WHAT a difference a few months can make. Back in Karachi after a six-month stay abroad, I find the atmospherics of the troubled Indo-Pak relationship radically altered. Young Indians are participating in sports events; there is talk of joint ventures between Indian and Pakistani businesses; journalists are travelling to and fro; and there are fewer hate-filled headlines in the newspapers. There was even a story about two Indian women being given Pakistani nationality.

Now there should be nothing odd about all this. This interchange happens all the time between neighbouring states around the world. Unfortunately, in the context of Indo-Pakistan relations, this level of civility constitutes a major breakthrough.

Once this exchange of businessmen, sportsmen and journalists is extended to tourists, it will hopefully acquire a momentum of its own. When ordinary citizens on both sides see for themselves that the people on the other side of the border are not the demons their governments had made them out to be for decades, making peace will be that much easier.

But some things never change: the recent fifth anniversary of General Musharraf’s coup was predictably greeted with paid advertisements by sundry sycophants. State sector corporations bought full-page ads in national newspapers trumpeting the benefits of military rule.

Indeed, the rumpus over the good general’s uniform continues unabated. The cynical

maulvis of the MMA who had

cut a deal with Musharraf are now wringing their hands in anguish over the perceived betrayal. Anybody believing that a serving general would sever his links with the source of his authority must be naove beyond belief.

In an op-ed article in this newspaper, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of the Jamaat-e-Islami, gave us the details of the deal, and expressed his shock and horror at being deceived. But never fear, Qazi Sahib! I have no doubt that the long and strong links between the army and the religious right will survive this storm in a teacup. Both institutions rely too heavily on each other to allow a small thing like the Constitution to come between them.

In truth, the general has come a long way from the time the emperor wore no clothes at the famous referendum, to the current debate over his uniform. Despite a gallant rearguard action in and out of the assembly by the opposition, we all know that what Musharraf wants is what will ultimately happen.

Over the years, the Constitution has been so degraded and trampled underfoot by a series of civilian and military rulers that it has lost all sanctity. If the building mafia in our cities can ignore the orders of the higher judiciary, why should we expect a powerful institution like the army to obey the laws of the land?

The militarization of Pakistan has reached a point that the recent retirements, promotions and transfers in the army high command evoked as much interest and comment as a cabinet reshuffle does in democracies. The bloated federal cabinet Shaukat Hussain has seen fit to induct, on the other hand, has been greeted with a big yawn. Business as usual. Jobs for the boys.

Speaking of jobs for the boys, nearly a thousand retired and serving military officers have been inducted into civilian jobs. While I am sure they must have been good for the work they were trained for, most of them are certainly not qualified for the civilian slots they are now filling.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Today, the military is running the biggest real estate operation in the country by far. It also controls the largest industrial empire, apart from being the country’s biggest employer. It even runs its own dairy farms, and at Okara, it is trying to evict the small tenants who have been tilling the soil for generations. The violence these poor farmers have been subjected to has been widely reported.

According to Hasan Askari Rizvi, a noted military analyst quoted recently in the monthly Herald, “The corporate interests of the military have expanded so much under General Musharraf that the army is now overwhelming all the major sectors of the state, the economy and the society. And it is leading to a situation that can be described as the colonization of the civilian institutions by the military.”

Given these realities, why on earth should the military relinquish power? Its ever-expanding institutional needs require it to wield executive authority, either directly or indirectly. Civil society has been so weakened by repeated army intervention that even after elections were held, and a parliament sworn in two years ago, it cannot assert its authority.

One reason for this institutional collapse is that unprincipled politicians give support and succour to adventurers in uniform. For the Chaudhries and maulvis of Pakistani politics, democracy is but a means of attaining power, and they fear having to sit in opposition as they know they cannot gain power legitimately.

Another reason for the present apathy is that the people are fed up of the musical chairs generals and politicians have been playing. In the last 25 years, their mandate has not been respected a single time. Elections have been blatantly and consistently rigged, and not a single elected government has been allowed to serve its full term.

Now the military is so solidly entrenched that for the foreseeable future, there is no political force that can dislodge it. And as time goes on, and more material interests develop, the chances of it returning to the barracks grow ever more remote.

Stephen Cohen, the well-known authority on Pakistan and its military, has written a new book called “The idea of Pakistan.” In an excerpt quoted by Khalid Hasan in one newspaper, he observes: “Given the omnipresence of the military, Pakistan will remain a national security state, driven by security objectives to the neglect of development and accountability and unable to change direction because of a lack of imagination and legitimacy. The performance of Pervez Musharraf as both army chief and president over a four-year period has left much to be desired. It is hard to see how four more years of Musharraf’s leadership will dramatically change Pakistan’s future “ but then it is hard to envision any other leader doing much better.”