Has Asim Munir Become More Powerful?

 

In a blistering frontal attack on India and Afghanistan, Pakistan’s new Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Asim Munir, in his maiden address, warned India of deadly retaliation also conveying a message to the Taliban asserting that Pakistan’s invincibility is protected by “faith filled warriors”.  It may be reiterated that Field Marshal Asim Munir very recently assumed absolute powers by appointing himself as the CDF obtaining assent of the political leadership as well, thus usurping absolute powers. For this, Pakistan underwent major constitutional amendment establishing a Defence Forces Headquarters to integrate Army, Navy and the Air Force.

Displaying his belligerent rhetoric and aggressive hegemonistic designs, he went on to threaten India, that this time, in case of a military conflict, Pakistan’s response would be even swifter and more severe than on previous occasions.  He also insinuated through his message to Taliban that it has no choice but to choose between Fitna Al Khawarij (a term used for the outlawed Pakistani Taliban) and Pakistan.  Munir also claimed that Pakistan is a “peace-loving” country. However, no one will be allowed to threaten Pakistan’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and test its resolve. He meant to remind his constituency that the concept of Pakistan is unbeatable and it is protected by a firm resolve of a united nation. CDF Asim Munir was formally appointed the country’s first CDF on December 4, marking what many experts described as the most significant overhaul of Pakistan’s military command structure since the 1970s.

The overhaul took place under the 27th  Amendment of the Constitution which created a single office with centralized operational, administrative, and strategic authority.  It must be underlined that the updated Article 243 on military powers states that the President, on the advice of the Prime Minister, will appoint the army chief, who will simultaneously serve as the CDF. The amendment also eliminated the position of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), effectively dismantling the tri-service coordination system established in 1976 and shifting joint command responsibilities to the new CDF.

Moreover, to align the military’s legal framework with these constitutional changes, the government subsequently also amended the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) of 1952, following the passage of the 27th  Amendment. Field Marshal Munir was appointed Army Chief on 29 November, 2022, becoming the 17th Army man to lead the Pakistan Army.

It is also pertinent to mention here that in November 2024, the government had amended the Pakistan Army Act (PAA), increasing the tenures of the chiefs of the three-armed services from three to five years, while keeping the CJCSC’s tenure to three years. These amendments also permitted the service chiefs to be reappointed or to have their tenures extended for up to five years, rather than the previous limit of three. Now, the updated PAA provisions allow the President, acting on the Prime Minister’s advice, to reappoint the COAS-cum-CDF for an additional five years or extend his term by up to five years. This creates the legal possibility for him to remain in office until December 2035.

Upon his controversial appointment, Munir was also given the guard of honour for his appointment in the presence of Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Naveed Ashraf and Chief of the Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force Zaheer Ahmad Babar.  The ceremony also included presentation of awards to those from Pakistan Navy and Pakistan Air Force who were part of the May skirmish (Operation Sindoor) to recognize their acts of “valour” during the war.
Later, speaking to the tri-forces at the GHQ, Munir hailed the move as “historic” and said, the establishment of the Defence Forces Headquarters is now an essential step towards this change adding that each service will maintain its individuality for its operational readiness.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan media has reacted on this CDF linked development. According to Dr Raashid Wali Janjua, the well-known columnist, the 27th Constitutional Amendment has introduced the appointment of CDF in Pakistan which is the subject of several discussions on mainstream as well as on social media.  The uninformed speculation and debate, unsupported by logic and reason, leads towards confusion which needs to be removed through dispassionate analysis of the need for this important seat in Pakistan’s Higher Defence Organization (HDO).  Further, according to Dr Wali, this being the age of netcentric and multi domain warfare where air, land, sea, space and electromagnetic domains would fight as a network to dominate the famous decision loop i.e. “Observe, Orient, Decide, Act” (OODA) through super quick intelligence gathering and concomitant decision making,   no single service i.e Army, Airforce and Navy can cast a lone furrow and hope to succeed.  Pakistan, like India, had inherited a colonial organizational structure which kept the military organization highly centralized yet siloed through separate commands in three services.  In other words, this experienced writer has apparently negated the CDF move giving cogent arguments.

Earlier in Pakistan, the ostensible objective of HDO reorganization was to promote jointness and operational synergy between the three services but the actual motive imputed to Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto’s HDO reform was in gain greater control over the military affairs through a strong Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ).  He however, could not create a potent JS HQ and the appointment of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) remained a ceremonial sinecure for an underemployed four-star general.  Though progressively, the military budgeting, tri service coordination in higher military planning, medical and engineering services and strategic planning division affairs were assigned to the JS HQ but the organization remained powerless and ineffective in bringing the desired operational synergy between the three services.

The result of the above inchoate state of HDO was a wasteful duplication of several functions which in the absence of an effective Ministry of Defence and JS HQ led to profligate waste of resources and lack of desired operational synergy in times of war.  The problems were visible during the Kargil conflict where the Army started an operation without due coordination with the other two services, leading to lack of preparedness of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) for offensive operations during the conflict.  This perception seems worth taking note of.

The future wars, as per Dr Wali, would be fought between the networks of sensors, shooters and decision makers (command posts) enabled through multiple domains of space, air, land, sea and cyber space.  The mechanized forces like armour on ground and the air platforms would be operating in unmanned mode through UCAVs, drones and UGVs with gilt edged opportunities provided by AI assisted weapon platforms and command posts requiring split second decisions by the strategic military leadership.  

Munir is reeling under a huge superiority feeling due to his self-engineered assumption of absolute powers and becoming the CDF.  His December 8 address strongly signaling India and Afghanistan in the same vein and in a threatening tenor, resonate his previous utterances as at Islamabad on April 16,  Karachi on June 18, and at Tampa, Florida, US on August 9. He is upbeat about his being a megalomaniac without objectively assessing from the lessons of history that all the previous military dictators of Pakistan had dreamt of harming India through their rhetoric and military misadventures but they never worked and invariably defeated the fantasies of the military leaders. And Munir is no exception. Getting  former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Faiz Hameed to 14 years imprisonment on multiple “charges” could be a result of vendetta or service rivalry, but ignoring the possible dissent brewing in the cantonment may prove costly in the long run. The CDF can not ignore this though his new term is expected to last for another ten years.


Shantanu Mukharji is a retired
IPS officer and former National
Security Advisor in Mauritius.