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Asim Munir wants himself as president, brother-in-law as PM: Ex-Pakistan army officer
A man carries a portrait of Pakistani army chief Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, during a rally to express solidarity with Pakistan's armed forces, in Islamabad. AFP
Major (Retd) Adil Raja, a former Pakistani army officer turned whistleblower, has accused Pakistan's army chief, General Asim Munir, of undermining the country's democracy.
Raja alleged that Munir, who earlier promoted himself to the rank of Field Marshal, seeks total control by orchestrating chaos.
'The plan is allegedly by the Army Chief, Asim Munir — putting his brother-in-law as PM, himself or another general as president — a Musharraf-style accountability push to claim they cleaned up Pakistan,' he claimed, referencing the former Pakistani president and army chief.
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In an India Today interview, Raja accused Munir of orchestrating a 'strategic lawsuit against public participation' (SLAPP)—a defamation case filed in the UK by Brigadier Rashid Nasir, the ISI's Punjab sector commander.
'This is part of the lawfare launched against me by the Pakistani military establishment and its intelligence arm, the ISI, with whom I was once working,' Raja said, days before his London trial that started on July 21.
Living in exile in the UK, Raja told the Indian news channel that UK counterterrorism police investigated him for nine months on terrorism charges but fully cleared him. He claimed the defamation trial is the Pakistan army's backup plan to silence him.
'They couldn't get me under counterterrorism, so now they're trying their luck in the courts. The UK is the libel tourism capital of the world — as King's Counsel Geoffrey Robertson says,' he stated.
ISI exploiting UK's laws to silence critics?
Raja accused Munir and DG ISI Lt Gen Asim Malik of exploiting the UK's lenient libel laws to suppress dissent and conceal military crimes, including political manipulation, judicial interference, and widespread violations of civil liberties.
He said that his family in Pakistan faces severe repercussions, with his mother under de facto house arrest and her passport revoked to block his return.
'She's practically under house arrest — her passports have been cancelled. My entire family's nationalities have been blocked,' he said.
Raja also disclosed that Shahzad Akbar, a witness in his case, was attacked with acid in the UK, an act he attributes to ISI-orchestrated intimidation.
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'The ISI is using all its power to silence this. They just don't want any coverage, because it exposes their soft belly,' he said.
Court-martialed in absentia and sentenced to 14 years under Pakistan's Official Secrets Act, Raja insisted his only offence was exposing the military's grip on Pakistan's politics.
'I was committing the cardinal sin: exposing the crimes of my institution — regime change operations, controlling the government, judicial manipulation, and corruption,' he said.
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