Pakistan Military News, Reports, Data, etc.

Sawhney is in Islamabad for a security conference. Good interview:

Mohsin77 said:

So, I normally don't discuss Pakistani politics on this forum because I have enough of that in my life lolz.

The DAWN newspaper represents a minority in Pakistan, they are a corrupted 'liberal' Western-biased institution.

The vast majority of Pakistanis supported the crushing of the no-confidence motion.

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My knowledge of Pakistan is very limited so I am happy to be corrected. My understanding is that Dawn is the voice of elite consensus within Pakistan, akin to the role that that the New York Times plays in the United States. That is certainly not the same thing as being unbiased and far from being "the voice of the people", but it is nonetheless a voice that matters because it is closely connected to power. Is this inaccurate?

Lethe said:

My knowledge of Pakistan is very limited so I am happy to be corrected. My understanding is that Dawn is the voice of elite consensus within Pakistan, akin to the role that that the New York Times plays in the United States. That is certainly not the same thing as being unbiased and far from being "the voice of the people", but it is nonetheless a voice that matters because it is closely connected to power. Is this inaccurate?

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I wouldn't say DAWN represents the elite consensus, because ARY is also run by the elite (like all media giants), and they're polar opposites of DAWN.

There are plenty of elite industrialists and businessmen that are anti-Dawn and pro-PTI, because their focus is on economic growth and reforms. There was a Gallup poll recently which found that the more educated a person is, the more likely they are to support PTI (which contradicts DAWN's claim to be representing the enlightened elite.)

Although DAWN (along with Jang and Geo) do indeed represent important vested interests. That's why I keep tabs on both DAWN + ARY to get both sides. Each has their own biases of course. But some biases are worse than others.

As for the true "voice of the people", I don't think such a concept even exists right now anywhere in the world. It cant exist because people are polarized and part of the problem is all these media groups.

Looks like the no-confidence vote is .

Of course analogies are always dangerous, especially when one is unacquainted with many of the relevant details, but the last time I recall a Supreme Court ruling against a Prime Minister eager to be rid of a troublesome parliament was back in the distant past of, err, .

Lethe said:

Looks like the no-confidence vote is

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.

Of course analogies are always dangerous, especially when one is unacquainted with many of the relevant details, but the last time I recall a Supreme Court ruling against a Prime Minister eager to be rid of a troublesome parliament was back in the distant past of, err,

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.

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As mentioned in my post earlier, IK employed a very weak legal ground. Even the Attorney General recused himself of defending such weak ground in supreme court. llollz.

IK can still resign and give whoever comes to power in Pakistan a very tough time as an opposition leader. But it seems that it is very hard to let go of power.

Am amazed how IK came up with such allies and aides? M just surprised

Ali Qizilbash said:

As mentioned in my post earlier, IK employed a very weak legal ground. Even the Attorney General recused himself of defending such weak ground in supreme court. llollz.

IK can still resign and give whoever comes to power in Pakistan a very tough time as an opposition leader. But it seems that it is very hard to let go of power.

Am amazed how IK came up with such allies and aides? M just surprised

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Why can't he just call an election? Surely that's the right thing to do in a democracy.

Ali Qizilbash said:

As mentioned in my post earlier, IK employed a very weak legal ground. Even the Attorney General recused himself of defending such weak ground in supreme court. llollz.

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That's simply not true.

The SC has broken the constitutional firewall of separation of powers. Ali Zafar's argument in the court was that the SC does not have the authority to over-rule the Parliament on Parliamentary matters. You can agree or disagree whether that is a "good" rule (personally, I don't even agree with it, because I don't agree with the concept of a "republic" where people are the "ultimate sovereign.") Nevertheless, that's what the constitution currently says, and the SC went beyond its scope to dictate to parliament.

By the way, the AG was functioning in the capacity of 'aide to the court' in this case, while the main lawyer for the government was Zafar. And the SC short order didn't even touch Zafar's argument, because they know their own ruling is wrong. They basically just steamrolled over the constitution without even bothering to justify their ruling on technical grounds. Which I guess shouldn't be a surprise considering that just a few months ago the SC decided to make its own judges immune from prosecution from corruption charges.

In summary: A lot of people think the SC decision is automatically "correct", because the government did something technically incorrect. But that's not how it works. Regardless of what the government did, the SC ruling is still incorrect because of the principle of separation of powers (whether that is a good principle or not is a separate issue entirely.)

So Imran Khan and his government have been ousted in a vote of no-confidence by the parliament. I will leave it to others to offer more informed commentary, though this article did make me laugh:

“Since it’s the military that calls the shots on the policies that the US really cares about, ie Afghanistan, India and nuclear weapons, internal Pakistani political developments are largely irrelevant for the US,” said Curtis, who served as then-US President Donald Trump’s national security council senior director for south Asia.

She added that Khan’s visit to Moscow had been a “disaster” in terms of US relations, and that a new government in Islamabad could at least help mend ties.

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Let's try that again.

Pakistani political developments are largely irrelevant for the US

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Khan’s visit to Moscow had been a “disaster” in terms of US relations

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And again.

largely irrelevant

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a “disaster”

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Pick one.

Lethe said:

So Imran Khan and his government have been ousted in a vote of no-confidence by the parliament.

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The nation-wide protests yesterday are a strong indicator he'll be back, and this time with 2/3rd majority.

This was followed by an important indicator today, Army Chief Bajwa refused to attend the oath taking ceremony of the new PM.

Anyways, this is supposed to be a military thread, so let's get back on topic.

Key points from his visit to Islamabad's security conference:

• The Pak Army will "increase firepower" while reducing manpower
• The Air Force will now take the lead in War Planning
• New cyber capabilities are being emphasized

It seems like the era of the infantry-focused ORBAT is finally coming to an end in the Pakistani Army. The funds saved from reducing infantry will be put towards more "firepower" instead. I hope this includes adding at least one more Armored Division (+ more independent heavy armored Brigade and Battalion level formations.) These changes could/should also include increasing the inventory of Babur CMs and gunships.

Basically, the focus going forward needs to be on increasing maneuver capabilities, rather than the current infantry focused ORBAT, while also letting the PAF take the lead.