Troubling sign: Not civilian government, Pak Army chief is face of diplomacy
An analysis of Munir's official engagements and visits by India Today's Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) team suggests he concluded more foreign trips than Pakistan's Prime Minister after the Pahalgam terror attack in April.The foreign trips taken by Asim Munir not only outpaced those of Pakistan's Prime Minister in number but also in strategic weight.Munir undertook nine diplomatic visits between April 23 to August 14. On the contrary, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif made only eight foreign trips, as per information gathered by India Today from Pakistani media reports. Munir accompanied Sharif on at least four foreign trips after the India-Pakistan conflict to thank friendly nations for their support.
MUNIR'S RISEThe Army in Pakistan has always been powerful but Munir's rise is further fuelled by a weak civilian government, economic challenges, and the conflict with India. Experts say Munir's anti-Hindu diatribe could have been a trigger for the Pahalgam terror attack.On his second visit to the US on August 9, Field Marshal Munir met the highest-ranking US military officer, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Daniel Caine, and discussed the 'successful US-Pakistan counterterrorism cooperation efforts in the region,' as per US media.During a five-day visit to the US on June 18, Munir met with the US President Donald Trump over lunch, the first time a Pakistani army chief had been hosted at the White House.advertisementBefore his second trip to the US, Munir visited China in late July.He also accompanied Sharif on trips to Turkiye, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Tajikistan on May 25 to express gratitude for their steadfast support to Islamabad after India's Operation Sindoor.PAK IN TRUMP'S GOOD GRACESIn his first term in office, Trump accused Pakistan of offering the United States 'nothing but lies and deceit.' Officials in Washington were vocal in accusing the country's leadership of being soft on terrorism. Now, in Trump's second term, US military officials have deemed a counterterrorism partnership with Pakistan as 'phenomenal.'Although it is clear that Pakistan has landed in Washington's good books again, the latest turn marks a relationship that has ebbed and flowed for decades.ARMY'S GROWING HOLD ON PAKISTAN'S AFFAIRSUntil recently, Pakistan's military head only took an active role backstage, tightly controlling their public profile and limiting pronouncements mostly to choreographed addresses at set-piece military events.However, Munir has asserted his power over the civilian government, especially since Operation Sindoor. Within days of the ceasefire, the government of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promoted him from a Chief of Army Staff to a Field Marshal, only the second Chief of the Pak Army to be elevated to this rank.The first Pakistani Field Marshal was Ayub Khan, who was in charge during the India-Pak war of 1965. Pakistan has had a series of strong Army chiefs since 2008 — Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, Gen Raheel Sharif, and Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa — but none of them was able to position themselves in the Pakistani system in the way Munir has done.- EndsTune InMust Watch
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