It was James Madison one of the founding fathers of the US who wrote the following (a feeling shared by many of the other founders), a sentiment that I think describes Pakistan's bad luck. These men in the 18th century had more sagacity on affairs of man, politics and power than the contemporary Pakistani political thinker. He wrote:
"Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.[...he then went on to state]....The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manners and of morals engendered by both. No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."
These words should resonate in the minds and hearts of all Pakistanis.
In no way is my argument that armies should not exist. In Pakistan having a standing army is a precursor to our survival given the neighborhood. However as a nation we should understand that this institution though critical must come within a ambit of checks and balances, otherwise this child that the nation nurtures, loves, and protects will one day become the undoing of the very thing it intends to protect.
