An army upbringing that was

Tallat Azim
When I see and read about the culture of commercialism that the army is smitten with now and compare it to the days of yore and my childhood years in various cantonments, there is a lot that is different. My father was among the officers who were commissioned in the army soon after partition and who had the required combination of passion and patriotism that this choice of career demanded. I have no memory of any of my father's contemporaries talking of acquisitions or land or properties. We lived simply as did most families in the cavalry cantonments of Nowshera, Kharian and Multan. But simply did not mean without style. The Armoured Corps has always been known to possess a certain flair that sets them apart, like a passion for polo and distaste for crew cuts. While the wives had their Ladies Clubs and the welfare centres to contribute to, the army brats had schooling in good missionary or army schools, whichever were available. The uprooting from one place and school to another one, every two years also led to first-hand familiarisation with the country's geography and a direct acquaintance with the languages and cultures of our diverse landscape. (Some of my Punjabi friends who speak fluent Pushto because of spending many years in Nowshera as children, can still charm any Pathan selling any goods into giving them a hefty discount). We, as children, were never spoilt materially as money to do so was not available, but we got a lot of access to the best of sports facilities and libraries, etc. I once did a casual survey of army brats of my generation in their adult lives and found that they were the preferred choice by employers for their well-grounded level-headedness and they mostly all grew up to be good contributing citizens having inculcated the right values. It was considered, not just inappropriate, but downright distasteful by my father's generation to speak about acquiring any kind of property, commercial or otherwise. Moving on to the current times, the comparison could not be starker. The senior officers now are entitled to multiple plots in the numerous Defense Housing Authorities as well as commercial plots which obviously make them very rich. The concept of Allama Iqbal's "shahadat hai matloob-o-maqsood-e-momin" is really far from the minds of general officers of the recent times. The concept of being rich should be alien to the army. There is a whole spectrum of careers which can be pursued if getting rich is the ultimate objective. The children of the current lot of army officers can compare very favourably with the offspring's of business tycoons and feudal landlords. They are as soft and most of them are not inspired by their fathers as they do not want to opt for the army as a career but would, instead, prefer work options that give them better pay cheques and fancy cars even at entry level positions. The pride that used to be there in generation after generation going to the same regiment has become much less visible. The officer corps of the army that I remember was very proud of the uniform they wore and were unaffected by sectarian, provincial, religious or linguistic differences. Before General Ziaul Haq, the merit system of the army had no room for religious clauses. The hypocrisy set in when Ziaul Haq, as President and Chief of Army Staff, encouraged those who were practicing Muslims as better candidates for promotion. A lot of army officers started to wear their religious zeal on their sleeves and made a very visible show of praying five times a day in the mosques. Overnight things changed and, with it, the criteria for career growth. I actually recall how a lot of army wives, who wanted to give the right image to their aspiring-for-promotion-husbands, began to don the dupatta on their heads and later did not know how to kick the habit (so to speak!) after the passing away of General Zia.