ABSTRACT
When Pakistan and India gained independence from British rule in 1947, the two ex-colonial siblings had differences as well as commonalities. While they were dissimilar in geography, the size of the population, and the dominant religion, their colonial institutional inheritance was strikingly similar. The two new states were born with a common constitutional framework, the civil service, the judiciary, and the military. In fact, the two militaries inherited the same organizational structure, bureaucratic norms, fighting doctrines, training methods, and above all, an apolitical professional ethic from their colonial predecessor. Seventy years later, the Pakistani and Indian militaries have evolved as radically different institutions with regard to their political roles. More specifically, the Pakistani military poses an almost permanent problem for democracy, whereas the military in India has almost never threatened the survival and stability of democratic institutions in that country.
