Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Chief Babur Sidhu just got himself an extension, making one wonder if the service is now elevated to a higher status in the military bureaucracy, or could be considered as part of the establishment.
I am reminded of the days after I went to work with the Pakistan Navy (PN) and was told a funny rhyme – “Army hey fauj, Air Force hey mauj, Navy hey boujh (the Army is the military, the Air Force is luxury, and the Navy baggage). This was not just a matter of jest, but elaborated the status of each service in the scheme of the nation’s military hierarchy. Ask most officers of the two smaller services who refer to the Army mainly as the fauj (military). The army has the reputation of being the more powerful service, because of its capacity to not only change the political map of the country, but also by virtue of being bigger in number. Therefore, the issue of extension of the tenure of the service chief has always mattered in reference to the Army chief, who either increase their years of service for the obvious reason of staying in power or get an extension from political governments due to their ability to give a fillip to a civilian regime.
The image of a technologically advanced service, especially compared to the Army, the figure of a smart fighter pilot, and stories of PAF’s performance – from the 1965 war onwards – cushioned the service from a lot of critical examination.
The other two services have never delved in their Chiefs getting an extension, which also gave them an aura of being less political but also more professional. While most in Pakistan don’t understand the Navy or the logic of its presence, the Air Force has always enjoyed the people’s confidence. The image of a technologically advanced service, especially compared to the Army, the figure of a smart fighter pilot, and stories of PAF’s performance – from the 1965 war onwards – cushioned the service from a lot of critical examination. Its chiefs, like Noor Khan and Asghar Khan, who after retirement took the root of public service and politics, may not have won elections, but were deemed respectable, and their performance sufficient to hide the misdemeanors of some others like Air Chief Marshal Anwar Shamim, who not only got an extension during General Zia-ul-Haq regime, but had stories floating about him pertaining to using PAF C-130s to fly his daughter’s wedding couture from Karachi to Islamabad, or Abbas Khattak, whose name made it to National Accountability Bureau’s target list of the corrupt.
However, the decision of the government to give an extension to the incumbent Air Chief may change the Air Force’s image of being above board. Notwithstanding the PAF public relations directorate’s full-blown campaign of presenting the Air Chief as the man of the moment – someone who has pushed the PAF ahead by years through numerous technological inductions like new fighter aircraft, to drones and cyber warfare equipment – the decision won’t stop people from raising questions. The service can silence its own lot from raising their voices, but others will want to know if the Chief’s performance deserves prolonging his stay by a year.
The circle sympathetic to the Air Chief present his stellar performance during the past three years as the reason but it is still difficult to explain why a service that has always claimed to be highly professional cannot get another equally capable man unless the argument is that ACM Sidhu has no match in the PAF. The question then arises that why couldn’t he create a capable team. A good organizational chief’s performance cannot just be evaluated by the infrastructure he has created, but his ability to strengthen the organizational software - which means how he has invested in human resource under him to take on the mission were he to leave. If the argument is that no one in the Air Force is as capable as ACM Sidhu, then why extend him for a year? Why not another three, or perhaps 20?
The other logic presented is that another year will allow the ACM to put all the critical projects, that he started in his tenure, in an attempt to put the PAF ahead of other regional air forces, to bed. This is a bad copy of the Army’s logic that justifies extensions of its chiefs on the bases that you cannot remove the head of an organization during the middle of an ongoing conflict. This justification started to be used during the War on Terror. While this logic doesn’t wash for the Army, it certainly doesn’t apply to the Air Force as Air Chiefs were changed during the War on Terror. As far as the PAF’s ongoing projects are concerned that pertain to weapons procurement and production, it would be safe to assume that the Air Chief may guide an idea, but it is ultimately approved by the Air Board that comprises of the service chief and his Principal Staff Officers (PSOs) that are mostly all the senior Air Marshals. The argument that the Chief’s continuation is imperative for culmination of projects and programs thus does not shed in positive light the PAF’s professionalism because it would mean that members of the Air Board did not agree with the decision-making and so the next man in would reverse the projects. History tells us that certain decisions by earlier Air Chiefs were continued despite whispers of disagreement regarding those projects. The procurement of the K-8 Chinese trainer is a case in point. Though questions were raised when ACM Hakeemullah acquired 8 K-8 aircraft during the late 1980s, the acquisition was not abandoned. Now the Air Force has over 50 of these training aircraft.
The circle sympathetic to the Air Chief present his stellar performance during the past three years as the reason but it is still difficult to explain why a service that has always claimed to be highly professional cannot get another equally capable man unless the argument is that ACM Sidhu has no match in the PAF.
One of the reasons for the PAF sticking with increasing dependence on China is because Pakistan’s capacity to procure from Western weapons markets has gradually diminished, especially with the end of American alignment and the narrowing of Islamabad’s pocket. The PAF had to add to its American T-37 jet trainers by switching to a more reliable source in the form of the K-8. This applies to the service’s lack of choice for acquiring jet trainers as well, which is what the Air Chief would like to boost as part of his performance – during his tenure the PAF procured JF-17 Thunder Block 3 and J-10s, and now plans to get Chinese fifth generation J-31s as well. The decisions may have been guided by him, but none of these are acquisitions will not be abandoned by the next Chief unless there are problems with the contracts.
Pakistan military’s overall procurement system has a lot of issues that arise particularly because of a dysfunctional Ministry of Defense (MoD) and the Joint Services Headquarters. Weapons acquisitions contracts often lead to wastage of resources. This problem can only be solved by professionalizing the two abovementioned institutions and strengthening the Parliament’s capacity to overlook such decisions. Unfortunately, the third Nawaz Sharif government allowed the Cabinet Committee of Defence (DCC) to fall into redundancy because, as argued by the former Foreign and Finance Minister (late) Sartaj Aziz in his book, the Parliament didn’t have the capacity to overlook such decisions. Or perhaps the intent was for the Parliament to play a dormant role. This lacunae in decision-making means that no one will be able to question the procurement of J-31s that, as mentioned earlier, are still under development on credit from Beijing, especially at a time when the country is short of financial resources.
There are many ways that the government could recognize ACM Babur Sidhu’s performance even after he retires, by giving him some national award rather than setting a dangerous precedent.
Some other projects that the current Chief would like to take credit for include establishing four National Technology Parks that are deemed as a great contribution to Pakistan’s technological development. The idea behind these parks is to allow both public and private sector to use these facilities developed and run by the PAF to make technological contributions to research and development. The idea is exciting, except that what we are looking at is a case of implicit subsidies to the private sector - the cost of which has not been estimated. There are two issues worth considering. First, there is an assumption that the private sector, which has already been crowded out by a burgeoning military-business complex, will be eager to invest in industrial projects and would use this opportunity to enhance their industrial-business options. Second, what if there aren’t too many takers for the idea, then the cost of running these parks will naturally be paid by the Air Force with no government body to examine the cost.
There are many ways that the government could recognize ACM Babur Sidhu’s performance even after he retires, by giving him some national award rather than setting a dangerous precedent. The bar has been lowered from threat or an ongoing conflict, necessitating extension to good performance as criterion for being awarded additional years in service, a new formula that could be applied to other service chiefs as well. The problem with this approach is that it will muddy the political waters more than they are at the moment.
Many are already suspicious that it was the Air Chief’s brother’s association with the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) that got him the additional one year. Just imagine the consequences if more extensions were to follow.