Editorial: Munir’s nuclear sabre-rattling

By issuing a direct nuclear threat to India, Pakistan’s Army chief has gone a step further and signalled to the world that Islamabad remains an irresponsible nuclear power

Pakistani generals are not known for subtlety in their public speeches. Nor are they particularly gifted with strategic wisdom or vision. Long used to having a decisive say in running the country, the Rawalpindi bosses have a propensity for whipping up war hysteria, always targeting India. The latest nuclear sabre-rattling by Army chief Asim Munir must be understood from the historical perspective of how all his predecessors used a highly combustible cocktail of religious fanaticism and jingoism to keep the embers of anti-India hatred burning. By issuing a direct nuclear threat to India, Munir has gone a step further and signalled to the world that Islamabad remains an irresponsible nuclear power. Addressing a gathering of Pakistani diaspora in Florida’s Tampa, an unhinged field marshal threatened to “take half the world down with us if we think we are going down” in a future war with India. This is a spectacularly stupid rant coming from someone who is nursing an ambition to take over the country. His American hosts must realise the dangerous implications of such idiotic rhetoric delivered from their soil. He also spoke about destroying India’s infrastructure, particularly targeting its economic interests. Such bravado would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. Clearly, Munir’s outburst stemmed from a sense of frustration over humiliating losses his country’s military bases suffered in the ‘Operation Sindoor’, following the horrific Pahalgam terror attack. In fact, the targeted gunning down of Indian tourists in April came a week after Munir’s statement that Kashmir is Islamabad’s “jugular vein”.

While India is perfectly capable of safeguarding its national security and foiling any misadventures from across the border, it is the Pakistanis who should be worried about the irresponsible public statements of their army chief. A former ISI chief, Munir has not been very discreet about his intention to take over the country. His remark that “politics is also too serious a business to be left to politicians” betrays his ambition. Munir has a mindset that was framed in the Islamic seminaries he studied in before joining military schools. He often quotes Islamic scriptures to buttress his point. His latest threat to attack India’s economic assets, including the Reliance Group’s oil refinery, was also prefaced with religious scriptures. As former Pentagon official Michael Rubin rightly put it, Munir is “Osama bin Laden in a suit.” His rhetoric, invoking Islamic scriptures to wage a war against India, is reminiscent of the Al Qaeda leader. Pakistan’s political establishment is already discredited and owes its survival to the army. With United States President Donald Trump going out of his way to entertain him with a special luncheon in the White House, not only has Munir’s ambition grown, but it has also helped him raise his stature within the country. He is exploiting the current situation to make a determined push for his takeover of the country.

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