Pakistani army is capable of doing everything except for winning a war. It has lost every war including 1948, 1965, 1971 and more recently Kargil war but it still boasts of making the best fertilizer in the country and also the best cement. Undoubtedly it is the biggest business conglomerate in Pakistan . At the core of it are three foundations Fauji Foundation run by Army , Bahria Foundation run by the Navy and the shaheen foundation run by the Airforce. Fauji Foundation started as a charitable trust in 1954 it is now much more than a charitable organization , infact it has grown up to becoming the biggest business house in the country. In 2016 the then Defence Minister Khwaja Asif said it in a written reply to a question asked by Senator Farhatullah Babar of the Pakistan Peoples Party, that there were nearly 50 projects, units and housing colonies functioning in the country under the administrative control of Fauji Foundation, Shaheen Foundation, Bahria Foundation, Army Welfare Trust and Defence Housing Authorities. The number of the units has since swelled to more than 100.
The empire has crossed 100 billion dollars of assets. Pakistani analyst Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa writes in her Military Inc: Inside Pakistan’s Military Economy that the army 12 percent of the land in the country. The Fauji Foundation which is run by former and current officers of the Army is really powerful as the army controls the government and Imran Khan being a mere puppet. Nobody in Pakistan can dare to compete with them in business. They take tax holidays from the government to crush the competition. The foundations companies are listed in the Karachi stock exchange.
If you want to eat food in Pakistan , you are welcome to buy cereals from the Fauji Cereals, ofcourse there is Fauji Meat Ltd to give you the best halal meat. For vegetables they have fauji Fresh and Freeze and to provide you with the best food they have Fauji Foods ltd. To cook your delicious food they provide you with Fauji Gas. You want to dine out yes army is ready to help you it has Army Welfare Mess and Blue Lagoon Restaurant, Rawalpindi where any person is welcome to eat and pay. How to grow this food, the army is really concerned about you they have Fauji Fertiliser and the best seeds are provided by Fauji Foundation Experimental And Seed Multiplication Farm and Askari Seeds,Okara.
The army also provides good solution for you homes. Army is into real estate also , it can arrange a house for you. Electricity connection is also not a problem they have Fauji Kabirwala Power Company Ltd and Foundation Power Co (Dharki) Ltd. After a house you want to drive a car, No Problem Askari Fuels (CNG) and Fauji Oil Terminal and Distillery Co Ltd is there for you. To keep you money they have Askari Bank Ltd. The army also runs Two stud farms in Pakpattan and Okara apart from a sugar mill named Army Welfare Sugar Mills and Fauji security services. The army is also making clothes and shoes under the banner of Askari Project (shoe and woollen), Lahore. These are some of the businesses the army runs. The Navy’s Bahria foundation is no less it owns schools and colleges where the fees can be afforded by few in the country. Bahria also deals in Real estate . Air Force runs Shaheen foundation which runs FM Radio station, two commercial complexes but the most shocking is an advertising agency which is run by the foundation. What is the business of an armed force to be in advertising.
Fauji foundation’s mission is to to serve the people of Pakistan but has set up a company in Morocco by the name of Pakistan Maroc Phosphore SA. Now that the foundation has international ambitions the Army take full care that the foundations do not have any problems in operating. They force the private sector to back out in case of any competition. The foundations were facing problems in the supply chains, they found a joint venture with the international chain Cargil this week only. No wonder the many retired army officers of Pakistan are based in US now not to mention Asim Bajwa who has assets worth millions of dollars according to a Pakistani website.
The demands to Nationalise these assets of the Fauji Foundation and the other two foundations of the Navy and Air force have gone in vain. There is a twitter trend also #nationalizefaujifoundation. The question is who will nationalize them. But the fact is that the Army is bent upon crushing any competiton to the Fauji Foundation It is commonly said in Pakistani political circles that anybody trying to nationalize it will face the fate of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto..
