Pakistan Bolsters Army Chief Powers: A Lesson in 'Democracy'
While The New Arab meticulously details the expanded powers and restrained Supreme Court, they gloss over inconvenient history. This isn't newfound muscle; it's a reinforced pattern. Pakistan's military has staged at least four successful coups since 1958, dissolving governments and rewriting constitutions at will. General Zia-ul-Haq's martial law in the late 70s, for example, unilaterally altered
the constitution, cementing the army's role. So, when parliament 'approves' more power for the army chief, one might ask: are they approving it, or is the army simply collecting what's always been theirs? The media calls it a 'parliamentary approval.' We call it a rubber stamp on a long-standing military-civilian imbalance. After all, what’s a parliament for if not to formalize the inevitable?