This is a topic that has been discussed to death on other Pakistani military forums. Guys the point that everyone takes a tangent on when taking such a broad stroke is that they dump every thing under the account of the active Army (or in other words GHQ).
You just can't say that Army controls all these civilian ventures because a retired Army officer or an organization affiliated with the Armed Forces runs a particular concern.
This is not how the Army functions. The profession of arms is taken very seriously in the PA and aside from the times of Martial law (which did not happen this time), when officers have to handle their professional duties as well as martial law duties, the officers and men focus on the training on hand.
Currently, none of the major Pakistani units or the majority of the officers corp is involved in anything aside from their professional training. This is a common misperception in the minds of many Pakistanis and as a result in the minds of the Indians that Pakistani army is busy selling plots.....in reality, officers at the end of their careers from the military are given jobs to run many of the military-afiliated outfits like the Bahria, Fizaiya or Fauji foundations. The DHS that everybody talks about are always run by RETIRED military personnel who have nothing to do with the active Army. The Foundations, DHS etc., do NOT report to the GHQ or AHQ or NHQ.
The amount of training going on in Pakistan with each service is equal if not more than whats happening to Pakistan's east. Obviously units can do with more days out on training but that is a norm with all armies (they want more). I can say without a shadow of doubt that the bulk of Pakistani Army (not the military affiliated outfits) is not engaged on the civilian side of the house. They are doing what they are suppose to, which is to train or conduct operations as asked for by the GoP.
One note on the above point by melb4austin. I happened to attend an Army affilitaed school in Pakistan too. (One point, the only schools fully staffed by the PA are obviously the PMA and then the cadet colleges for obvious reasons since the intake at these colleges makes its way to the services academies, but aside from that, you have a small sprinkling of officers from AEC at other schools especially in the areas where civilians are unwilling to locate). This was in the days of the Martial law and every now and then, the GSO2, as he was called since he indeed was a GSO2 at a local unit based in the city, used to come to school to make sure that all was ok. In terms of officers being seconded to military schools, this is something that goes on even in the US. There are Maj Gens from the US Army who are running military schools here in the US. This is not a bad thing as they are deputed to schools to instill discipline. Most of the officers used in such roles are the ones who have been passed over for promotions and will retire at the same rank (this is the exact same issue in Pakistan).
Overall, Pakistan army trains equally hard. This has been proven in all of the past wars that despite being busied with non-military jobs during martial laws, the Pakistani army has always been able to hold the Indians back. Pakistani army has never been routed in a defensive war on the eastern borders despite the fact that there was a martial law in place and the army officers had two hats on. Since the time of Gen Aslam Beg, the Pakistani army has not been asked to put on two hats and this bodes well for professional training simply because they get more of it and are not burdened by civil affairs.
