Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to explore the role of Pakistan’s Military as a neo-colonial hireling by unsettling the coloniser/colonised binary. Most of the research on Pakistan’s Military is framed through these binaries, downplaying the remnants of colonialism & restricting the space to redefine decolonization

Paper long abstract:

Pakistan Army is the continuation of the British Royal Indian Army. The logic of these armies is constructed upon the logic of colonialism: extraction of surplus from the indigenous population through the monopolisation of means of force and coercion on the one hand and the means of production on the other: It should not be surprising to see that the Pakistan Army is the largest capitalist empire in the country that produces cornflakes, cement, fertilisers, insurance companies, real estate etc,. It is a simple case of a monopoly over the means of violence transforming into a monopoly on politics and economics.

Most of the research on Pakistan’s military is analysed through coloniser/colonised binary.Furthermore, it overlooks the persistent 'divide and rule' project evident in the governance system, with Pakistan's military serving as the ultimate arbiter in the country's politics. As Gramsci emphasises- long term system of domination survives because its ideological roots become so powerful that it replicates itself. Then how change is possible? This research also focuses on exploring how the system of domination is replicated by Pakistan’s military through creating a new monolithic Pakistani identity. Can we pursue indigenous development as long as we operate within the confines of that colonial logic of binaries? This research paper is a mini ethnography that draws data from secondary sources (historical accounts), interviews, and lived experiences (having worked with Pakistan’s Military for a brief period). It aims to contribute to a more nuanced decolonization debate by analysing the role of Pakistan’s Military.