The army's new jobs include collecting electricity and water dues, running the country's much tom-tommed autobahn from the capital city Islamabad to Lahore, Sharif's hometown, and administering rough-and-ready justice.

In Karachi, the army has been given judicial powers to try civilian criminal offences and deliver a verdict in a maximum of eight days. Its first victim, a man charged with killing a policeman, was executed on December 31.

But the biggest peace-time mobilisation of the army has been to run the country's largest public sector utility, the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA). Army personnel on duty will receive an additional 50 percent of their basic salary as wages.

Even under military governments -- Pakistan has been ruled by the army for 25 of its 51 years -- army personnel have never been so widely involved incivilian affairs as they are now, political observers say.

``In the past the armed forces were only used for emergency relief work or to help civilian authorities maintain law and order,'' commented Newsline, a leading monthly news magazine.

Sharif, who swept to power with an overwhelming majority in 1997, has increasingly been ruling through presidential ordinances instead of through parliament.

The process of bringing in the army into civilian affairs began last March when a quarter million soldiers were enlisted to conduct the country's census survey. The handing over of WAPDA to the army for six months last December was also an ordinance.

``While this may be a recognition of the efficiency and integrity of the armed forces, it is also an expression of a total lack of trust in the civilian agencies, and of a conviction that these are irredeemable,'' protested leading lawyer Asma Jahangir.

The Nation, a leading English-language newspaper commented that the real reason appears to be adesire of the government to avoid debate in parliament on yet ``another induction'' of the army into the civilian sphere.

Commenting on the government's pushing through an ordinance on WAPDA two days ahead of the National Assembly session, it reminded the government that ``ordinances are purely intended for emergencies. No such emergency exists at the time of promulgating the ordinances.''

The government seems to have no fear of growing too dependent on the army. Instead Information Minister Mushahid Hussain, a close adviser of the prime minister, has praised the army for playing a ``positive role''.

He said the army was ``promoting welfare of the people and the socio-economic development is greatly helping to ensure good governance in the country.''

The army has appointed Lt Gen Zulfikar Ali Khan and deployed 250 officers and tens of thousands of soldiers to stop power thefts and save WAPDA annual losses of tens of millions of dollars.

Now, customer service, metre reading, billing and themanagement of the utility are in the hands of uniformed officers.

Federal Water and Power Minister Gohar Ayub Khan said the army has been given the task of cleaning up WAPDA, and breaking it into 12 companies by March this year. ``It is a stop-gap arrangement,'' he insisted, ``and the army will be bearing all the costs.''

The army has been armed with new powers. An amendment to the WAPDA act has made power theft -- illegal connections -- a non-bailable offence and punishable with a minimum fine of 100 dollars and imprisonment. A clemency appeal can only be made to the Pakistani president.

Trade unions have been banned in the organisation. ``That combined with the powers of summary retirement of people and no reason given, and minimal procedures for dismissals too is a clear indication of how the intended reform is to be attempted,'' commented Jahangir who is chairperson of the independent National Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

``We have seen all this before. The military regimes have functionedwith similar draconian powers. They ended up with an even greater mess than they started with,'' she added.

WAPDA was until 1993 a profit-making utility. Its opening up to the private sector in 1992 for power generation started the financial decline, a senior WAPDA official said.

Its annual losses from pilferage of electricity have reached an estimated 560 million dollars, while government departments and private and commercial consumers owe the utility a total of 750 million dollars.

The government hopes the army will streamline operations and turn the utility around. But government critics like Jahangir are scathing. ``If everything that does not work has to be handed to the men in uniform then we may have to begin with the government itself,'' she said.