Pakistan Army Chief’s vitriolic speeches make India Vigilant of Pak Future intentions

[dalvinder45]

Pakistan Army Chief’s vitriolic speeches make India Vigilant of Pak Future intentions.

Dr Dalvinder Singh Grewal
Professor Emeritus, Desh Bhagat Univeresity
Dalvinder45@yahoo.co.in, 919815366276​

In his speech at an Overseas Pakistani Convention in Islamabad on April 16, Army Chief of Pakistan Asim Munir, has learned nothing from the past. He delivered a scathing speech that was reminiscent of General Ayub's speech prior to the Bangladesh War, disregarding the fact that circumstances keep on changing the situations. Concern has been raised over Pakistan's return to a strict, militarized posture that is uncannily similar to the East Pakistan crisis prior to 1971 as a result of Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir's hardline statement threatening Baloch militants and citing the two-nation idea. Baloch insurgents are warned by the Pakistani Army Chief, echoing rhetoric from 1971. He highlighted how Pakistan was founded on the "two-nation" premise and restating the widely held belief held by previous Pakistani generals and politicians that Kashmir is Pakistan's "jugular vein." General Munir remained trapped in a limited, India-centric time warp of unremitting antagonism, just as the earlier Pakistani generals who too were irritated by instability at that time and continued to blame their problems on "Indian machinations."
In the context of combating rising terrorist groups by an alternative or additional road of compassion, discussion, reconciliation, and inclusive development, he seems to be hiding his dire circumstances by lacking truth, ground realities, and strategic vision. His controversial promotion, which extended his retirement date in November 2022, has not given him a solid footing in the military. Some generals have felt wronged by his handling of the ground situation during the May 9, 2023, attack by violent mobs on the Jinnah House of the Lahore corps commander, as well as at other locations like the army headquarters, Rawalpindi, and several "martyrs' memorials" across the nation. The army Chief had to scrap his head to select a new corps commander to IV Corps at Lahore.

In the context of combating rising terrorist groups by an alternative or additional road of compassion, discussion, reconciliation, and inclusive development, he seems to be hiding his dire circumstances by lacking truth, ground realities, and strategic vision. Some generals have felt wronged by his handling of the ground situation during the May 9, 2023, attack by violent mobs on the Jinnah House of the Lahore corps commander, as well as at other locations like the army headquarters, Rawalpindi, and several "martyrs' memorials" across the nation.

His controversial promotion, which extended his retirement date in November 2022, has not given him a solid footing in the military. He was a former protégé of the military who was promoted from the "secondary" Officers Training Scheme to replace the Sharifs. He openly referred to the revered military leaders as "Mir Jafars" or "neutrals like animals." His actions further came under scrutiny when to firm in his footing, he appointed his own loyalists, such as Lieutenant General Shahid Imtiaz (also from the officers training scheme stream), to important command positions like the X Corps, Rawalpindi, extending the tenure of the then-ISI director-general, Nadeem Anjum, and installing Lieutenant General Mohd Asim Malik as his new DG, ISI, in order to maintain a firm hold on the army, which infuriated the veterans.

Nevertheless, the general public continued to believe that Munir was not acting from a position of strength and had failed to undermine the narrative of victimization or persecution. This was true even after attempts were made to manipulate the February 2024 general election in order to overthrow Imran and remove the higher judiciary, which was thought to be biased in Imran's favor. Imran Khan has rightly tried to project that the army as an institution was failing Pakistan hence he had to bear the brunt.

Young people from the burgeoning middle class in particular appeared demoralized, and there have been rumors of a persistent "brain drain" as they look for ways to travel to Europe, including through criminal traffickers. Since his leadership and under the new civilians he protected, Pakistan's economic progress is freezed.

In light of this, the Tehrik e Taliban-led surge in terror in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Baluchistan Liberation Army-led insurgency in Baluchistan, which included attacks on Chinese technical staff working on CPEC projects, increased pressure and ultimately led to the March 11, 2025, hijacking of the Jaffer Express train. Munir first discussed the necessity of creating "a hard State" in his national security briefing to the national assembly on March 18. This would require all branches of government to strictly adhere to the rule of law in order to provide efficient governance and halt the ongoing army casualties brought on by insurgency.

The Islamization of the Pakistani army was unintentionally started by Zia's government. Munir's appointment made the religious beliefs of the Pakistani army clear. Munir hails from a prominent Rawalpindi religious family. Munir himself studied the Quran at a seminary under an Islamic preacher named Hafiz Khalil Ahmed, while his father served as an imam at a mosque. For memorizing the entire Quran by verse in Medina, he was given the title hafiz-e-Quran. Munir is thus the first army commander with overtly Islamic credentials.
Even after assuming the position of commander, Munir made no effort to conceal his qualifications and freely employed terms like jihad fi Sabilillah (jihad in Allah's way). For the average Muslim, these words might not be offensive on their own. However, they raise concerns when applied to the interpretation of intricate state political, military, and diplomatic matters. A few of Munir's remarks since taking over as army chief in 2022 have sparked worries. For instance, Munir, while addressing a gathering of the grand jirga of religious elders in Peshawar in August 2023, said that the Pakistani army "is the army of martyrs whose motto is imaan, taqwa aur jihad fi Sabilillah [faith, piety, and jihad in the path of Allah]".
"Pakistan is the second state established based on the Kalimah after the Riyasat-e-Madina [the State of Medina, the first Islamic state established by the Prophet Muhammad," he continued. No global force can injure Pakistan. Munir informed the jirga that "we are waging jihad in the path of Allah and success will be ours, Allah willing," continuing to utilize the same rhetoric used by Islamist extremists in Pakistan. Being a shaheed [martyr] or ghazi [one who participates in jihad] is the goal and guiding philosophy of the Pakistani army. In addition to supporting terrorist groups like Lashkar, Jaish, and Hizbul as part of its military strategy, the Pakistani army also sees these actions as part of its religious duty.
The Pakistani army has been fully Islamized. "The real objective of Islam is to shift the lordship of man over man to the lordship of Allah on Earth and to stake one's life and everything else to achieve this sacred purpose," according to the definition of jihad fi Sabilillah found on the Pakistani army's website. Munir informed the Peshawar jirga that "Allah alone has authority under the Pakistani constitution." My courageous army and I will fight this war against terrorism until the very end.
But his remarks have sparked unease, not just for their ideological content, but for the troubling historical parallels they evoke. Munir’s latest utterances regarding the Two-Nation Theory and his insistence on the “stark difference between Hindus and Muslims” and that the Muslims of Pakistan are “different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life. Our religion is different. Our customs are different. Our traditions are different. Our thoughts are different. Our ambitions are different” must be seen in this context. Munir asked his audience to “tell this to your children so that they never forget the story of Pakistan”.
It is puzzling that he has forgotten that, prior to the English manipulating it into being part of India, Pakistan, including Kashmir, was a sovereign Sikh kingdom from 1801 to 1850 AD. Although Munir's tirades may be interpreted as the army chief's claim, many believe that beneath his Islamist exterior lies a deeper sense of unease over the nation's escalating instability and the threat of its Balkanization. Growing concerns about violence and secession in Balochistan and elsewhere are also shown by his overemphasis on the Two-Nation Theory and his reference to the Kashmir issue.

The General believes that he can stop the spread of TTP and Baloch violence and potential fragmentation by using Islamist language of the Two Nation Theory. In the context of combating resurgent terrorist groups via an alternative or additional road of compassion, discussion, reconciliation, and inclusive development, this strategy is utterly devoid of strategic vision.
He held several meetings at Lahore garrison and elsewhere to appease/neutralise a section of retired generals like Amjad Shoaib and Naeem Lodhi who were advocating an olive branch to Imran. He also tried to use overseas Pakistanis to bring fissures in Imran’s Tehrik e Insaf party which failed.
The speech, given in front of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and a few of his cabinet colleagues, posed a kind of challenge to the Pakistani government. Indirectly but effectively, Munir stated that the Pakistan army under Sharif's command, not the government and he is in charge of the nation. Munir's comment confirms that there is no chance of a democratic resurrection in Pakistan anytime soon, despite the fact that the army has always been recognized as the true authority in that nation. Generals Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan ruled Pakistan directly for 33 years from 1958 to 1971, Zia-ul-Haq ruled from 1978 to 1988, and Pervez Musharraf ruled from 2001 to 2008. The military leadership kept its firm hold on the nation's politics even after Musharraf permitted elections in 2008 and a democratic polity was restored. For daring to challenge the army's hegemony, democratically elected Prime Minister Imran Khan had to pay the price of being imprisoned on false accusations and ousted through a no-confidence resolution.
Munir has had to fight to establish his authority over peer officers and the political opposition, which was energized by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, ever since he took command of Pakistan's army in November 2022 under circumstances that some Pakistani military analysts may argue were highly contentious and prolonged his retirement date.
India may easily brush Munir's remarks aside as rhetoric expressing his annoyance at Pakistan's escalating domestic problems. However, given the absurdity of the Two-Nation Theory has been proven numerous times since India was divided on the basis of that erroneous assumption, it might not be a terrible idea to teach Pakistani students about it. At the time of Partition, 40% of Muslims made the decision to stay in India. In defiance of Jinnah's advances, the Muslim-majority state of Jammu and Kashmir chose to join India. Pakistan tried in vain to establish its claim to J&K by using terrorism and conflict. When Bengali-speaking Pakistani Muslims fought for and won a new nation—Bangladesh—the Two-Nation thesis collapsed in less than 25 years.
All his ideas and actions are not supported by Pakistani people. Despite Asim Munir's "hard talk," shrewd political analysts in Pakistan, including former diplomat Ashraf Jahangir Qazi and Dawn's Zahid Hussain, have not been reassured. The military is repeatedly reminded that the lack of "a clear policy to win the trust of the people beyond the use of coercive power" betrays "a colonial mindset" and leaves little "time to pull back from the brink and save the federation." This policy "neither represents the interest of the people nor works for their welfare." "A Nelson Mandela-style initiative is absolutely necessary to help heal the country and bring about a national reconciliation," Qazi begs.Instead of pursuing responsible people for their past atrocities, the focus would be on moving past our awful history and holding people accountable.
India has to be too vigilant and in state of readiness to meet the new challeges. His current proximity to China, Russia, and even Sri Lanka, as well as their battle drills in the Arabian Sea, seem to be an attempt to form an alliance against India, which India cannot tolerate and must be wary of.
There is little indication that Asim Munir and his group of opportunistic army officers will take notice, alter their course, or learn from their mistakes.
Now his getting close to Russia, China and even Sri Lanka and having battle exercises with Russia and Sri Lanka in Arabian seas appears an effort to create a coalition against India which India cannot take lightly and has to be vigilant against.