Consequences of military rule

I had the opportunity to see military rules at different times from different points of view. First I saw it from the receiving end in 1958 as a senior school student. In early 1960s as an undergrad student at DU I took part in violent agitations against FM Ayub’s martial law regime. Later, since 1967, as a commissioned officer in the army I was used as a tool in the hands of martial law administrators and performed martial law duties of various natures under all the martial law regimes till I retired from service in 2000. Not being a student of political science myself I studied some books written on martial law regimes of Africa and Latin America in 1950s and 1960s to gather theoretical knowledge about it. From my personal experience and study I tried to find out why does it happen, what the generals do during a martial law period, what the junior officers of the rank of majors and below and the soldiers think about it. May I take the indulgence of your esteemed daily to share some of my findings with your learned readers?

When the politicians, whose job is to run the affairs of the state, fail miserably to perform their duties there is total anarchy in the society. All the state machineries come almost to a grinding halt. National wealth is plundered by politicians and their lackeys. Politics is overwhelmingly criminalized. All sorts of criminals take this opportunity to indulge freely in social and economic crimes. Life of the ordinary citizens becomes unbearable. People are so frustrated that they become apprehensive of their individual future and the future of the state. It is at this point that they expect that some savior or messiah should come from somewhere to save the country and the state. It is only then the generals with the covert or overt support of some internal (businessmen and politicians in opposition parties) and external powers (aid giving countries and agencies) stage a bloody or bloodless coup de tat to take over state power. The consequence of a failed military coup de tat is too harsh for the masters of the coup to take any chance. In most cases they have to pay with their necks for failures in such cases. Generals take over state power from the politicians only when they are more than sure that they can get away with their necks by doing it, not a day before that. People feel happy and relieved. They come out on the streets dancing to welcome the tanks and the guns. They shower flower petals and garlands on the jubilant soldiers on the streets. Some criminals, corrupt politicians and businessmen are arrested and put on trial in military courts or specially set up tribunals. Immediately the anarchy is gone, law and order is restored. People feel relieved and go back to their normal life. After the initial heat of martial law cools down, say within a period of 3 to 6 months, the generals, to run the affairs of the state, become almost totally dependent on the same senior civil bureaucrats with whose connivance the politicians spoilt the show earlier. In the armed forces an officer is trained how to run the affairs of the armed forces, and not of the state of which armed forces is only an armed part. In the armed forces there is very little room for an officer to indulge in corrupt practices. Moreover the anti corruption rules and regulations are very stringent in the armed forces. Only very few among the senior officers dealing with the purchase of defense stores and construction works can indulge in corruption, that too with the active collaboration of the politicians. On being exposed to a corrupt environment outside the cantonments, some senior officers get the first taste of corruption after martial law is imposed. They succumb to their personal greed. Thus the rot sets in in the armed forces. Within two to three years time people realize that with martial law they had only a change of their masters, and not their lot. The same old politicians take the advantage of this frustration among the people and stage a come back from prisons, hibernation or self exile. The generals are thrown out of power; the politicians take over, albeit through an election. Many of the retired generals are honorably rehabilitated as politicians, ambassadors, businessmen, industrialists, or as consultants/advisors of private business organizations. Thus the whole cycle of civilian rule to military rule to civilian rule is completed. This is what recently happened in Pakistan and in Bangladesh in 1991.

It was very wise on the part of the present senior leaders of Bangladesh Armed Forces that they helped overthrow a highly partisan caretaker government (CG) headed by Dr. Iazuddin Ahmed on 11 January in 2007 and, instead of taking over power themselves, installed the present nonpartisan CG of Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed. People appreciated their role and accepted the change in good grace. Since 11 January, 2007 members of our armed forces have been rendering remarkable services in restoring and maintaining law order in the country. Besides, they are making valuable contribution in many nation building activities, like preparation of a voter list with photographs and national ID cards. We have clearly earmarked civil departments for doing these duties. But our politicians never allowed these departments to function properly. Though people are very appreciative of the jobs done by our armed forces, we are yet to hear any political leader publicly saying any kind words of appreciation for the members of our armed forces for doing such wonderful jobs in the interest of our people and democracy.

Now, it is high time we pull our armed forces out of such activities and allow them to concentrate on their primary mission, that is, preparation for war. People of our country must understand that it is not the job of the armed forces to do the job of the politicians and the civil bureaucrats. The sooner they understand this simple truth the better it is. They must help the present CG to hold the ensuing parliamentary election on 18 December peacefully without any hindrance, and elect only the honest and efficient politicians to lead them from January, 2009. Any person or political party who is found trying to disrupt the present effort of the CG and the Election Commission to hold the next election deserves to be dealt with an iron hand.

When deployed for long in aid to civil power, as we are having it now, the armed forces suffers very badly as far as its professional efficiency is concerned. On being employed for a long time in aid to civil power the troops and the young officers miss their annual training programs. They, like the people on the street, also feel utterly frustrated if they see that their hard work and devotion to nation building duties during this period bore no fruit. This is a dangerous phenomenon. All concerned must take a note of it.