Military Entrepreneurs

Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar had recently observed, quite dryly, during a related hearing as to why the Army was setting up wedding halls and shopping malls on military lands in the garrisons, and also housing societies like DHAs elsewhere? In his opinion it was illegal and unsuited to demands of military professionalism, soldiering, or things to that effect. He insisted upon SC orders issued early this year that all such structures should be demolished and areas restored. One could not disagree much with the CJ’s purely legalistic and rather puritanical view but there is much more to it than the infringement of the law in good faith alone.

The genesis of this commercialization lies in simple. Insignificant welfare shops set up since the 80s for troops’ families in outlying cantonments like Thal, Chunian, Chor, Pannu Aqil, and so on. It was an admirable idea to help troops’ families buy daily use items on reasonable rates within easy reach of their living areas. However, it was bad for discipline and led to improper use of transport, diversion of manpower, and wastage of professional time with regards to those tasked to procure and sell. This art was not part of the military training syllabus and thus led to awkward improvisations.

I recollect the unit in Kohat was running a shoe shop in the garrison welfare center when I took over as commanding officer in 1983. It was an unbecoming sight to see a serving NCO and few jawans trying to sell outdated shoes which no one, in any case, was interested to buy. They felt so awkward and I felt equally bad. For some time we persisted with this weird anomaly, failed miserably as expected, and requested formation headquarters to be relieved of this ‘onerous duty’, to their undisguised displeasure. It took some effort recycling that small team of soldier salesmen back into barrack routine. However, their unsavory nickname Mochee (Shoemaker) so earned haunted them for a long time.

Such apparently well-meaning ‘irregularities’ opened the door to much larger ventures under a benign command oversight and has matured into setting up wedding halls, shopping malls and the sort in the garrisons controlled, one way or the other, by respective the formations headquarters, base commanders or PNS executives. Excess because it not only diverts professional man-hours but also incentivizes others vertically and laterally to do better and earn more. It also in some cases lured officers in charge of business ventures commit irregularities to their regret. Some smart ones made good their dig into the cookie jar to the disgust of others which tended to tell on their moral composure.

The amount of money that flows in is fairly sizeable and one is sure the Army is doing much to institutionalize and disseminate proceedings equitably, fairly and upon genuine welfare undertakings. But that is more like the damage control not plugging the real holes. The practice itself is disagreeable ab initio. One couldn’t agree more with the CJ.

However DHAs, originally, could not be lumped together with such homegrown entrepreneurship. These were set up on lands acquired from the open market, run under transparent rules, registered with the respective civil administration, and were designed to be a genuine welfare measure. These were really institutionalized somewhere around the early ’80s and were such a great relief. It made our minds at peace from a great and nagging worry which used to grip officers towards the middle of their career to arrange for a decent house to live after retirement. It really started off from GHQ’s Army Housing Scheme very brilliantly conceived by the then Adjutant General Lt Gen Zahid Ali Akbar who took pains to explain the concept and its advantages by addressing officers in garrisons and was very eagerly accepted by officers. Eventually, it became such a success that the GHQ received a request from the Indian Army HQ for sharing its concept.

By then DHAs were only two and quite a low key. Allotment of plots in DHAs were institutionalized from discretionary to system based allocations during Gen Baig’s tenure. This step ended random allotments of plots to officers but the unintended consequence was that the Army had to now cater to every officer and latter for meritorious other ranks also. That meant to acquire more land, thus one saw the expansion of existing DHAs at Lahore and Karachi and setting up new ones at Multan, Bahawalpur, Quetta, and Peshawar. These being well managed and relatively free of fraud became prime real estate attraction improving the financial health of the officers which is quite unfairly but derisively referred to by nonmilitary quarters for whom grapes seem sour. 

There is strict and clear control over DHAs exercised by GHQ which guarantees fair practices. There have been whispers and finger-pointing in some cases which only go to prove the contention that such ventures are like drums of coal tar. No amount of care can prevent a smudge or two on one’s apron. By that token, many other fields of Army involvement in lucrative undertakings like NLC, FWO, etc tend to come under the scanner and not without reason. However, it may be kept in mind that NLC, FWO, and the like are officially mandated to compete and take up certain specific duties in the civil sector where civil expertise may be lacking or limited. Few might remember that the NLC basically sprang from the pressing need to transport wheat from Karachi port to upcountry as wharf and railways trade unions were on strike during late President Zia’s time then. NLC stayed on, dug in, and competed with the railways and in the process ruined this invaluable national asset as their major income was from goods transportation. Railways have never recovered from this shock. Similarly, FWO was born out of the womb of Karakorum Highway and has expanded far beyond. Fauji Foundation, though connected but is a different genre of the business undertaking.

As far commercial projects on military lands in the cantonments, the Ministry of Defense should form a powerful inter-services committee to take stock of the entire investments, seek one-time government waiver, set up rules for their administration and utilization of income so generated for the genuine welfare of soldiery and creation of facilities in the cantonments. GHQ may try innovative ways to accommodate officers’ and soldiers’ needs for post-retirement housing instead of a nuclear cloud like an expansion of DHAs. One way could be to buy in bulk from existing good quality housing schemes and allot as and when eligibility occurs according to rules. Slowly but methodically DHAs may be considered to be converted into cooperatives for their longer-term administration with an effective stake controlled by GHQ or respective Service HQ to deter waywardness. Lastly, there is a need to put an intelligent, well-considered, and firm end to this corrosive diversion.