Tazeen Akhtar
The news shared by the government of Pakistan is , Lt Gen Muhammad Ali, HI(M) Retd, has officially assumed the charge of Secretary, Ministry of Defense today 01 Oct 2024, following the approval of his appointment by the Prime Minister’s office. As mentioned in the press handout of GoP , Muhammad Ali HI(M) Retd, has a wide range of professional experience during his service in key military positions before retirement.
On assuming the charge of Secretary Defense, Lt Gen Muhammad Ali, HI(M) Retd expressed his commitment to work collaboratively thus fostering an environment of transparency, teamwork, and professional excellence.
He has been serving as QMG since December 2022. He had earlier served as the commander of Army Strategic Forces Command after his promotion as a three-star general in November 2020.
Additional Secretary, Maj Gen Amer Ashfaq Kayani was serving as Acting Secretary since Lt Gen (retd) Hamooduz Zaman Khan completed his contract on 23 Aug 2024.
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Matter of fact is that such appointments are always seen critically and the reason for that is well known. It is no secret that Pakistan is a country where commander of army enjoys extra ordinary importance and relevance in every day affairs and policy matters.
Pakistan do have a ministry of defense that is otherwise supposed to supervise all wings of armed forces in any country. A ministry consists of two top men, 1 Minister and 2 Secretary but the main role here is performed by the secretary only because he is from the army background.
Minister’s position is just ceremonious and he is most often a political nominee of the ruling party that is also acceptable for the commander of the army. Secretary is most often a retired Lt Gen of the choice of , again the chief of the army.
Principally, the commanders of all military wings are supposed to be answerable to Defense ministry where Minister is incharg and Secretary is the second top man. This ministry is the connection between the government and the military wings. A secretary from the military background further facilitates this arrangement.
This system is utilized in case of agreements on international level where sovereign guarantee of the state is needed. The matters between the Gov and Military are most often decided between the Prime Minister and Commander directly.
In this scenario, the appointment of Lt Gen Muhammad Ali is no different than a routine matter in Pakistan but one thing is being seen as new and it is enough to find that how solid is the grip of the establishment on decision making and in postings on key positions.
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Lt Gen Muhammad Ali has been posted Secretary of Ministry of Defense only 24 hours after his retirement from the Army. It means today he is retired from army and next day he is posted as Secretary and next day he assumes the charge of the ministry.
He will serve here until December 31, 2026. He was serving the Quartermaster General at the General Headquarters (GHQ) only one day before his new appointment. The official notification of his appointment was issued on Friday 27 Sep 2024 when he was still in service at GHQ.
Certainly, he carries extra ordinary abilities that is why he has been posted again extra ordinarily. As the friends from military background and others share, he brings a wealth of experience to his new role.
This is history in the making but a history with a mystery.
Pakistan has posted a number of retired as well as in service Lt Generals on key posts that are of civilian nature. The critics of military see it as encroachment on civilian governance. The bureaucracy also have severe concerns on this matter but they are bureaucrats after all. They do not speak in public about their reservations.
Pakistan is facing extremism, terrorism, separatism, international proxy and other big and complicated threats to her security since long that has made Pakistan more a security state than a democratic republic. The security matters are presented to justify the postings of military officers in civilian type positions.
But here another question is asked that , when you are posting retired and serving generals on other places, why you can not post one of them in the Interior Ministry where a non elected and non experienced person is looking after the internal security as minister? In that case, Mr. Naqvi will be able to give more time to Pakistani cricket team.
