Malayalam News
There are many reports that the condition of the people of Pakistan is dire. Debt, poverty, hunger and poverty, the condition of the common people is everything, It is true that there is no fuel, no water, no food for them. But the condition of the army is not the same… According to reports, money is piling up in the hands of the Pakistan army.
Talking about Pakistan, I remember what Shashi Tharoor MP once said – “Usually a country has its own army, but it is not so in the case of Pakistan, where the army has its own country”. The truth of this statement can only be understood if one knows about the businesses, financial capabilities and depth of power of the Pakistan Army. According to the Global Firepower Index, Pakistan Army is the 7th strongest army in the world.
According to NATO’s Defense Education Enhancement Program (DEEP) report, the Pakistan Army has an unholy alliance with the Taliban in the drug trade. It has also been reported that Pakistan has established smuggling networks into India and particularly in the Kashmir Valley over the years to ensure a steady supply of drugs and weapons.
According to the November 2021 report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Afghanistan accounted for 85 percent of global opium production in 2020. Sharing a 2400 km border with Afghanistan, Pakistan acts as a corridor to drug traffickers. According to statistics, more than 40 percent of Afghan drugs enter Pakistan before reaching the international market.
Pakistan army has created a different world inside Pakistan even when we usually live in hell without even a single food or a drop of water. Pakistan is ruled by its army. Everything in Pakistan is decided by its army. Democratic parties and governance are just a concept. If we look at the country’s history, there is fierce competition between military dictatorships and democratically elected governments.
No prime minister can rule in Pakistan without the support of the army. It is normal in Pakistan for any manager to step down and face charges of corruption. Some will be punished. Some will lose their lives. A few will escape abroad. The army and the court helped Imran Khan come to power five years ago. He came out a year ago when he left the army. How is the army in Pakistan so strong? Where are the crores flowing to the Akistan army?
95 percent of Pakistan’s GDP is debt and liabilities.. With no money to pay debts, Prime Ministers travel from country to country seeking money to overcome the financial crisis. Even the World Bank has proposed limiting Pakistan’s defense budget.
The army can make a good profit by running a business. The Pakistan Army is the largest business group in Pakistan, with more than 50 major business organizations across Pakistan, most of which are among the largest in the country. Most of the businesses run under the name of charitable organizations “dedicated to the nation” and are run directly by senior military generals. Biscuits, sanitary napkins, electricity and fertilizer are all sold in the name of charity
International media reports that the military controls 70 percent of Pakistan’s stock market. These businesses operate under the charitable banners of Ashakari Foundation, Fauji Foundation (Pakistan Army), Shaheen Foundation (Pakistan Air Force), Baharia Foundation (Pakistan Navy), Army Welfare Trust and Defense Housing Authorities (DHA). The very purpose of bringing them under charitable organizations is to avoid paying tax. The main objective of these organizations is the welfare of the personnel of the forces. Even retired army generals have the right and authority to run businesses in Pakistan.
Fertilizers, Cement Manufacturing, Grain Production, Insurance, Banking Enterprises, Education, Information Technology Institutes, Airport Services, Travel Agencies, Shipping, Port Services, Deep Sea Fishing, Petrol Pumps for Large Industrial Plants, Banks, Bakeries, Schools, Universities, Milk Dairies, stud farms and cement plants are all part of Pakistan Army businesses
The Pakistan Army is the biggest behemoth in the petroleum and gas sector with more than two dozen companies involved in the import, distribution and processing of petroleum products. When the United States launched its so-called ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan, the Pakistan Army began the business of supplying supplies to all foreign contractors in Afghanistan, including coalition forces and private security. The Army is also Pakistan’s largest contractor for the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission.
According to the Fauji Foundation website, one of the most diversified business conglomerates in Southeast Asia, with 4 wholly owned companies and 21 subsidiaries, most of the corporate heads of the company’s business empire are coming from Pakistan Army. Published in 2017, their website has pictures of commissioned officers in the armed forces.. .
The Army is Pakistan’s largest real estate developer with more than fifty different housing projects across the country. The Army owns 12 percent of the country’s land, spread over thousands of acres. Two thirds of that land is in the hands of current and former senior officers mainly Brigadiers and Major Generals.. DHA Islamabad is spread over 16000 acres while DHA Karachi is over 12,000 acres. These lands will be allocated to the army by the government of Pakistan free of charge. Now, when the same land is given to the common people, he makes a good profit by selling it at a high price.
According to defense audit reports, there are irregularities worth Rs 200 crore in Pakistan military lands and cantonments. 1800 crore rupees corruption was found in the purchase related to Pakistan Army Canteen. The report also mentions a loss of Rs 200 crore due to the sudden cancellation of the tenders issued without complying with the procurement norms.
At least 45,267 acres of land in three districts of Pakistan’s Punjab province, Bhakkar, Khushab and Sahiwal, have been handed over to the army. Pakistan Army is now going to do ‘Corporate Agricultural Farming’ on this land. According to a Credit Suisse report dated October 2021, at least 25 retired Pakistani army officers have Swiss bank accounts. 80,000 crores of undeclared assets are deposited in these accounts.
An army general in Pakistan had invested Rs 22,000 crore in a pizza company called Peppa Jones on behalf of his family members. His brother, who was a delivery driver for a pizza franchise, is now a billionaire
Despite being the country’s largest business conglomerate, Pakistan has one of the most obscure accounting systems in the world. There is currently no information available about the value of the Pakistan Army’s business ventures. In 2007, the Army’s assets were estimated to be over $20 billion. It is estimated that it will be more than one trillion dollars in 2019
Almost 50 percent of retired corps commanders and officers attached to Pakistan Army, Pakistan Navy and Air Force are directly involved in running these charitable organizations. Another 30 percent are assigned as ambassadors, the foreign service, or the bureaucracy. There is a pattern where the remaining 20 percent get jobs in various government projects, public sector organisations, advisers to governments, etc. Although these charitable organizations are independently run by a Board of Directors, the General Headquarters of the Pakistan Army in Rawalpindi controls all their overall management.
Even as people are starving to death, the Pakistan Army is running rampant with corruption, nepotism, tax evasion, drug dealing…
