The Corruption of a few in Army

Truth matters

MPA (400+ posts)
It is not as if the Generals of Pakistan Army are underpaid and incentivised to dip their hand in the till. A three star General retires as a billionaire in Pakistani rupees – multi-millionaires in dollars. This is all legitimate as the Pakistan state gives concessional plots, both commercial and residential and also a few square yards of agricultural land. Other officers also get the goodies from the state. A former army Chief Raheel Sharif was allotted over 100 acres of prime agricultural land on the outskirts of Lahore after his retirement. This was in addition to all his other entitlements.
Another former Chief and Dictator General Pervez Musharraf built nearly 30 properties, including fancy farm houses, luxury apartments in Middle East and London, and houses in Karachi and other Pakistani cities. In Musharraf’s case, many eyebrows have been raised about the source of his money. He has claimed he got a gift from the Saudi King. But politicians have been hauled over the coals just for possessing an “Iqama” (work permit) which is more often than not used just for gaining entry into the UAE or Saudi Arabia or some other Middle Eastern country without having to go through the normal channels.

But it increasingly seems that the motto of the Pakistan Army officers is ‘Greed is Good’. There are innumerable scandals and sordid stories of the financial bungling, bribery, extortion, influence peddling by serving and retired generals for personal profit. There are also reports of their involvement in smuggling rackets and narcotics trafficking. A former ISI Chief’s brother sold an Airbus aircraft for a pittance to a museum in Europe. Another former ISI Chief was employed by Pakistan’s biggest real estate developer to work as his hatchet man in the UAE. A former Corps Commander in Quetta along with a bunch of other senior officers was found involved in running extortion networks and protecting and partaking in smuggling networks in Balochistan. This scandal erupted when one of the sons of a Major General was involved in a car crash while driving a Ferrari. Another Quetta Corps Commander gained notoriety as “General Papa Jones” or “General Pizza” after an expose of how his family had invested tens of millions of dollars in the Papa Jones Pizza chain in the US and his sons were given lucrative contracts when this General was serving as the head of the ISPR. Despite the furore, no action, not even an inquiry was ordered.

Former Generals have been found to be involved in leasing out invaluable land of the railways for a pittance to a golf club. Other have cut deals with the very person who they were supposed to be investigating. These are in the in-famous ‘gas agency’ Generals who were allotted gas quotas by the leading gas entrepreneur in Pakistan as he was being investigated by the anti-corruption watchdog NAB. All these Generals were heading NAB at different times when they got these gas quotas. Recently when the Broadsheet scandal erupted, it became known that the Generals had signed a deal with a fictitious company which wooed them with nothing more than a round of gold in Colorado. Later, when a settlement was being worked out with the owner of Broadsheet, a serving ISI General Irfan Malik was negotiating a side deal in which he would get a cut from the settlement amount.

It is a known fact that former Generals have bought huge ranches in US, farms in Australia, hotels in Malaysia. A former Army Chief General Ashfaq Kiyani’s brothers are involved in a multi-billion rupee housing scandal in Islamabad. They used the Army Chief’s name to swing a patently illegal deal for the same real estate baron mentioned earlier. Another former Corps Commander of Lahore is believed to have cornered over a 100 plots in a new Defence Housing Authority (DHA) sector and made billions. The more honest of the officers are often accommodated in the various business enterprises run by the Pakistan Army. The thing with these businesses is that they enjoy an unfair advantage over the competition. They are virtual monopolies which are given undue concessions, tax breaks, licenses, contracts etc without normal procedures being followed.

The Generals of Pakistan Army not only live off the people and the state, but they also short change their own institutions. Stories of the top brass taking bribes in defence deals are legion in Pakistan. A former Vice Air Chief who often pontificates on honesty on TV channels has been found to have invested in expensive apartments in Dubai. When asked to give details of where the money came from, he hemmed and hawed but never gave the money trail. Another former Corps Commander was recently found to have an expensive apartment in London. This was disclosed in the Pandora Papers leaks. The General gave some convoluted explanation of where the money came from but never gave the documentary evidence of whether the money was transferred through legal channels or using the Hawala networks, i.e. money laundering.
 

Modest

Chief Minister (5k+ posts)
It is not as if the Generals of Pakistan Army are underpaid and incentivised to dip their hand in the till. A three star General retires as a billionaire in Pakistani rupees – multi-millionaires in dollars. This is all legitimate as the Pakistan state gives concessional plots, both commercial and residential and also a few square yards of agricultural land. Other officers also get the goodies from the state. A former army Chief Raheel Sharif was allotted over 100 acres of prime agricultural land on the outskirts of Lahore after his retirement. This was in addition to all his other entitlements.
Another former Chief and Dictator General Pervez Musharraf built nearly 30 properties, including fancy farm houses, luxury apartments in Middle East and London, and houses in Karachi and other Pakistani cities. In Musharraf’s case, many eyebrows have been raised about the source of his money. He has claimed he got a gift from the Saudi King. But politicians have been hauled over the coals just for possessing an “Iqama” (work permit) which is more often than not used just for gaining entry into the UAE or Saudi Arabia or some other Middle Eastern country without having to go through the normal channels.

But it increasingly seems that the motto of the Pakistan Army officers is ‘Greed is Good’. There are innumerable scandals and sordid stories of the financial bungling, bribery, extortion, influence peddling by serving and retired generals for personal profit. There are also reports of their involvement in smuggling rackets and narcotics trafficking. A former ISI Chief’s brother sold an Airbus aircraft for a pittance to a museum in Europe. Another former ISI Chief was employed by Pakistan’s biggest real estate developer to work as his hatchet man in the UAE. A former Corps Commander in Quetta along with a bunch of other senior officers was found involved in running extortion networks and protecting and partaking in smuggling networks in Balochistan. This scandal erupted when one of the sons of a Major General was involved in a car crash while driving a Ferrari. Another Quetta Corps Commander gained notoriety as “General Papa Jones” or “General Pizza” after an expose of how his family had invested tens of millions of dollars in the Papa Jones Pizza chain in the US and his sons were given lucrative contracts when this General was serving as the head of the ISPR. Despite the furore, no action, not even an inquiry was ordered.

Former Generals have been found to be involved in leasing out invaluable land of the railways for a pittance to a golf club. Other have cut deals with the very person who they were supposed to be investigating. These are in the in-famous ‘gas agency’ Generals who were allotted gas quotas by the leading gas entrepreneur in Pakistan as he was being investigated by the anti-corruption watchdog NAB. All these Generals were heading NAB at different times when they got these gas quotas. Recently when the Broadsheet scandal erupted, it became known that the Generals had signed a deal with a fictitious company which wooed them with nothing more than a round of gold in Colorado. Later, when a settlement was being worked out with the owner of Broadsheet, a serving ISI General Irfan Malik was negotiating a side deal in which he would get a cut from the settlement amount.

It is a known fact that former Generals have bought huge ranches in US, farms in Australia, hotels in Malaysia. A former Army Chief General Ashfaq Kiyani’s brothers are involved in a multi-billion rupee housing scandal in Islamabad. They used the Army Chief’s name to swing a patently illegal deal for the same real estate baron mentioned earlier. Another former Corps Commander of Lahore is believed to have cornered over a 100 plots in a new Defence Housing Authority (DHA) sector and made billions. The more honest of the officers are often accommodated in the various business enterprises run by the Pakistan Army. The thing with these businesses is that they enjoy an unfair advantage over the competition. They are virtual monopolies which are given undue concessions, tax breaks, licenses, contracts etc without normal procedures being followed.

The Generals of Pakistan Army not only live off the people and the state, but they also short change their own institutions. Stories of the top brass taking bribes in defence deals are legion in Pakistan. A former Vice Air Chief who often pontificates on honesty on TV channels has been found to have invested in expensive apartments in Dubai. When asked to give details of where the money came from, he hemmed and hawed but never gave the money trail. Another former Corps Commander was recently found to have an expensive apartment in London. This was disclosed in the Pandora Papers leaks. The General gave some convoluted explanation of where the money came from but never gave the documentary evidence of whether the money was transferred through legal channels or using the Hawala networks, i.e. money laundering.
Inn ki tou beesion unglian ghee main hai.
This is the reason that these property dealer generals never won a single inch of land from the enemy.
Doosron ke bacho ko shaheed karwa kar ye dollar generals hamain bewaqoof banate hai aur khud ayyashi ki zindagi guzarte hai.
Tbh we don’t even need this army. Sab fasad ki jar ye harami generals hai kynke sari corrupt aur dehshatgard parties/groups inhi ki pedawar hai, awam ko wese he puddo banaya hua hai.
 

Altruist

Minister (2k+ posts)
I agree with you about how Generals looted the country, legitimately.

But I disagree with you that politicians get Iqama to travel to Middle Eastern countries. You must be pretty naive to toe that line.

The only purpose of Iqama is to launder money from Pakistan to another country. For example, if a Pakistani opens a Swiss bank account to deposit his black money then he has to show his identity as a Pakistani, which down the road can be traceable. But holding an Iqama from a Middle Eastern country, e.g. UAE, show you from UAE and out of range of any deal that the government of Pakistan may make with the Swiss government to identify its nationals.