Asim Munir has won, Pakistanis have lost, again
There are no winners or losers in 21st-Century wars, only parties left with more damage or less. This four-day war had a winner: Asim Munir.While Pakistan's military licked its wounds, Munir has spun this debacle into a personal coronation. The man who recently stood on a stage, invoking the two-nation theory and vowing to "crush the enemy, inshallah," has delivered not victory, but something far more valuable: relevance.THE ARMY'S REVENGETwo years ago, on May 9, 2023, the unthinkable had happened. Supporters of the jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan turned against the army. They rioted with such ferocity that they desecrated military symbols and stormed the homes of top officers. For the first time, the Army, once revered as the nation's saviour, was the villain in the public's eyes.advertisementGeneral Asim Munir is his predecessor General Bajwa's revenge on Pakistan and Imran Khan. The Bajwa doctrine was a shift from Pakistan's rigid "bleed India with thousand cuts" as he realised Pakistan was reduced in stature after every skirmish with India. He wanted a moratorium till Pakistan was economically strong enough to stand on its own feet. But Khan, the most popular, and Bajwa, the most powerful, fell out and, on his way out, Bajwa installed Asim Munir in his seat.As the saying goes, the Pakistani Army has never won a war and never lost an election. True to form, Munir's Army orchestrated a compromised election, banned Khan's party, and installed Shahbaz Sharif as Prime Minister. The people grumbled, but the Army marched on.Munir, addressing a meeting of overseas Pakistanis, suggested that he had a surprise for India and the Hindus. The Pahalgam terrorist attack in Kashmir followed. No direct link. Yet all intelligence suggests somebody in the ISI, Pakistan's subversive spy agency, greenlit the operation.The gruesome massacre of 26 tourists set the stage for this latest flare-up. India vowed retaliation and launched pinpointed strikes on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan, carefully avoiding civilian and military targets. Pakistan promised escalation and tried to attack India's military installations and cities with drone swarms and missiles. Nearly all of them were thwarted. India followed up with a devastating pummelling of Pakistan's military assets, so bad that the US stepped in and brokered a pause.FROM VILLAN TO DARLINGadvertisementMunir has turned this military drubbing into a public relations coup. The Pakistani Army, battered and bruised, is once again the nation's darling. The same public that was burning effigies of generals two years ago is now rallying behind Munir, including Imran Khan's supporters.War is the great unifier, and Munir has played it like a virtuoso. The propaganda about shooting down Indian jets, however dubious, has worked wonders domestically. With a media firmly under control and a chorus of paid "foreign analysts" singing his praises, Munir has convinced the masses that Pakistan emerged victorious, and it's all thanks to his steely leadership.The sins of the past -- rigging elections, jailing Khan, strangling democracy -- have been washed away in the blood of soldiers killed in action. The civil society that once dared to question him is now grovelling at his feet. Munir, a hafiz who never misses a chance to recite Quranic verses, has positioned himself not just as an Army chief but as a religious beacon for a nation, high on piety and low on intellect.advertisementThe official military spokesman, in a press conference, declared Islam and jihad as the Army's inspirations. Munir, with his cold, cunning calculus, has tapped into Pakistan's religious fervour to cement his status as the country's saviour.And what of Pakistan itself? The economy is more battered than the Markaz Subhanallah in Bahawalpur, the polity more fractured than the hangar at Shahbaz Airbase. Yet, Munir stands taller than ever, a colossus astride a nation that remains lost in the fog of its own contradictions. Every time Pakistan's democratic forces grasp the rope of hope, the military, with a scimitar sharpened by war and religion, cuts it clean.The Sindoor ceasefire of May 2025 has given Munir what he craved: a lifeline to his "supreme leadership". The tragedy of Pakistan is not that it lost a war; it's that its people, time and again, lose their future to men like him. Democracy was a far cry and it's farther now. Their political future is in the hands of a hafiz. Hafiz Khuda Tumhara.Tune InMust Watch
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hindu
13 minutes ago
- The Hindu
India won't take first step to normalise ties, onus on Pakistan: Shashi Tharoor
India no longer has the appetite to take the first step in normalising ties with Pakistan after repeated betrayals, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said on Tuesday (August 19, 2025), urging Islamabad to demonstrate sincerity by dismantling terror networks operating from its soil. He was speaking at the launch of the book 'Whither India-Pakistan Relations Today?', an anthology edited by former Ambassador Surendra Kumar. Delivered the keynote address before a galaxy of foreign policy eminences, including 101-year-old former Foreign Secretary MK Rasgotra, alongside former FS @KanwalSibal, Gen Deepak Kapoor, two former High Commissioners to Pakistan @tcaraghavan & SharatSabharwal, & Prof… — Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 19, 2025 The Thiruvananthapuram MP said every Indian attempt at outreach — from Jawaharlal Nehru's pact with Liaqat Ali Khan in 1950, to Atal Bihari Vajpayee's bus journey to Lahore in 1999, and Narendra Modi's Lahore visit in 2015 — had been 'betrayed' by hostility from across the border. 'Given the record of Pakistani behaviour, the onus is on them. They're the ones who have to take the first steps to show some sincerity about dismantling terror infrastructure on their soil,' Mr. Tharoor said. 'Why can't they be serious about shutting down these terror camps? Everyone knows where they are. The United Nations committee has a list of 52 names of individuals, organisations and places in Pakistan. It's not that Pakistan doesn't know they exist,' he said. He said, 'Shut them down, arrest some of these characters, show some serious intent.' India would be more than willing to reciprocate once such action is taken, but won't take the first step now, the Congress leader said. Opinion | Pakistan's India war Recalling the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, Mr. Tharoor said India had provided 'overwhelming evidence' of Pakistani involvement, including live intercepts and dossiers, yet 'not one mastermind has been prosecuted'. He noted that New Delhi showed 'extraordinary restraint' after attacks, but subsequent provocations left India with little choice, leading to surgical strikes in 2016 and 'Operation Sindoor'. 'In my book Pax Indica, which was published in 2012, I had warned that if there was ever another Mumbai-like attack of comparable impact, with clear evidence of Pakistani complicity, the restraint we had shown in 2008 might become impossible and all bets would be off,' he said. 'And indeed, that is exactly what happened. No democratic government, least of all in India with its long record of betrayals by Pakistan, could sit idle while its neighbour assaults its civilians and innocent holidaymakers with impunity,' he explained. Opinion | The hazards of going global on India-Pakistan issues Mr. Tharoor also stressed that 'peace and tranquillity on the borders is indispensable to our national interest' and cited the reconciliation between France and Germany after World War II, as well as the United States' eventual ties with Vietnam, as examples of adversaries turning into partners. The discussion was also joined by former foreign secretary Kanwal Sibal, former Indian ambassador to Pakistan T.C.A. Raghavan, ex-Army chief general Deepak Kapoor and academician Amitabh Mattoo.
&w=3840&q=100)
First Post
13 minutes ago
- First Post
China keeps up Russian oil purchases as Indian demand falls, say analysts
While Indian state refiners have paused Russian oil purchases in the wake of US tariffs, Chinese refineries have continued to buy Russian oil under encouragement from the Trump administration. An oil tanker is moored at the Sheskharis complex, part of Chernomortransneft JSC, a subsidiary of Transneft PJSC, in Novorossiysk, Russia, on October 11, 2022. File Image/AP Chinese refineries have purchased 15 cargoes of Russian oil for October and November delivery as Indian demand for Moscow's exports falls away, two analysts and one trader said on Tuesday. India has emerged as the leading buyer of Russian seaborne oil, which has sold at a discount since some Western nations shunned purchases and imposed restrictions on Russian exports over Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Indian state refiners paused Russian oil purchases last month, however, as those discounts narrowed. And US President Donald Trump is also threatening to punish countries for buying Russian crude. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China had secured 15 Russian Urals cargoes for October–November delivery by the end of last week, said Richard Jones, a Singapore-based crude analyst at Energy Aspects. Each Urals cargo ranges in size from 700,000 to 1 million barrels. Kpler senior analyst Xu Muyu wrote in an August 14 report that China has likely purchased about 13 cargoes of Urals and Varandey crude for October delivery, along with at least two Urals cargoes for November. The additional Russian Urals supply could curb Chinese refiners' appetite for Middle Eastern crude, which is $2 to $3 per barrel more expensive, Xu said. This, in turn, could add further pressure to the Dubai market which is already losing momentum as seasonal demand fades while competition from arbitrage supply intensifies, she added. A trade source agreed with Kpler's estimate, adding that the cargoes were booked mostly at the beginning of this month by Chinese state-owned and independent refineries. China, the world's top oil importer and largest Russian oil buyer, primarily buys ESPO crude exported from the Russian Far East port of Kozmino due to its proximity. Its year-to-date imports of Urals crude stood at 50,000 barrels per day, Kpler data showed. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Urals and Varandey crude are typically shipped to India, Kpler data showed. Indian state-refiners have backed out Russian crude imports by approximately 600,000 to 700,000 bpd, according to Energy Aspects' Jones. 'We do not expect China to absorb all of the additional Russian volumes, as Urals is not a baseload grade for Chinese majors,' he said, referring to Chinese state refineries which are not designed to solely process the Russian grade. Chinese refiners will also be wary about the possibility of US secondary sanctions if Trump's push for a Ukraine peace deal breaks down, he added. Trump said on Friday he did not immediately need to consider retaliatory tariffs on countries such as China for buying Russian oil but might have to 'in two or three weeks'. (This is an agency copy. Except for the headline, this has not been edited by Firstpost staff.)
Mint
13 minutes ago
- Mint
PM Modi pays tribute to late PM Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday paid tribute to the late Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary. "On his birth anniversary today, my tributes to former Prime Minister Shri Rajiv Gandhi Ji," PM Modi wrote on 'X'. Apart from PM Modi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi shared a post on her official 'X' handle and paid tribute to her father and late India PM Rajiv Gandhi. "From you, we inherited the values of compassion, love, and patriotism. Both of us will forever uphold these values. No one will be able to break them, no one will be able to stop them, nor will our steps ever falter," the 'X' post read. Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Wednesday paid floral tribute to his late father and former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi at Veer Bhumi in New Delhi. She was joined by her husband, Robert Vadra, and son Raihan Vadra. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and MP P Chidambaram also paid tribute to Rajiv Gandhi on his birth anniversary. Mallikarjun Kharge also offered his prayers on Rajiv Gandhi's birth anniversary. In his 'X' post, Kharge mentioned that the Indian National Congress will celebrate the day as "Sadbhavana Diwas." "Today, as we observe Sadbhavana Diwas, we remember Rajiv Gandhi, a remarkable leader who inspired hope in millions and propelled India into the 21st century. Innumerable achievements for India exemplified Rajiv Gandhi's legacy and brought transformative changes in the country. We pay our deepest respects to him on his birth anniversary," Kharge wrote on 'X'. Rajiv Gandhi took charge of Congress in 1984 following the assassination of his mother and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. He became India's youngest Prime Minister at the age of 40 when he assumed office in October 1984. He served as the Prime Minister of India till December 2, 1989. Born on August 20, 1944, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bomber during an election rally in Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu on May 21, 1991. Under his government, India saw the start of the modernisation process in its economy, as he promoted technology, telecommunications, and education reforms. Rajiv Gandhi played a pivotal role in modernising the country's technological infrastructure. His vision helped lay the foundation for India's IT boom in the 1990s and beyond. His government's Computer and IT Policy reduced import duties on computers and software to promote IT growth. His government's policies helped establish the National Association of Software and Service Companies in 1988, boosting India's software industry. His government also encouraged computer education in schools and universities.
