"The idea that war should be concluded within a moral framework may seem like a quaint medieval practice, but as speech separates humans from the apes, so morality separates civilization from the barbarians"
Eric Corley
Since time immemorial, warriors have followed a model, an ideal & a code of conduct. A warrior always fought for a cause and was guided by a higher purpose. Mahabharata & The Iliod stand as a testimony to a warrior’s code. The history of warfare has many examples of belligerent sides following a code even at the peril of their lives. Morality distinguishes a soldier from a mercenary.
Such tenets of righteousness form core of a soldier, however Pakistan Army with its long list of inhumane crimes & crimes against humanity stands as an aberration. While Operation Searchlight marks the nadir in long blood stained history of Pak Army, crimes against Baloch continue to put a blemish on moral fabric of the armed forces. Moral degradation of Pakistan Army which began during presidency of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto & Zia-Ul-Haq as Pak Army Chief continues till date. Leading a business conglomerate which controls most of Pakistan’s industrial production, the Pak Army is busy filling its own coffers. Using state sponsored terrorism, a strategic policy for furthering its nefarious goals, the army is not shy to stooping down to any level of moral degradation. Forced disappearances, mass rapes, killings, tormenting elderly & women form part of accepted rules of engagement in Balochistan for Pak Army to silence voices of protest. As the Pak Army continues to move on a downward spiral, one wonders where the decadence started & will it ever end?
Pak Army claims that narratives of 1971 war by India & Bangladesh are flawed & biased. It is prudent to examine findings of Hamoodur Rahman Commission, formed by Pakistan & headed by Chief Justice of Supreme Court of Pakistan constituted to look for reasons of Pakistan Army’s disgraceful debacle. The main report consisting of five parts & 250 pages has never been made public. All but one copy were burnt & single copy submitted to Pak President never saw light of the day. Supplementary copy submitted to the Pak President in Oct 1974 was made public in 2000. The ten pages, 5000 words supplementary report blames personal immorality, drunkenness & indulgence in corrupt reasons by rank & file of Pakistan Army as the main reasons of Pak’s crushing defeat. Power corrupts & absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The idiom is exemplified by Pak Army which assumed supreme powers in 1958 as Martial Law was imposed in East Pakistan. The Pak Army set its course in moral degeneration with officers earning notoriety for their disreputable way of lives. Lust for wine & women, greed for land & houses had corrupted rank & file of Pak Army long before Sheikh Mujib-Ur Rahman’s victory in elections had opened the doors of hell for Bangladesh. Pak Army used to an immoral & licentious way of life led by Yahya Khan carried out ghastly crimes which would put even demons to shame. The Army in months of Mar to December 1971, killed three million innocent Bangladeshis & raped half million Bangladeshi women. Unfortunate historical revisionism & myopic Islamization of Pakistan Army under Zia Ul Haq, taught troops to treat Hindu Women & Muslim Bengali Women as war time booties. Ulemmas of Pakistan & licentious way of their leaders had filled the soldiers with barbarism. Wanton cruelty, immorality, excessive use of force & fire power, arson & killing of innocents, disenchanted Bengali Officers & men who were part of East Bengal Regiment. On the pretense of quelling rebellion, Pakistan Army carried out killing of Bengali Officers & men of East Bengal Rifles, East Pak Rifles & East Pakistan Police Force. Under the orders of Yahya Khan, the butcher of East Pakistan, intellectuals, civilian officers, businessmen & professionals of East Pakistan were killed & buried in mass graves. Gen Agha Mohd Yahaya Khan, Gen Niazi, Brig Hayatullah treated Bangladeshis as inferior class of Muslims. To quote Gen Niazi, “Bangladesh was low lying land of low lying people”. Women of East Pakistan & Hindu minorities bore the maximum burnt of the carnage by immoral armed forces of Pakistan. A large number of women numbering up to 50,000 were repeatedly raped, kept as sex slaves in army camps and were subjected to extreme cruelty, torture & savagery as a deliberate act of revenge & retaliation against Bengalis & Hindu Minorities. Years of immorality preached & practiced by rank & file of Pak Army had made them professionally incompetent cowards. Savagery, cruelty & immorality of Pak Army were no match to professionalism of Indian Army leading to shameful defeat & surrender of 93,000 Pak Army troops & vivisection of Pakistan leading to birth of Bangladesh. The barbarism & atrocities committed by Pak Army were brought to light by Awami League & efforts of Research & Analysis wing of India and the their despicable acts were condemned globally.
There are numerous reasons for moral degeneration of Pak Armed forces. However, Zia –Ul- Haq’s indoctrination of Armed forces may be attributed as one of the primary reasons for decadence. He introduced Pakistan studies & Islamic studies in military curriculum. A myopic view of Islam & Indophobia fostered extremism, intolerance, sectarianism & fanaticism. The Army was taught to hate Hindus & Bangladeshis Muslims who were treated as inferior class of Muslims. The wide scale rape of women was justified by troops stating that “our commander himself is a rapist, how can we be stopped”. The harrowing acts of rapes, arson & loot were orchestrated on orders of Zia-Ul –Haq, who ordered, “Let’s make Bangladeshis, Muslims first”. The horrific orders were implemented ruthlessly by a morally bankrupt Army. The voices of protest by select few righteous officers of Pak’s armed forces were silenced by blood hungry multitude of Pak Armed Forces & the political hierarchy.
The Pak Army continues with its horrific genocide in Balochistan with killing of innocent civilians, politicians, students, women, children & Human Rights Activists. Balochistan was forcibly occupied in 1948 & insurgent movements between 1958-59, 1962-63, 1973-77 were suppressed with brutal violence. The nationalist movement in Balochistan resurged in 2002 & is witnessing the notorious rules of engagement of Pakistan Army which includes forced disappearances, mass rapes, use of helicopter gunships against civil population in Harnai district. Human Rights Activists such as Manzoo Pashteen who attempt to make their voices heard at global platforms are incarcerated & their families are subjected to horrific cruelty. Pak Army has no respect for women or elderly & continues to rule by fear as seen in Pakhutkhwa & Sindh. The immoral & inhumane conduct of Pak Army had forced Mr Hamid Karzai, ex-President of Afghanistan to express his concerns on global platforms.
India Armed Forces adhering to their model code of morality have suffered immensely in the hands of savage army of our neighboring country. In 1971 war, Lt Chandavarkar of 45 CAV was captured by Pak Army. His limbs, sexual organs, earlobes, fingernails, toes & fingers were dismembered. His eyes were finally gauged out before shooting him in the chest. Second Lieutenant MPS Choudhary was treated with similar savagery. The cruelty meted out to Capt. Saurabh Kalia in Kargil War is equally heart wrenching. The Border Action Teams have resolved to their brutal ways of beheading in continuum of their proxy war. The savage history of Pak Army is not stained but drenched in the blood of innocents, civilians & immoral killing of soldiers. As we flips through pages of history of Pak Army, one wonders when will the rotting of this savage army end & will it ever end.
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