The Army Economy; Pakistani authorities halt the launch of a new book that criticizes the military's vast business empire.

Byline: Zahid Hussain

All countries have armies, but things are reversed in Pakistan," says Pervez Hoodbhoy, a professor at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad. "Here is the Army that has a country." Indeed, Pakistan's ruling generals have carved out a world of wealth, power and privilege. They have built a huge corporate empire and own some of the country's most prized real estate. Under Gen. Pervez Musharraf's rule, the military's domination of the economy has only accelerated; since coming to power seven years ago, his government has placed some 1,200 active and retired officers in various ministries and state corporations. Discussion of this cronyism is taboo; after I published an article in NEWSWEEK in 2002 detailing the power and perks of the generals, Musharraf became enraged and accused me of being unpatriotic. Intelligence agencies launched an investigation, and I was banned from his press conferences for years.

So Ayesha Siddiqa surely knew what she was in for when she published "Military Inc.: Inside Pakistan's Military Economy" (292 pages . Oxford University Press Pakistan ). And true to form, the authorities halted the book's official launch at a government-run club last week, though distribution and sales have not been affected. Siddiqa, a leading defense analyst and former director of research for the Pakistani Navy, has written a blunt critique of how the Army has used its political clout to ...