By M S Nazki
The man called Asim Munir now a field Marshal of Pakistan is definitely from a school of thought that Zia-ul Haq propagated! That time pan-Islamism was at the core? It still is and the latest target seems to be India bent! But so was Hamid Gul’s! Part-I
-Both were religious fanatics and thus terror and the factor of terrorism grew up in a country were democratic (Pakistan claims to be a democracy) with India being the principal target!
– if the words can be read in between the paragraphs he has spoken he is nothing but a fanatic!
– The religious ideology of Pakistan Army chief General Syed Asim Munir, who believes in jihad, albeit those jihads that are sponsored by his army, has attracted the attention of Islamists who are smitten by the fact that he is the first hafiz (i.e., one who has memorized the Quran) to become army chief. So, it is not surprising that in a public address in Peshawar on August 7, 2023, General Asim Munir relied on terminology from jihadi discourse, using words like shari’a, kalimah, khawarij, jihad fi Sabeelillah (“jihad in the path of Allah”), and so on.
-Therefore the first implication of his becoming the Field Marshal Does not augur well for India!
-Yes we did take the name of Hanid Gul and that was not without a reason!
– Hamid Gulwas a Pakistani former three-star general and defence analyst. Gul was notable for serving as the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, between 1987 and 1989. During his tenure, Gul played an instrumental role in directing ISI support to Afghan resistance groups against Soviet forces in return for funds and weapons from the US, during the Soviet–Afghan War, in cooperation with the CIA.
-In addition, Gul was widely credited for expanding covert support to Kashmiri freedom fighters. against neighbouring rival India in Kashmir region from 1989, Gul earned a reputation as a “Godfather” of Pakistani geostrategic policies. For his role against India, he has been considered by A. S. Dulat, former director of RAW, as “the most dangerous and infamous ISI chief in Indian eyes.”!
-Munir may be a shadow of the man and this is the second major implication!
-Gul had the support of the USA but Munir has fallen into the dangerous triumvirate of China-Turkey and Iran! There could be more who would fall into this devilish alliance! Incidentally the third major implication!
-In 1988, Gul, with the support of General’s Aslam Beg and Asad Durrani, played a key role in forming the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), a conservative political alliance created to prevent the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) led by Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto from winning the 1990 Pakistani general election. He appointed Nawaz Sharif as the leader of the IJI, who would later win the election with the help of the ISI.
-So it is Military rule that is the strong arm in Pakistan and now with Munir as a Field Marshal things are not going to boil in Pakistan but the spillover may cause problems for India as they have done in the past!
-Even if the ISI, under General Akhtar Abdur Rahman, was already aiming beyond the region, for instance establishing contacts with jihadi groups like the Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines, it was under Hamid Gul that the ISI definitely took a pan-Islamist turn, as he not only wished for a Pakistan-led Islamic coalition against India, in his own words “a strategic depth concept that links Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, and Afghanistan in an alliance” which “would be a jeweled Mughal dagger pointed at the Hindu heart”, but also called for what he perceived as the liberation of persecuted Muslim groups all over the world, such as the Eritreans, the Bosniaks, the Rohingyas, the Uzbeks and the Uighurs.
That is why we said that Aslam Munir is from the same school of thought as Hamid Gul was once upon a time!
Most of Pakistan’s problems are rooted in an unending conflict between the use of religion and the demands of circumstances in defining Pakistani domestic and foreign policy. This is the reason Pakistani military’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) has birthed and nurtured a host of jihadi organizations over past decades – the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Hizbul Mujahideen, and others – to advance its foreign policy goals in Afghanistan and Kashmir, while politicians and policymakers have also frequently favored Islamist forces. For example, when he was speaking in Peshawar, Pakistan’s Senate passed yet another law on blasphemy to punish anyone who insults the wives and companions of Muhammad.
Munir is perhaps the second former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the country’s most powerful institution known for creating, nurturing, sheltering and using jihadi organizations in Kashmir and Afghanistan, to become chief of the Army. The other was General Ashfaq Kayani. Munir is the third officer, after Lt.-Gen. Asad Durrani and Lt.-Gen. Hamid Gul, who has the distinction of having headed both the ISI and the Military Intelligence.
Addressing the grand jirga, Munir said: “The Pakistan army is the army of martyrs whose motto is imaan, taqwa aur jihad fi Sabeelillah [faith, piety, and jihad in the Path of Allah]. We are from amongst you, and you are from amongst us. After the Riyasat-e-Madina [the State of Medina, the first Islamic state established by Prophet Muhammad], Pakistan is the second state established based on Kalimah. No power in the world can harm Pakistan.”
Munir’s language is primarily that of Islamists in Pakistan. “We are waging jihad in the path of Allah and success will be ours, Allah willing. The Pakistani army’s objective and principle is to be shaheed [martyr] or ghazi [one who takes part in jihad],” the army chief said, using language like that of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan and other jihadi groups. His language will also confuse young Pakistanis, who hear the same words from jihadis. Munir could have spoken about the need for counterterrorism, since the audience was mainly Pashtun, who are fiercely secular, but he turned to a religious discourse that will buttress TTP’s position.
Even when Munir dismissed TTP and other jihadi organizations as khawarij, he still resorted to arguments often used by jihadi groups that only Allah’s rule, not man-made laws, can prevail. Nowadays, rival jihadi groups describe each other as khawarij; they all consider the Pakistan army to be an apostate and an unbelieving force. The Pakistani military website also defines Jihad fi Sabeelillah saying: “The real objective of Islam is to shift the lordship of man over man to the lordship of Allah on the earth and to stake one’s life and everything else to achieve this sacred purpose.”
Munir told the Peshawar jirga: “Under the Pakistani constitution, the authority is that of Allah alone. Who are these khawarij who want to implement sharia? I and my brave army will fight till the last drop of blood in this war against terrorism.”
Soon after Munir was named as the next army chief, ulema (religious scholars), mashaikh (Sufi mystics), and Islamic clerics celebrated because a hafiz was set to become the chief of the armed forces. Such religious scholars included: Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council; Sufi mystic Pir Hasan Haseebur Rahman; Maulana Syed Ziaullah Shah, the emir of Muttahida Jamiat Ahl Hadith; Maulana Hamidul Haq Haqqani, the emir of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam; Muhammad Khan Laghari, the secretary general of Muttahida Ulema Council; Allama Arif Wahidi, vice president of Shia Ulema Council; and many others.
Mufti Taqi Usmani, renowned Islamic religious scholar and former judge of Pakistan’s Federal Shariat Court, tweeted in Urdu: “All praise be to Allah. For the first time in the country’s history, a hafiz of the Quran is being appointed as the army chief. Munir memorized the Quran in Medina. It is hoped that he will keep in view Quranic guidelines in discharging his duties. His appointment deserves a whole-hearted welcome.”
Munir’s appointment is seen as the result of a long process of Islamization sped up in Pakistan by military dictator General Ziaul Haq. “Munir is the culmination of changes,” said an Indian intelligence analyst, “that Zia-ul-Haq set in motion as a promoter of overt religiosity in the army.”
