On Tuesday, May 9, 2023.. Imran Khan, the then Prime Minister of Pakistan.. still immensely popular to this day.. entered the Islamabad High Court for a session linked to a corruption and illegal gain case known at the time as Al-Qadir Trust.. It was supposed to be a routine investigative session, and Imran Khan went willingly; he was not in custody before.
Suddenly, paramilitary forces from Pakistan Rangers intervened.. stormed the court.. broke down the door, and took Imran Khan to place him in special detention under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).. leading to a series of ongoing trials even today.. A judgment was issued against him and his wife, sentencing them to 17 years in prison in the state gifts case.. and there are still ongoing trials.
The first time I heard about this story was from a Pakistani friend who has an irrational hatred for Imran Khan.. But fairness is precious.. Despite his deep hatred for Imran Khan to the extent he does not mention his name without accompanying it with curses I cannot write here.. he told me more than once that he knows and is sure that the matter is not related to corruption cases.. because those who hold him accountable for corruption have corruption cases much larger than what they hold Imran Khan accountable for.
What happened to Imran Khan opens the door for us to enter a world completely different from ours.. a world where the army is not just a security institution, but an economic player that possesses a parallel economy to that of the state itself.. owning entertainment institutions, construction companies, civil factories, and lands that originally belong to the state.. but the state knows nothing about it.
More interestingly, there has been a development in the mechanisms of this entity.. a development that brings security closer to the market to such an extent that the difference between them completely melts away, making it impossible to distinguish between what is security and what is economic.
There is a well-known system in Pakistan called Milbus, a term that researcher Aisha Siddiqa, author of the book Military Inc., has spoken about, meaning capital allocated for the military institution, not officially registered, and not part of the defense budget, thus the area of accountability for it is weaker.
The intriguing thing is that most of this economic empire we are discussing began as social welfare institutions for retired officers.. and over time transformed into economic empires valued in the billions.. integrated into the civil market.. and no one can hold them accountable or question them about the state resources that fall under their control and management.
We will talk about Fauji Foundation and Army Welfare Trust and SIFC.. and we will understand what these institutions are specifically doing in the Pakistani economy.
The Fauji institution is the backbone of this economic empire we are discussing.. it was originally a charitable welfare fund (and I can hardly restrain myself from making a sarcastic comment here).. established in 1952 with modest capital to support veterans.. and today it has become the largest business group in Pakistan.. with a net worth of approximately 5.9 billion dollars in 2025.. and it has companies in various sectors including fertilizers, cement, food, power generation, and banking.. and they even own a bank known as Askari Bank.
This institution is simply a giant money-making machine for the benefit of the Pakistani army.. but it officially says that it directs 80% of its profits to charitable and social welfare endeavors.. meaning all this success comes from only 20% of its profits, if we take their word for it.. while analysts and economists confirm that the true percentage allocated for charitable and social welfare does not exceed 5%.
This institution benefits from tax exemptions, and official government contracts, thus having a significant impact on the private sector and competition within the Pakistani market.
Now, let's move to the second institution, which is the Army Welfare Trust, established in 1971.. In brief, it is a diversified portfolio that includes more than 24 commercial companies operating in aviation, insurance, real estate, banking, and agriculture.. and it has extensive influence in the market and government, both through institutions and individuals.
Another important institution is the Defence Housing Authority (DHA).. In short, it is the largest real estate developer in all of Pakistan.. owning vast tracts of Pakistani land in all cities without exception.. and it benefits from acquiring land at very low prices from the state, then reselling it at high prices, achieving massive profits that no analyst or report has yet been able to estimate accurately.
The name of this institution in Pakistan has been linked to corruption and illegal profiteering.. but it does not face legal accountability.
There are other institutions like Bahria Foundation and Shaheen Foundation, one affiliated with the navy and the other with the air force.. each having its own projects and companies, under the same logic we discussed earlier..
This means that the matter has surpassed the military institutions as a whole, becoming relevant at the level of each branch of the armed forces within the army itself.
Now let’s move to the new innovation: Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).. a new council established in June 2023.. the Pakistani army chief is the main member of this council.. and its aim is to be a one-window operation to attract foreign investments to Pakistan, particularly from Gulf countries, especially in agriculture, mining, energy, and information technology sectors.
This council has the authority to grant exemptions to any investor, as it enjoys immunity from accountability and punishment.
Take a single example of this council's programs to understand what we are talking about.. they launched an initiative known as Green Pakistan Initiative, aimed at developing commercial agriculture on millions of acres.. so what exactly are they doing?
They are transferring ownership of land to the government from Pakistani farmers.. meaning that farmers who have cultivated their lands for hundreds of years are now being forced to transfer ownership of their lands to a new military company called Green Corporate Initiative Pvt. Ltd, which leases these lands to Gulf and local investors in long-term deals.
This project is accused of harming land rights, water security, and food security in Pakistan.. and it is said that it favors export-oriented agricultural production without covering the basic needs of the local Pakistani market.
If we were to place this economic empire within a clear numerical framework, we would find that the Fauji Foundation alone reached a market value of about 5.9 billion dollars in 2025, making it the largest business group in Pakistan..
In a classical estimate presented by researcher Aisha Siddiqa in her 2007 book Military Inc., the size of what is known as Milbus was no less than 20 billion dollars at that time, before it later inflated much larger.
As for the land, research estimates indicate that approximately 12% of Pakistan's land is directly or indirectly under military control.
This empire expands year after year.. in the budget for 2024-2025 it reached 2.13 trillion rupees, then increased in 2025 to around 2.55 trillion rupees, a growth of nearly 20%.
To grasp the significance of this number, it suffices to know that Pakistan spends only 2% of its GDP on education, and 1.3% only on health.. while the inflation rate stands at 38%, and more than 100 million citizens live below the poverty line.
All of the system we have talked about does one thing.. it profoundly harms the entire economy, fair competition, and the private sector.. and the numbers speak here, not me.. as foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan has significantly declined in recent years, and investors declare that they do not want to enter the Pakistani market due to the lack of transparency and direct military intervention in business negotiations.
It has reached the point where some foreign investors have complained internationally about Pakistan, affirming that they were subjected to direct intimidation to force them to renegotiate contracts within Pakistani military facilities.
These numbers alone reveal a terrifying paradox.. enormous resources are directed to the military institution and its commercial arms, while the education and health sectors are literally suffocating from lack of funding.. and this bleeding has been ongoing for a long time..
There are research estimates indicating that the land area obtained by senior officers between 1985 and 2005 alone exceeded half a million acres.. which is an indicator of the scale of wealth accumulated by a very small elite within the military system, in a country where millions literally struggle just to survive.
Leaks known as Pandora Papers emerged in 2021, opening a wide door to the hidden face of the Pakistani military economy.. where prominent names appeared in these leaks, including:
Lieutenant General Asim Saleem Bajwa, with reports revealing investments worth millions of dollars within the United States.
Lieutenant General Shafaatullah Shah, who was found to own luxurious properties in London.
The question any sane mind asks is: how can a government officer with a government salary amass such wealth?
As long as there is no transparency or real oversight, the answers – as usual – will be that this is "classified information" or "issues related to Pakistan's national security"..
And here lies the most significant and dangerous paradox of all that has been mentioned above.. all this wealth, all this economic empire, has not translated into a better real military strength.
Reports suggest, for instance, that the Pakistani navy operates only two submarines, with issues regarding spare parts and fuel shortages..
At the same time, when senior officers retire, they actually do not retire.. they simply move to executive roles in army companies, meaning within the same system, but in a smart outfit instead of military uniform.
If we look internally, we will find that security forces pay the price every month, as between 55 and 60 personnel are killed in confrontations with armed groups, and nearly half of that number from the regular army itself..
In Balochistan, that impoverished region rich in resources, the insurgency is escalating because the residents there simply see that wealth is extracted from their land, yet they receive only poverty in return.
This issue has become international.. in February 2025, the International Finance Corporation (IFC) affiliated with the World Bank, along with other development institutions, directly criticized Pakistan for coercively renegotiating energy contracts under military supervision.. where investors reported that those negotiations occurred within military facilities, accompanied by clear pressures to force them to accept new terms.
When we talk about Pakistan today, we are faced with a very deep structural imbalance.. millions of Pakistanis face inflation and poverty, while a military business empire worth tens of billions grows alongside them, protected by countless uncounted privileges, and completely insulated from market and legal oversight.
The most dangerous aspect of this new phase is that the army no longer merely possesses a parallel economy, but has become part of managing the macroeconomy itself through platforms like SIFC, and now poses direct threats to foreign investors.
This is an AI-generated English translation. The original text is in العربية
PhD Researcher in Defense Contracting and Cooperation Policies
