What drives Pakistani men to join his army, despite the toll it costs them? Maria Rashid explores the narratives that underpin the appeal of the military to the country’s population
Title: Dying to Serve: Militarism, Affect and the Politics of Sacrifice in the Pakistani Army
By: Maria Rachid
Publisher: Bloomsbury India, 2023
Word length: 267 pages
Price: Rs 699
The last two decades have seen several good books on the Pakistani military, its philosophy and how it works. In 2007, Zahid Hussain wrote Frontline Pakistan: the fight against militant Islam, in which he explains his country’s situation in simple terms: Pakistan is at war with itself. Later that year, Ayesha Siddiqa released Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economyextensive research tour de forceon the economic empire of the Pakistani army. In 2008, At Shuja Nawaj Crossed Swords: Pakistan; His army and internal warsgives a comprehensive overview of this country’s ultimate center of power. In 2012, the excellent Aparna Pande Explaining Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: Fleeing Indiaimmersed in Pakistan’s quest for an identity beyond merely “anti-India”. In 2014, C Christine Fair wrote Fight to the End: The Pakistani Army’s War Mode,which posits that the Pakistani military achieves its goals by resisting India’s drive for regional hegemony and keeping the Kashmir conflict alive. In 2015, Steven Wilkinson wrote his masterful Army and Nation: military and Indian democracy since independence,which traces the politicization of the Pakistani army since the end of the 19ecentury and its roots in Punjabi rule.
Today, Maria Rashid’s fascinating book seeks to answer a fundamental question about the Pakistani military: why do so many Pakistani men volunteer to serve in this country’s large army, despite its members’ record in terms of injuries, debility and death?
As Ms. Rashid points out, Pakistan has seen more than its fair share of wars and internal conflicts since its independence in 1947. This includes four
wars with India, numerous counter-insurgency operations inside the country, covert Afghan support mujahideenagainst the Soviet Union in the early 1980s, frequent deployment of regular troops on overseas combat missions, including United Nations peacekeeping operations and, in recent years, counter-terrorism operations terrorism on its border with Afghanistan.
Citing government figures, the author reveals that an average of 130,000 young men apply to join the military each year, of which only 38,000 are selected. The voluntary nature of enlistment in the Pakistan Army without conscription is often explained as resulting from economic deprivation. Another reason given is historical: the lack of employment options in the traditional recruiting areas of the Pakistani army – the hilly, rain-fed regions of Punjab. However, the key question the book seeks to answer is: how does the military maintain its appeal to job seekers when it virtually guarantees the death of its subjects?
To answer this, Ms. Rashid investigates the commemorative ceremonies of the Pakistani army – which the author calls “mourning shows” – which she organizes each year on the occasion of Youm-e-Difaa (YeD). That’s easy, given that the government has already turned the country into a militaristic state, with public spaces used for displaying various types of killing machines, such as machine guns, fighter jets, submarines. sailors and, ridiculously, scaled-down copies of the hills where Pakistan conducted its first nuclear tests. Pakistan Day is celebrated on March 23 every year with a military parade to mark the anniversary of the Lahore Resolution by the All India Muslim League in 1940.
The author describes a YeD ceremony at Pakistan Army Headquarters (GHQ), held in the shadow of the Yadgar-e-Shuhada (Martyr’s Memorial). To the sound of patriotic hymns, the guests of honor were family members of soldiers who had given their lives. In turn, loved ones of dead soldiers approached the microphone and eulogized their heroes. Mothers were overflowing with pride as they spoke of their deceased sons and expressed their willingness to give more to die for their country.
The author highlights the skill of the Army’s public relations in creating this space – the Yaum-e-Difaa and the Yadgar-e-Shuhada – to communicate directly with the nation and highlight the carefully crafted narrative of grief. and mourning in the message that the soldier puts in place for the nation. As a result, in the martial districts of Pakistan, the army functions as “a modern kinship group which rewards its subjects with salary, pensions, benefits and land grants”.
In these martialized terrains, nationalist narratives of sacrifice are currencies of exchange which make it possible to continue to belong to the kinship group of the soldiers and to make demands of it. As a result, the desire in these regions to serve in the military is deep and constant, even as the ideology has shifted from a traditional Hindu enemy to a new Muslim threat.
This patriotic space is carefully cultivated. Every year on Yaum-e-Difaa, the head of the Pakistani army gives a nationally broadcast speech at Yadgar-e-Shuhada, which can be compared to the “State of the Union” speech of the American president every year. It is a powerful demonstration of how the military positions itself in the Pakistani political system, with the army chief commenting, without flinching, on issues such as governance, the criminal justice system, economic development, politics foreign affairs, terrorism and corruption. Ms. Rashid’s book is an exciting read for all students of Pakistan, terrorism, the South Asian region, and civil-military relations in general.
