Zia ul Haq, which began in 1977. Among other things, the Fauji Foundation was given the franchise to run a lucrative nation-wide chain of petrol stations. Also, in the name of safeguarding national security, the military high command started playing a dominant role in shaping Pakistan's foreign policy.
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