NUST Global Think Tank Network Discussion Session on
Civil-Military Relations in Pakistan
Global Think Tank Network (GTTN) of the
National University of Sciences and Technology
(NUST) organised a high-level discussion session
on civil-military relations in Pakistan on Thursday,
the 17th of March. GTTN Senior Fellow and former
Commander 11 Corps, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Masood
Aslam, made a detailed presentation on the topic.
Eminent intellectuals, academics, distinguished
statesmen, diplomats, scholars, and students were
present. Some of the personalities who participated
in the discussion included GTTN Senior Fellows;
former Chairperson HEC, Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman;
Rector NUST, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Muhammad
Asghar; former Federal Minister Dr. Sania Nishtar;
Rector NUML Major General (Retd) Ziauddin
Najam; CEO and Group Chairman Interactive
Convergence Dr. Shahid Mahmud; Former DG IB
Dr. Shoaib Suddle; and Editor-in-Chief Blue Chip
Magazine Humayun Gauhar.
The discussants agreed that the question of civil-
military relations lay at the very roots of the
challenge of organising and managing a modern
nation-state. This challenge had been met by
different nations and peoples in different manner
around the world. One common thing that was
to be noted in countries and states like the US,
Germany, and UK, where this question seemed
to have been satisfactorily settled, was the mutual
recognition on the part of civilian and military
spheres of authority of the indispensable functional
presence of both for ensuring a successful and
secure polity focused on delivering a free, safe,
and decent life to their citizens. However, in
these countries the process of establishing and
maintaining the harmony between spheres was
difficult and in a state of precarious equilibrium at
any point in time.
It was unanimously affirmed that this mutual
recognition and respect had been historically and
routinely lacking in the institutional interaction
between different spheres of decision-making in
Pakistan. The problem of the lack of civil-military
harmony had chronically beset the country since
its inception as an independent and sovereign state.
One of the most potent reasons that had hampered
the dual process of the development of state
institutions and maturation of state functionaries in
Pakistan was the sinister regularity with which the
civil-military understanding or interaction broke
down and resulted in the alternation of inefficient
military rule and clueless political dominance.
Further, differences in cultures of leadership and
orientation of objectives in political-civilian and
military spheres was stated to be a major factor
in the perpetuation of mutual suspicion that
manifested whenever any major national situation
rose or an important decision had to be made.
1
The discussants realised that there was an urgent
need to promote greater goodwill and common
understanding between political and military
leadership. It was stated that uncompromising
preference for and insistence on competence,
merit, and integrity across the whole spectrum of
private and public spheres was one way in which
harmony could be established not only between
civil and military spheres but between all segments
and sections of society. However, it was also
recognised that this long-term solution could be
brought about only through certain fundamental
changes in the way Pakistani society had been
organised. While, gradual but committed efforts
had to be undertaken for the realisation of the
long-term objective, immediate modi vivendi also
needed to be created urgently to enable trust-based
civil-military harmony.
One important recommendation was to shift
the emphasis provisionally from civil-military
interaction and relations to the delimitation of roles
of civil and military spheres leading to formulation
of strict and verifiable key performance indicators
(KPIs) for both spheres. This had to be followed
with the establishment of a viable system of
monitoring and evaluation to ensure if these KPIs
were being fulfilled meticulously and efficiently by
both the spheres.
Another cardinal recommendation that came
out of the discussion was to leverage the power
 resources into human capital of the highest order. This
focus would allow leadership classes in Pakistan to
look beyond the medieval conceptions of power and
authority. These obsolete conceptions of power were
built on a worldview of a bygone world in which there
used to be minimal social mobility with minimal local
and global networking which in turn was compounded
by mass ignorance. Leadership style and culture of
governance in Pakistan, regardless of institutional
spheres, was, therefore, completely out of tune with
the demands and realities of the 21st century world in
which Pakistan found itself. Pakistan could no longer
be kept in such a time warp. Focus on knowledge and
innovation would have far-reaching beneficial effects
for the country. It was recognised that this focus did
not only have to be verbal but also had to reflect in
governmental priorities, become the leading concern
in actions of leaders and masses alike, and transform
into the top priority of social and institutional relations
2 in the country.

A second interesting and promising recommendation

was common learning sessions conducted by leading
national and global experts for different institutional
tiers of leadership starting from the national level all the
way down to the local level in diverse fields that were
critical to running the 21st century states, markets,
and societies and crucial for managing continual
local, national, regional and global change. These
sessions were considered to be an extremely important
tool for creating the cutting-edge mind-set required
for governing Pakistan efficiently. Interestingly, the
People’s Republic of China had institutionalised such
learning sessions for its leadership at the highest level
decades ago which, to a large extent, enabled China
to become a first-order global power in a space of just
three decades. It was recognised by the discussants
that these sessions, if they were ever to be conducted
in Pakistan, had to be persistent and persevering so
that the initial ingrained cynicism of officialdom could
be surmounted.

In sum, the discussants asserted that improvement in

civil-military relations was an evolutionary process
but the task of statesmanship and policymaking was
to positively accelerate the process rather than disrupt
it. A brief investiture ceremony took place at the
end of the discussion session for the thought leaders
associated with NUST GTTN.