Latest news with #AsimMunir
The Print
7 hours ago
- Politics
- The Print
As Asim Munir spoke in Quetta, separatist group claimed control of a city in Balochistan
'Commenting on the global and regional environment, the COAS shed light on the character of emerging conflict, with particular emphasis on India's increasingly dangerous propensity to use unprovoked military aggression against Pakistan,' the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military's media wing, said in a statement Friday. Speaking at the Command and Staff College, Munir talked about the apparent need for a peaceful resolution to the 'Kashmir issue' and condemned India for what he claimed was 'unlawful and legally untenable hydro-terrorism'. He was referring to the Indus Waters Treaty being held in abeyance by India post a diplomatic downgrade of relations with Pakistan after the Pahalgam terror attack. New Delhi: As Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir delivered a key address in Balochistan's capital city of Quetta, separatist group Baloch Liberation Army issued a statement, claiming it had taken control of the Surab city of the restive province. 'While reiterating the resolve to defeat any aggression and ability to deal with threats across the entire conflict spectrum, the COAS asserted that Pakistan will never be coerced and inimical designs to distract Pakistan's efforts against war on terrorism will be comprehensively defeated. For strategic stability of South Asia, the COAS emphasized the need for peaceful resolution of longstanding internationally recognized Kashmir dispute, and warned against the unlawful and legally untenable 'hydro terrorism' by India,' said the statement. But even as Munir spoke, the Baloch insurgency was making its presence felt. The BLA, a banned separatist outfit in Pakistan, released a statement claiming it had taken control of the Surab city in Balochistan. The group, which has intensified its activities in recent months, timed its declaration to coincide with the field marshal's visit, a move likely aimed at undermining the military's narrative of control and deterrence in the restive province. 'BLA fighters have taken full control of Surab, seizing key sites including the bank, Levies (paramilitary force), and police stations. Patrolling and checks are ongoing on Quetta-Karachi and Surab-Gidar roads,' the BLA said Friday, adding that a detailed statement will be released soon. Meanwhile, Munir expressed confidence that Pakistan's fight against terrorism would continue until its logical end is achieved, ensuring victory over all forms and manifestations of extremism. (Edited by Ajeet Tiwari) Also Read: Away from LoC, General Munir is losing a far more fateful war within Pakistan
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First Post
9 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
Embarrassment for Asim Munir! BLA captures key city during field marshal's visit to Balochistan
As Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir issued warnings to India from Balochistan's capital Quetta, the BLA claimed control of the Surab city of the restive province read more Pakistan has promoted Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir to rank of Field Marshal. YouTube/ISPR In a huge embarrassment for Pakistani Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir, the separatist group Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) claimed control of Surab city of Balochistan as he was delivering a speech in the provincial capital of Quetta. Munir, while addressing the Command and Staff College, said he was in favour of a peaceful resolution to the 'Kashmir issue' and condemned what he called India's 'unlawful and legally untenable hydro-terrorism', in reference to the decision by New Delhi to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'While reiterating the resolve to defeat any aggression and ability to deal with threats across the entire conflict spectrum, the COAS asserted that Pakistan will never be coerced and inimical designs to distract Pakistan's efforts against war on terrorism will be comprehensively defeated. For strategic stability of South Asia, the COAS emphasized the need for peaceful resolution of longstanding internationally recognized Kashmir dispute, and warned against the unlawful and legally untenable 'hydro terrorism' by India,' the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistani military's media wing, said in a statement Friday (May 30). BLA claims control of Surab city While Munir spoke, the Baloch Liberation Group, a banned separatist group in Pakistan, announced that it had taken control of Surab city in Balochistan. The group, which has increased its activities recently, made this announcement to coincide with the field marshal's visit, likely aiming to challenge the military's claim of control in the restive province. At the same time, Munir expressed confidence that Pakistan's fight against terrorism would continue until it is completely successful, ensuring victory over all forms of extremism. Operation Herof The BLA is continuing its 'Operation Herof' against the Pakistani regime, launched in August 2024. Analysts consider the operation as the largest and most coordinated armed campaign as part of the Baloch self-determination movement. Even during the recent Indo-Pak conflict, the BLA claimed it conducted 71 attacks against the Pakistani regime at 51 locations. In addition to Pakistani rule in Balochistan, the BLA has also opposed Chinese presence in the region. The group has mounted attacks against the Chinese as well, in the province.
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Business Standard
13 hours ago
- Politics
- Business Standard
Asim Munir tightens grip, but that fifth star could spell trouble for India
What can a Pakistan Army chief do with a fifth star that he couldn't with four? What can a Pakistan Army chief, master of all he surveys, do as Field Marshal that he couldn't as a mere General? It's tempting to say, little more. This is just a bit more bling on his collar, cap, car, and, when he chooses, on his pulpit — a main battle tank. That must be the question also assailing his mind. He knows that he can't have this fifth star and do nothing more with it. Should India worry? The short answer is, India must always worry about the Pakistani army, and it does. Just that, there's this added concern and urgency with this bizarre promotion from within the 'system' — or maybe from outside it, depending on where you place Shehbaz Sharif in this arrangement. What will he do with his fifth star, only for the second time in Pakistan's and the subcontinent's history? (Our three five-stars, Cariappa, Manekshaw and Arjan Singh were handed ceremonial batons). It is a phenomenon so rare for modern militaries that today, the only example in a country of some consequence would be Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Even the mighty Americans buried the exalted title with Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower and Bradley. He will surely want to do something with it. I might suggest taking a leaf out of Idi Amin's book and find some equivalent of his 'Conqueror of the British Empire.' But this isn't the time to be funny. Firing his civilian government and taking over power would be so boring in Pakistan. He doesn't need that. All our politico-strategic analysis of Pakistan should henceforth be focused on this one central point. How will Field Marshal Asim Munir be different from General Asim Munir? What the General could do, we saw indicated in his speech to overseas Pakistanis on April 16 and in what happened in Pahalgam on April 22. The one promise in that speech he's yet to fulfil is, making Pakistan 'a hard state.' Victory celebrations for propaganda apart, he knows his military has suffered a severe setback. Any yet unsubstantiated claims of downing Indian planes can please the population for a while. It is just that the pictures of the battered airbases — each one of them east of the Indus — and the big Jaish-Lashkar establishments reduced to rubble will endure. However much he thumps his chest, the additional jingle of that fifth star will not change those facts on the ground. He would want to do something soon to 'make amends'. In fact, he would need to. I would go so far as to wager that he will do something sooner than we might have imagined. In the past, in a phenomenon described earlier as the Pakistani Army's 'seven-year itch', each major terror attack and the Indian response bought us about seven years of deterrence and relative peace. We will not get that kind of time now, because Munir hasn't got it. When he will act, what he will do, we can wargame — but can't be sure. There's only one thing I can say with certainty. If you are looking at six or seven years, I can tell you for sure where Munir will be. Politics, culture, and history of Pakistan indicate that it won't be a good place. Before we get there, however, the awesome powers he amassed as a four-star deserve a look. He already had at his feet the civilian government he conjured to get 'elected.' Hear the fawning words, the body language, and see if there's anything prime ministerial about the younger Sharif brother in the presence of his 'sipahsalar' (commander-in-chief, as he was already addressing Munir before that fifth star). Cheerleader, court-jester, or a bit of both, take your pick. Munir has already been speaking on all key issues, including the promise of a trillion-dollar economy (currently $410 billion). He's locked up Imran Khan, the only leader to challenge the army's exalted power. This, after he banned his party from contesting. The fact that Munir's preferred parties (the coalition led by PML-N) couldn't even win this one-horse race didn't matter; he installed them nevertheless. The judiciary has caved in, especially as it conceded to the military courts the power to try civilians for some most serious offences, especially treason. He's already got his handmaiden Parliament, elected in an institutionally stolen election to rubber stamp amendments to mangle the Constitution and give himself an extended tenure. He's got it all sewn up. So, what's next? See it from where the field marshal sits. If he looks seven years ahead, he would dearly hope and pray that statutory warning on mutual fund advertising applies in his case: Past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Because the past will tell him that every exalted army chief with political ambition has ended up badly: Disgraced in defeat, or exiled, prosecuted, even assassinated and, in some cases, three of the four. Ayub, Yahya, Zia, Musharraf, the four make a straight line. To stretch this, even Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became a dictator and shared the same fate. Munir's two predecessors, Qamar Javed Bajwa and Raheel Sharif were prudent in ultimately fading away, whatever power they exercised when in uniform. A Pakistani chief with the kind of power that Munir now has, no longer enjoys the luxury of thinking of retirement one day to play golf. That option out, Munir has the compulsion to do something with what the religious teacher in him might see as a god-given opportunity. I seem to be the chosen one, and if so, what is it that I was chosen to do? His rise is sui generis even for Pakistan. The country has given us a chief who the civilian government appointed defence and home minister simultaneously (Ayub), then made him the chief martial law administrator, and who, in turn, fired the same civilian government to become president and, soon after, anointed himself field marshal. We've seen Yahya, Zia and Musharraf as garden variety military rulers all meeting one of these ends. The last two also installed some kind of an elected government. This 'bonsai' phenomenon was Pakistan's unique contribution to political science. When the generals were not directly in power, they held it from outside. Again, that uniquely Pakistani phenomenon was called 'hybrid' government. How would you describe what we have now? A field marshal with a captive government and his only likely challenger in jail. More than three decades back, when Nawaz Sharif was dismissed by the military establishment, he had said to me defiantly in an interview: 'What kind of system is this, addha tittar, addha bater (half a partridge, half a quail).' When he returns with a majority next, he said, he would make sure there's clarity. Either they (the army) should rule, or us (elected civilians). I wonder how he would describe what he sees now, self-exiled from politics in his own country. How would you see this? An army chief elevated to field marshal, the most popular leader jailed for almost two years, and a farcically elected civilian government in power. Do you remember Duck-billed Platypus from your class five biology class — the unique Australian organism with characteristics of a mammal, bird and reptile used to make the case for evolution between species? I know you are laughing, but please don't. This isn't funny. This is what Field Marshal Munir is now presiding over. He cannot have it all and do nothing with it. That fifth star is as much of a burden as the fake claims of victory. India had better be prepared. Munir doesn't have another 5–7 years. He could be back at our throats soon, even within the next 12 months.
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First Post
14 hours ago
- Politics
- First Post
‘Fighting India is in Pakistan's DNA, only deterrence is increasing costs for terror': Pak expert Tilak Devasher
The anti-India sentiment is in the DNA of Pakistan, which means that the only way to ensure deterrence is imposing increasing costs for every act of terror, said Tilak Devasher, a former Special Secretary at Cabinet Secretariat, in an interview with Firstpost. read more Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, along with Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) of Pakistan Asim Munir, reviews the parade at the passing out ceremony of 151st Long Course at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul, Abbottabad, Pakistan, April 26, 2025. Press Information Department of Pakistan via Reuters With Operation Sindoor, India entered a new age in the war on terrorism. Unlike 2016 when India conducted cross-border surgical strikes or 2019 when India conducted airstrike on a terrorist facility, India this time struck at the heart of terrorism as it struck headquarters of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed among other sites. In an interview with Firstpost's Madhur Sharma, Pakistan expert Tilak Devasher said that Indian actions, both kinetic actions like airstrikes and non-kinetic actions like holding the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance, took Pakistan by surprise. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD ALSO READ: Operation Sindoor: With battlefield edge, India cornered Pakistan to seek peace & that's new normal 'They had not anticipated being attacked in Punjab — both the terror headquarters and airbases. So, yes, Asim Munir has lost face and hence his elevation to Field Marshal is an act of damage control, tell the people falsely that they won even though they suffered a major defeat,' said Devasher, a former Special Secretary at Cabinet Secretariat. As for the India-Pakistan relationship, Devasher said that the anti-India sentiment is in the DNA of Pakistan and the only way to ensure deterrence is imposing increasing costs for every act of terror, said Devasher, the author of 'Pakistan: Courting the Abyss', 'Pakistan: At the Helm', 'Pakistan: The Balochistan Conundrum', and 'The Pashtuns: A Contested History'. Read the full interview: With Operation Sindoor and the accompanying messaging from the government, do you believe that we now have a new 'Modi Doctrine' of national security? Yes, we do have a Modi Doctrine now. Its key components are that if there is a terrorist attack on India, there will be a fitting response; the nuclear blackmail will no longer work and India will strike precisely and decisively; and that there will be no distinction between terrorists and their sponsors. It had been said that the weak position of the Pakistani Army was one of the reasons behind approving the Pahalgam attack — the idea being that a confrontation with India would rally people around the flag and restore the Army's primacy. Do you believe in this line of thought? If yes, do you believe that Field Marshal Asim Munir miscalculated and has now lost face? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This has been Pakistan's template when faced with serious domestic issues. They divert the issue and externalise the problem to manufacture a crisis. Nothing unites the population behind the Army more than a confrontation with India. However, in this case, the Indian reaction, both kinetic and non-kinetic, took Pakistan by surprise. They had not anticipated being attacked in Punjab — both the terror headquarters and airbases. So, yes, Munir has lost face and hence his elevation to Field Marshal is an act of damage control and tell the people falsely that they won even though they suffered a major defeat. As Pakistani military stands weaker after being battered by India, do you believe that various insurgent groups in Pakistan are now going to ramp up their operations to make the most of the situation? Yes, it is a strong signal to the Baloch and the Pashtuns — and even Sindhis. They could well ramp up their operations. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In your book, 'Pakistan: Courting the Abyss', you have mentioned that being in a state of confrontation with India is a must for the Pakistani Army and hatred of India is quite integral to it. With such anti-India fundamentals, do you believe there is a possibility of Pakistan being deterred in the long-term? To retain its primacy in Pakistan, a confrontation with India is expected from the Pakistani Army. Any peace or normal relations with India will make the Army lose that primacy. So, the only way to deter Pakistan is to keep increasing the cost of confrontation. Given their economic situation, they will find it difficult to recoup their losses after every confrontation with India. For many years, it was said that the age of conventional warfare between India and Pakistan was over. Do you believe that India really called out Pakistan's nuclear bluff? Or did India keep the attacks well below the threshold to rattle Pakistan? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD I think India did call Pakistan's nuclear bluff. Pakistan is the only nuclear weapons country that treats nuclear weapons as war-fighting weapons. For other countries, nuclear weapons are deterrents. Despite their bluster, when it came to the crunch, India tested this and called out the nuclear bluff. Several of Pakistan's so-called red-lines were crossed when their air bases were targeted but they did not or could not react. Do you believe that internal troubles in Pakistan, such as insurgencies, financial troubles, or political chaos, can ever put a check on its anti-India campaign? I don't think so since being anti-India is in Pakistan's DNA. The whole philosophy of eating grass for a thousand years stems from this deep-rooted anti-India hatred.
The Print
16 hours ago
- Politics
- The Print
Asim Munir just stole his 5th star & has nothing to show for it. It'll make him desperate, dangerous
He knows that he can't have this fifth star and do nothing more with it. Should India worry? It's tempting to say, little more. This is just a bit more bling on his collar, cap, car, and, when he chooses, on his pulpit—a main battle tank. That must be the question also assailing his mind. What can a Pakistan Army chief do with a fifth star that he couldn't with four? What can a Pakistan Army chief, master of all he surveys, do as field marshal that he couldn't as a mere General? The short answer is, India must always worry about the Pakistani army, and it does. Just that, there's this added concern and urgency with this bizarre promotion from within the 'system' or maybe from outside it, depending on where you place Shehbaz Sharif in this arrangement. What will he do with his fifth star, only for the second time in Pakistan's and the subcontinent's history? (Our three five-stars, Cariappa, Manekshaw and Arjan Singh were handed ceremonial batons). It is a phenomenon so rare for modern militaries that today, the only example in a country of some consequence would be Egypt's Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Even the mighty Americans buried the exalted title with Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower and Bradley. He would surely want to do something with it. I might suggest taking a leaf out of Idi Amin's book and find some equivalent of his 'Conqueror of the British Empire'. But this isn't the time to be funny. Firing his civilian government and taking over power would be so boring in Pakistan. He doesn't need that. All our politico-strategic analysis of Pakistan should henceforth be focused on this one central point. How will Field Marshal Asim Munir be different from General Asim Munir? What the General could do, we saw indicated in his speech to overseas Pakistanis on 16 April and in what happened in Pahalgam on 22 April. The one promise in that speech he's yet to fulfil is, making Pakistan 'a hard state'. Victory celebrations for propaganda apart, he knows his military has suffered a severe setback. Any yet unsubstantiated claims of downing Indian planes can please the population for a while. It is just that the pictures of the battered airbases—each one of them east of the Indus—and the big Jaish-Lashkar establishments reduced to rubble will endure. However much he thumps his chest, the additional jingle of that fifth star will not change those facts on the ground. He would want to do something soon to 'make amends'. In fact, he would need to. I would go so far as to wager that he will do something sooner than we might have imagined. In the past, in a phenomenon described earlier as the Pakistani army's 'seven-year itch', each major terror attack and the Indian response bought us about seven years of deterrence and relative peace. We will not get that kind of time now, because Munir Munir hasn't got it. When he will act, what he will do, we can wargame but can't be sure. There's only one thing I can say with certainty. If you are looking at six or seven years, I can tell you for sure where Munir will be. Politics, culture, and history of Pakistan indicate that it won't be a good place. Also Read: What is Asim Munir thinking? Before we get there, however, the awesome powers he amassed as a four-star deserve a look. He already had at his feet the civilian government he conjured to get 'elected'. Hear the fawning words, the body language and see if there's anything prime ministerial about the younger Sharif brother in the presence of his 'sipahsalar' (commander-in-chief, as he was already addressing Munir before that fifth star). Cheerleader, court-jester, or a bit of both, take your pick. Munir has been speaking on all key issues already, including the promise of a trillion-dollar economy (currently $410 billion). He's locked up Imran Khan, the only leader to challenge the army's exalted power. This, after he banned his party from contesting. The fact that Munir's preferred parties (the coalition led by PML-N) couldn't even win this one-horse race didn't matter. He installed them nevertheless. The judiciary has caved in, especially as it conceded to the military courts the power to try civilians for some most serious offences, especially treason. He's already got his handmaiden parliament, elected in an institutionally stolen election to rubber stamp amendments to mangle the Constitution and give himself an extended tenure. There are some collateral benefits for the judges too. He's got it all sewn up. So, what's next? See it from where the field marshal sits. If he looks seven years ahead, he would dearly hope and pray that statutory warning on mutual fund advertising applies in his case: past performance is not a guarantee of future performance. Because the past will tell him that every exalted army chief with political ambition has ended up badly: disgraced in defeat, prosecuted, exiled, even assassinated and in some cases three out of four. Ayub, Yahya, Zia, Musharraf, the four make a straight line. To stretch this, even Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became a dictator and shared the same fate. Munir's two predecessors, Qamar Javed Bajwa and Raheel Sharif were prudent in ultimately fading away, whatever power they exercised when in uniform. A Pakistani chief with the kind of power that Munir now has, no longer enjoys the luxury of thinking of retirement one day to play golf. That option out, Munir has the compulsion to do something with what the religious teacher in him might see as a god-given opportunity. I seem to be the chosen one, and if so, what is it that I was chosen to do? Also Read: Islam doesn't kill democracy. The army-Islam combo does His rise is sui generis even for Pakistan. The country has given us a chief who the civilian government appointed defence and home minister simultaneously (Ayub), later the chief martial law administrator and who in turn fired the same civilian government to become president and, soon after, anointed himself field marshal. We've seen Yahya, Zia and Musharraf as garden variety military rulers all meeting one of these ends. The last two also installed some kind of elected governments. This 'bonsai' phenomenon was Pakistan's unique contribution to political science. When the generals were not directly in power, they held it from outside. Again, that uniquely Pakistani phenomenon was called 'hybrid' government. How would you describe what we have now? A field marshal with a captive government and his only likely challenger in jail. More than three decades back (India Today, 15 May, 1993) when Nawaz Sharif was dismissed by the military establishment he had said to me defiantly in an interview: 'What kind of system is this, addha tittar, addha bater (half a partridge, half a quail)'. When he returns with a majority next, he said, he would make sure there's clarity. Either they (the army) should rule, or us (elected civilians). I wonder how he would describe what he sees now, self-exiled from politics in his own country. How would you see this? An army chief elevated to field marshal, most popular leader jailed for almost two years, a farcically elected civilian government. Do you remember duck-billed platypus from your Class 5 biology class: the unique Australian organism with characteristics of a mammal, bird and reptile used to make the case for evolution between species? I know you are laughing, but please don't. This isn't funny. This is what Field Marshal Munir is now presiding over. He cannot have it all and do nothing with it. That fifth star is as much of a burden as fake claims of victory. India had better be prepared. Munir hasn't got another 5-7 years. He could be back at our throats soon, even within the next 12 months. Also Read: Lesson from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan: if you have no patience, you don't deserve democracy
