Excerpt:
Pakistan, created out of former united India, has always felt threatened and never secure from its more powerful neighbour, especially because the two countries have never managed successfully to resolve the dispute which Pakistan has with India over the former princely state of Jammu and Kashmir. Because of this insecurity, the army has always played a more important role than would an army in a country where there is no perceived threat to its borders. The government of India will of course say that Pakistan’s insecurity complex is of its own making, but it is a constant theme running through the history of the country, which has enabled the army to take such a high percentage of the budget and the military to form its own elite in Pakistani society. Whether or not there is a military government, Pakistan’s army is and always has been the dominant institution.