Is Asim Munir the Most Controversial Army Chief in Pakistan's History?

Islamabad: By the time Field Marshal Asim Munir's initial term as Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff concludes in November 2025, the nation could have experienced one of the most damaging, destabilizing, and strategically perilous periods in its contemporary history. The critical question is whether he will maintain power beyond this date — aided by a strategically engineered legislative change pushed through last year — which will determine if Pakistan continues its descent into overt military authoritarianism, masked as 'hybrid democracy', a façade that the political elite appears all too willing to support.

The pressing inquiry resonating within Pakistan and beyond is clear: Has Asim Munir emerged as the most powerful yet widely detested army chief since General Zia-ul-Haq, the architect of Pakistan's military-Islamist framework? Munir has not needed to impose martial law; his political interference occurs blatantly in plain sight. His term is not merely a violation of constitutional military responsibilities — it represents a calculated strategy of political manipulation and institutional takeover, leaving Pakistan's democratic framework not just fractured, but disintegrating.

Field Marshal Munir took command of the Pakistan Army in November 2022, inheriting a military under duress and a nation caught in the throes of economic hardship and political division. What was anticipated as a stabilizing presence has quickly morphed into an iron-fisted regime. Instead of fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities, where the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) operates under the President's authority as the military's commander, Munir has broadened his influence into every aspect of national life, discarding the pretense of the military's 'behind-the-scenes' guidance that had been customary following the end of General Pervez Musharraf's military rule.

Through what is euphemistically referred to as the 'hybrid regime', Asim Munir has presided over a new era of direct military control. The military no longer merely manipulates events from the shadows as it did under his immediate predecessors; it now orchestrates the performance of so-called democracy in Pakistan entirely in public view. From establishing Shehbaz Sharif’s administration to influencing court rulings against imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan and suppressing dissenting media voices, the current Army Chief's term has transformed the military from a mediator to an overt authoritarian force.

The legislative amendment to the Pakistan Military Acts, passed in November 2024, which extended the maximum tenure of the three service chiefs (Army/Navy/Air Force) from three to five years, was facilitated by a compliant civilian coalition led by Shehbaz Sharif and the military's political maneuvering. These amendments retroactively allowed Asim Munir to remain in power until 2027 and possibly until 2032, should he secure another extension, which seems inevitable if the Field Marshal remains satisfied with the current hybrid system. This move mirrored the same constitutional manipulations witnessed during General Zia-ul-Haq's era, when rules were bent to ensure the continuity of one individual.

If consolidating power were the only blemish on Asim Munir's record, it might be viewed as a continuation of Pakistan’s dismal civil-military history. However, what makes his case particularly alarming is his conspicuous failure on the primary front where the military traditionally claims legitimacy: national security.

Under his leadership, Pakistan has witnessed a catastrophic resurgence of violent insurgency. In Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, separatist and Islamist militancies have advanced in both complexity and lethality in recent years. According to the South Asian Terrorism Portal (SATP), from November 2022, when Asim Munir assumed the role of COAS, until July 2025, fatalities among security forces, including soldiers, paramilitary personnel, and police, ranged from approximately 2,266 to 2,335.

From targeted ambushes like the February 1 incident in Kalat, Balochistan, where 18 Frontier Corps troops lost their lives, to the Jaffar Express train hijacking with 30 Army casualties, to suicide bombings like the June 25 attack in North Waziristan resulting in 16 casualties, militant groups have regained footholds in regions previously declared pacified by the Pakistan Army. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) now operates unrestrained in several tribal districts along the Durand Line border with Afghanistan, while Baloch separatist factions led by the Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) have targeted not only Pakistan military installations but also Chinese initiatives and nationals, further destabilizing an already precarious region.

For a General who previously served as the head of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) before being dismissed by Imran Khan in favor of Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, Munir's inability to foresee or mitigate these threats is a glaring indictment. As his tenure illustrates, national security has been the least of his concerns, overshadowed by internal surveillance against political dissenters, social media crackdowns, and the support of compliant political figures.

The February 2024 general elections unveiled the military’s electoral manipulation agenda. For the first time, Pakistanis witnessed how the military establishment engages in blatant electoral fraud through falsified Form 45 documents (Result of Count Form), with a senior bureaucrat on record explaining how the ISI coerced officials to distort the results. Consequently, the illusion of electoral independence has been completely shattered.

Behind this political façade lies a more sinister reality. Asim Munir's administration has actively utilized the intelligence apparatus not to combat external threats but to suppress and abduct journalists such as Imran Riaz Khan, intimidate exiled dissenters like Taha Siddique and Asad Baloch, and imprison members of the opposition, particularly from Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). Estimates suggest that over 7,500 political activists, predominantly from PTI, including nearly 500 senior and mid-level leaders, have been detained since the May 9, 2023 violent protests against Imran Khan's arrest, with hundreds subjected to military trials with the blessing of the Shehbaz Sharif administration and a compliant judiciary.

Alongside political manipulation, Asim Munir's military has also tightened its grip on the nation’s economic lifelines. Through extensive land appropriations justified by national food security, the military establishment has intensified its control over Pakistan's dwindling resources. Intriguingly, as Pakistan grapples with escalating economic difficulties, featuring over $130 billion in external debt, record inflation, unemployment, and economic stagnation, the military's business empire, led by the Army Welfare Trust (AWT), continues to thrive.

Moreover, civilian institutions, including the judiciary, have been coerced into silence. The open letter from six judges of the Islamabad High Court last year illustrated that those who dared to oppose the military-backed regime face threats, surveillance, or worse.

Pakistan's Constitution assigns the COAS a narrow but crucial responsibility: defending the nation’s territorial integrity while operating under civilian oversight. In contrast, Field Marshal Asim Munir appears to be acting not as a servant of the state but as its ultimate custodian, betraying both the constitutional mandate and military honor, if any remains in Pakistan.

The parallels with General Zia-ul-Haq are becoming increasingly pronounced. Like Zia, Munir advocates for 'moral reform', promotes religious piety, and justifies authoritarian overreach in the name of stability. However, like Zia, he may leave behind a country more divided, militarized, and internationally isolated than he inherited.

As Pakistan again plunges into constitutional obscurity and political chaos, the pivotal question is no longer how long Asim Munir will retain power, but how much harm he will inflict before his exit. His consolidation of power — facilitated by willing political allies such as the Sharifs and the Bhutto-Zardaris, and enforced with an iron grip — has already undermined the country's democratic foundations, however fragile they may have been.

Unless Pakistan reestablishes civilian supremacy and restores faith in democratic processes, it risks becoming yet another cautionary tale of authoritarian regression in the 21st century. Field Marshal Asim Munir, much like Zia-ul-Haq before him, will be remembered not as a heroic figure in uniform, but as a failed marshal who prioritized personal power over constitutional duty — betraying both his institution and the nation he swore to protect.