File photo of Gen. Asim Munir
Gen. Asim Munir Ahmed has been appointed the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) and will be assuming control of the 600,000-strong and nuclear-armed Pakistan Army on Nov. 29 upon the retirement of incumbent Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa after the completion of six-year, extended stint. Gen. Munir joined the armed forces through the Mangla Officers Training School program, where he won the prestigious Sword of Honor. In addition to serving as head of both the Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence, he has commanded a division that oversees Pakistan’s northern areas, including the disputed region of Kashmir, where he worked in tandem with Gen. Bajwa, who then headed the Pakistan Army’s elite X Corp.
The process of the Army chief’s appointment, considered normal in most democracies, was marred by politics. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, already ruling in two provinces, wanted to rise to power in Islamabad with the help of a “friendly” Army chief, who would compel the country into general elections certain to bring him to power by defeating the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) coalition opposing his popular, but isolationist politics. Khan is conscious of the political power of the Army from its record of “martial laws,” and relies on the attraction of his foreign policy isolationism to enlist the Army’s support. What many would consider a great change within the Army high-command is the realistic worldview adopted under the outgoing Gen. Bajwa. Khan’s anti-Americanism sold well with the masses suffering under the economic crisis confronting Pakistan but surprisingly did not wash with the Army; his unthinking stance on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor did not wash either, with China praising the Army chief for not taking Khan seriously.
The new military leadership will be confronted with tough economic conditions. The nation is divided, with a significant number with the PTI, condemning Pakistan for not “acting with honor.” There is no doubt that there is economic mismanagement and incompetence all over the place and the incumbent government has hardly proved itself competent but, unlike the last time when Khan was “facilitated” in winning the polls, this time the Army is headed by a group of officers capable of taking a realistic and fact-based view of what is happening in the region. During his first stint in power, Khan had tried, unthinkingly, to align Pakistan with a Turkey-Malaysia-Iran alliance in the Muslim world, which Saudi Arabia saw as a challenge to its own status. It asked Pakistan to return a $1 billion loan as a gesture of dissatisfaction. Today, Pakistan needs a highly flexible foreign policy and would benefit from a military leadership capable of reacting carefully to developments at the global and regional levels. Following general elections next year, Imran Khan might return to power but will have to restrain his isolationist aggression thanks to the even-headed approach now being claimed by the Army leadership.