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| Pakistan Army chief takes charge. (photo credit: @AsimBajwaISPR) |
General Qamar Javed Bajwa superseded four Lt Gens. He is the third successive Punjabi army chief. He is from Jat community from Ghakhar Mandi in Pakistani Punjab.
Punjabis constitute 56 per cent population of Pakistan.
In 1939, Punjabi Muslims formed 29 per cent of British Indian soldiers. They were preferred after 1857 revolt as they were considered more loyal than the recruits from traditional grounds in UP and Bihar.
Punjabis dominate Pakistani army. Pathans are the second most dominant ethnic group. Urdu speaking mohajirs have had larger share in Pakistani Army than their share in population.
First Punjabi army chief of Pakistan was General Tikka Khan, who assumed office in 1972- 25 years after its creation.
Seven Punjabis have occupied the office of Pakistan Army chief including Bajwa. Bajwa is the third successive army chief since 2007. Till then four out of 13 army chiefs were Punjabis.
Before Bajwa, 28 of 69 years of its existence have seen a Punjabi army chief.
There have been 16 army chiefs in Pakistan. Of the four military dictators, one was Punjabi- General Zia-ul-Haq.
General Zia ul Haq we born in Jalandhar and studied at St Stephen's College, Delhi. He ruled for 11 years.
General Parvez Musharraf was a Urdu speaking mohajir, who was born in Delhi. He ruled for nine years.
Two other military dictators of Pakistan were Pathans, who constitute 16% of Pakistani population.
There have been four Pathan army chiefs heading the army for 16 years. Field Marshall Ayub Khan and Punjab born General Yahya Khan were Pathans. The two ruled Pakistan for 14 years.
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| Gen Bajwa takes over from Gen Sharif. Photo credit: @AsimBajwaISPR) |
Out of proportion share of Pathans has offset separatism in NWFP or Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where sense of alienation was very strong and it predated the 1971 separation of East Bengal.
About three crore Pathans live in the area separated by the Durand Line from the Afhan Pathans, who including the Taliban don’t recognise it as a boundary line.
In total about four crore Pathans line on the two sides of Durand Line.
Pathans General Ayub Khan's appointment as army chief in 1951 coincided with the rise of separatism in NWFP. Seven years later, Ayub Khan led the first military coup. Ayub Khan remained Pakistan's ruler for next 11 years till 1969, when Indira Gandhi was gaining ground in democratic India.
During Ayub Khan's regime, Pathans got closer to Pakistani ruling machinery and held greater stake in the army instilling among them the sense of belongingness towards their country.
But, mohajirs' dominance in bureaucracy prompted imposition of Urdu as the sole unifying language that complicated the matters in East Bengal- ultimately destroying the two-nation theory.
Urdu speaking migrants comprise only six per cent of Pakistan’s population.
Two Urdu speaking generals became Pakistan Army chiefs- Azamgarh-born General Mirza Aslam Beg and Parvez Musharraf. As army chiefs, they jointly commanded for 12 years.
The two mohajir generals aggravated Kashmir problem. Beg engineered Kashmir insurgency in late 1980s- 1989 is taken as a cut off date in general sense.
Musharraf planned 1999-Kargil war- a limited war with the aim to draw international attention and thereby internationalise Kashmir taking it beyond the Indian thesis of bilateralism.
No Sindhi or Baloch has headed Pakistan Army. General Muhammad Musa came from Baluchistan but he was not a Baloch but belonged to small Hazara community. He led the army for eight years.
Only 15 per cent soldiers of Pakistan Army belong to Sindh and Baluchistan. Baloch comprise three per cent of Pakistan's army.
Sindhis are the second most populous ethnic group in Pakistan. They are 17 per cent of total population.
Sindhis and Balochs are considered as non-martial ethnic groups. Of late, Pakistan Army has lowered the fitness and educational criteria to admit more Sindhis and Balochs.
PoK recruits comprise 6 per cent of Pakistan Army.
65 per cent soldiers are from Punjab and 15 per cent from NWFP and FATA (Pathans areas)
Pothwar region of Punjab proportionately dominates Pakistan Army in terms of soldiers. Pothwar's Jat, Rajputs, Awans, Gakkars and Gurjars are the main recruits in the Pakistan Army.
Three Pakistan Army chiefs have been Punjabi Rajputs- Tikka Khan, Asif Nawaz and Raheel Sharif.
