Asim Munir: General Rising

BARELY 10 DAYS after India deliv­ered a hard blow to Pakistan’s military facilities, its army chief Asim Munir has been ‘pro­moted’ to field marshal. Munir will now remain in command of the army and Pakistan itself as there is no time limit on remaining in office for a serv­ing field marshal. Pakistan has just experienced a coup in all but name.

The ‘standard format’ for the Pakistan army is to seize key installations and take political leaders into custody. But times have changed, if only superficially. There is, in general, opprobrium at the seizure of power by the armed forces. So more ‘sophisticated’ variants of the same playbook are now pre­ferred. Pakistan has turned this into an art form: this time the process was marked with approbation. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took to X and posted: “On behalf of the en­tire nation, I extend my heart­felt felicitations to General Syed Asim Munir, NI(M) on his well-deserved promotion to the rank of Field Marshal. His exemplary leadership during Operation Bunyan-um-Marsoos crushed the enemy’s nefarious designs and brought great honour to our Motherland. Under his command, our valiant Armed Forces staunchly de­fended Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity with unity, courage and the highest standards of military professionalism. Today, Pakistan salutes Field Marshal Asim Munir as well as our brave countrymen, soldiers, martyrs, martyrs, and their families…”

Not to be outdone, Munir said, “This is not an individ­ual honour but an honour to the Armed Forces of Pakistan and the entire nation.”

For the better part of the 21st century, Pakistan has been ruled by a hybrid regime. This is an improvisa­tion of military rule. Instead of the army chief designating himself as chief martial law administrator, as Ayub Khan, Yahya Khan and Zia-ul-Haq did on earlier occasions, the army chief continues with his rank and a civilian ‘prime minister’ is ‘elected’. In reality, entire sectors of governance and control over foreign and defence policies are parcelled out by the army.

This trickery does not make Pakistan a democracy. If anything, it makes matters worse. Unlike earlier bouts of rule by generals where the distinction between democ­racy and military rule was obvious, the hybrid regime erases that difference.

This leads to curious re­sults. In a normal country, the inability of the armed forces to defend the country—as has happened in Pakistan’s case this month—would swiftly lead to accountability from military leaders and even the civilian leadership would be subjected to criti­cism. But in Pakistan, where a number of air bases were damaged by India and the Chinese-supplied air defence system of the country was knocked out, the army chief has been made a field marshal. More such delu­sions will be on display in the future.

Democracy in Pakistan is not India’s problem: the form of rule in that country makes no difference to its relations with India. These are bound to remain inimical and India should cure itself of the fan­tasy that democratic Pakistan will be a partner for peace. It never was in the past; it is unlikely to be in the future.

Pakistan’s backers in the West as well as China won’t let it collapse. And as long as the country survives, it will continue harming India. This is a reality that a major­ity of Indians should accept even if there are people who continue to defend Pakistan for the most abstruse reasons. What India needs to do now is to prepare for a future where Pakistan is sufficiently weak to be defanged at an appropriate juncture. Until then, the world will continue to watch Pakistan’s delusions with a mix of humour and horror.

Asim MunirAyub KhanField MarshallPakistan ArmyYahya KhanZia-ul-Haq