Rhetoric Over Reason

It would appear that Field Marshal Asim Munir, the Chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan, has decided to continue to remain and act in a hysterical mode, trying to speak irrationally with extreme provocations, using language whose tenor is marked with war frenzy and nonstop spewing of venom. On October 18, Munir, while addressing the cadets of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, Abbottabad, cautioned India with an aggressive tenor that Pakistan would respond much beyond the expectations of the initiators of any war, obviously insinuating India further, saying that India should settle core issues as Pakistan would never be intimidated or coerced by India’s rhetoric and shall respond with exceeding proportions to even a minor provocation without any qualms. He further cautioned that the onus of escalating tension—one that may ultimately bear catastrophic consequences for the entire region—will rest squarely on India.

Here, we need to take into account the audience to whom Munir spoke. The listeners were very young army officers who are bound to be indoctrinated by such anti-India hate speech. Hence, the next generation of Pakistani officers will also nurture such offensive thoughts about India, thus minimising any chance of peace in the future.

This is the second time in two months Munir has warned India with such a threatening tone. First, in Tampa in August, after attending the farewell of the Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander, Munir had said that Pakistan, being a nuclear nation, in case of a war—if we think we are going down—we will take half the world down with us. He was addressing a section of the Pakistani diaspora.

It may be recalled that Munir has made three official trips to the U.S. in recent times—the first was in June when he met President Donald Trump, weeks after Operation Sindoor; the second was in August for the retirement ceremony of the U.S. CENTCOM Commander; and the third was in September when he met Trump again at the White House, this time with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was there to attend the UN General Assembly session.

More than coincidentally, the Pahalgam terror incident claiming 26 innocent lives occurred on April 22, i.e., six days after Munir spoke to a gathering of Non-Resident Pakistanis (April 16) in Islamabad in the presence of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. His intelligence arm, the infamous Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), well known for its destructive activities with a string of homegrown and home-trained terror outfits, was appropriated for such an act and for airing repeated threats through multiple channels. Now, reacting to such rabid remarks recently made by Munir (October 18), former Indian Naval Chief Admiral (Retd.) Arun Prakash wrote in a column that the banal, rabble-rousing tenor and toxic, India-baiting content of Munir’s speech are not only inappropriate for a President of Pakistan (PoP) but ill-befit a man in uniform holding an exalted, if self-assumed, rank.

There are several reasons for the continued acidic and vicious language used by Asim Munir, which is unbecoming of the senior-most army man in the Pakistan military setup as well as the de facto ruler. Munir seems to be emboldened by the ‘compliment’ showered by President Trump at his White House lunch, as well as by his most recent remarks praising Munir as the most fabulous Field Marshal when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was also present on the sidelines of the Sharm-el-Sheikh summit in the aftermath of the Gaza “truce” with Israel. Munir is clearly emboldened by that, and his caustic comments directed against India are also due to the fact that he is trying to divert attention from the internal issues adversely affecting Pakistan, including domestic terror attacks and, most significantly, the skirmishes with Afghanistan.

Talking about Afghanistan, we see a formal truce signed at Doha a couple of days ago between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The pact was brokered principally by Turkiye and Qatar. Reacting to the deal, Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that his country’s fragile ceasefire agreement (October 19) with Afghanistan depends on whether the latter reins in armed groups attacking across their shared border. “Everything hinges on this one clause,” said Asif in an interview with a news agency on October 20, after the two countries reached a ceasefire agreement. The truce followed a week of deadly border clashes, including the killing of three cricketers from Afghanistan, leading to the Afghan withdrawal from the series that saw relations plummet to their lowest point since Afghanistan’s Taliban returned to power after the exit of U.S. and NATO troops from the country in August 2021.

It may be recapitulated that the fighting was triggered after Islamabad demanded that Kabul control fighters from Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an umbrella of several armed groups commonly known as the Pakistan Taliban, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan. “Anything coming from Afghanistan will be a violation of this agreement,” said Asif, who led the talks with his Afghan counterpart Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob. He said that the written agreement stipulated there would not be any incursions. The minister also alleged that TTP operated “in connivance” with Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban, an allegation that the latter has denied. Afghanistan accuses the Pakistani military of spreading misinformation and sheltering ISIL (ISIS)-linked fighters to undermine its stability and sovereignty. It is worth mentioning here that the Pakistan Taliban, which has been waging a war for years against Islamabad in a bid to overthrow the government, has stepped up attacks recently to target Pakistan’s military. The next round of talks is scheduled to be held in Istanbul on October 25 to evolve a mechanism on how to enforce the agreement. Whatever the case, the peace deal looks frail and without much promise.

Munir’s uncivilised and crass rhetoric targeting India is also to give vent to his frustration over the Afghanistan attacks, as Pakistan, which is seen as a stronger country, has suffered a huge humiliation. More significantly, the recent visit of Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India sufficiently irked Pakistan, where he received an overwhelming reception in light of the growing bonhomie between India and Afghanistan, as well as India upgrading its diplomatic mission in Kabul. These developments seem unsettling for Pakistan in general and Munir in particular. Judging by Munir’s irresponsible diatribes against India, there is every possibility of the Deep State indulging in sponsoring renewed cross-border terrorism targeting Indian security and infrastructural interests. However, India is geared to address these concerns with all its might and fury.

Views expressed are personal. The writer is a retired IPS officer, Adviser NatStrat, and a former National Security Advisor in Mauritius