00:00Hello friends. Namaskar. There is a Field Martial in Pakistan.
00:15This is not a routine rank. It is the highest military rank in most armies.
00:20And it is rare, awarded sparingly. So the question that must be asked,
00:26what exactly has General Asim Munir, the Pakistan Army Chief, been elevated for?
00:32I am Tilak Divesha and you are watching The Great Game Reloaded.
00:39In military tradition, the rank of Field Marshal is conferred for wartime victories.
00:45Did Asim Munir win a war or even a battle?
00:49Or would he go down in history as being the only General elevated to this rank after a military defeat?
00:56Pakistan has had one other instance of a Field Marshal.
01:00Ayub Khan, who had staged a coup against his benefactor, Iskandar Mizra.
01:05The difference with Munir is that while Ayub had relinquished the post of Commander-in-Chief
01:10and given it to General Musa, Asim Munir is still serving as Army Chief.
01:15There is an interesting anecdote about how and why Ayub elevated himself to that rank.
01:22Jamshid Markar in his book, Cover Point, Impressions of Leadership in Pakistan,
01:27speculates that Ayub promoting himself as Field Marshal could have been motivated by a Punjab regimental ceremonial march past in 1959.
01:37This was led by Field Marshal, Sir Claude Oakenleck, who was the former Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army before partition
01:46and Supreme Commander of the Indian and Pakistani armies immediately afterwards.
01:52Oakenleck was the Honorary Colonel Commandant of the Punjab Regiment.
01:56During the march past, Oakenleck raised his Field Marshal's baton in salute, while Ayub Khan as a general had to reply from the stand with a hand salute.
02:07This did not go down well with Ayub. After the parade, one of Ayub's aides borrowed Oakenleck's Field Marshal's baton.
02:15It was duly copied and Ayub declared himself Field Marshal.
02:20Oakenleck was angered by this abuse of military etiquette since this rank was only awarded for exceptional service rendered during war time.
02:31He later told Iskandar Mirza in London, and I quote,
02:34I earned my rank for my efforts in World War II against the Germans in the Middle East and the Japanese in Burma.
02:42What battle has Ayub won that he presumes to call himself a Field Marshal?
02:47Fast forward to today, if he were alive, Oakenleck would ask the same about Munir.
02:53What battle have you won? He would be aghast with the answer, none.
02:59So why was Asim Munir promoted now? And what does this say about the Pakistan Army, its politics and its image?
03:09First, who is Asim Munir?
03:12General Sayyad Asim Munir was appointed Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff in November 2022.
03:19Though seri-most among the left-wing generals being considered for the top slot, Munir's appointment was controversial.
03:25He and his cohort were promoted to three-star generals in September 2018.
03:32While the other generals joined immediately and so retired in September 2022,
03:38because the Lieutenant General has a four-year tenure, Munir did not pick up his rank till 27th November.
03:45It was very unusual for an officer at that level not to pick up his rank immediately.
03:52Hence, his retirement date became 27th November 2022, because promotions usually take effect from the date of assumption of command.
04:02While this was just two days short of the retirement of his predecessor, this tactic also made him the senior-most among the left-wing generals to be considered for the top job.
04:16The Cabinet had to issue a retention order under the Army Act, allowing Munir to continue in service and take over as Army Chief on 29th November, instead of retiring on the 27th.
04:28These technicalities embroiled Munir's appointment in controversies, so much so that the supporters of Imran Khan referred to him as the retired general.
04:39General Munir became the first Army Chief, hailing from the Officers' Training School, Mangla, rather than the regular Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul.
04:49He was also the first Army Chief, who served as Quartermaster General, and to have headed both the MI, Military Intelligence, and the ISI, the Inter-Services Intelligence.
05:00Hence, rather than a fighting general, this made him a backroom intriguer and a manipulator.
05:07The terror attack in Pulwama in 2019 came on his watch as DGISI and the attack in Pehelgaam when he is the Army Chief.
05:17This tells you a lot about the man.
05:20Another distinguishing feature of Munir is that he is Hafiz ul-Quran, that is, one who has memorized the Quran.
05:27Not surprisingly, he does not lose any opportunity to quote from the Quran and liberally use terminology associated with jihadi discourse.
05:38People have asked whether this helps in defending the country.
05:42His stint as head of the ISI was brief.
05:46He ran into trouble with the then PM Imran Khan, who removed him in 2019.
05:51Munir never forgot or forgave the humiliation.
05:55Quite likely, the PMLN government of the Sharifs chose Munir as Army Chief due to his deep-seated animosity towards Imran Khan for removing him as DGISI.
06:07The Sharifs and Munir have common ground in opposing Imran Khan.
06:13Let's talk about the timing of his elevation as Field Marshal.
06:17It came just days after Pakistan suffered a massive defeat at the hands of India following the Pehelgaam attack.
06:26As a retribution for the dastardly attack, India struck back hard with Operation Sindur.
06:32The Indus Water Treaty was held in abeyance.
06:35India struck deep inside Pakistan, destroying nine terror headquarters and camps.
06:41Pakistan's air defense systems were rendered ineffective.
06:45Eleven air bases, including those hosting F-16s and nuclear assets, were seriously damaged.
06:52And what was Munir doing before all this?
06:55He was busy giving communal speeches about Islam and Hindu India, about the two-nation theory and Kashmir being Pakistan's juggler.
07:04In reality, Kashmir may or may not be Pakistan's juggler, but it certainly is the Army's juggler.
07:12The Army has leveraged the Kashmir issue to corner a large proportion of the resources of the country and paint itself as the defender of Pakistan's ideology.
07:23At a time when Pakistan ranks second-worst globally on the Global Terrorism Index, Munir claimed that there was only a little bit of terrorism in Balochistan.
07:34Prominent Pakistani politicians have acknowledged that large parts of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtungoa are effectively outside government control.
07:44A week later, he presided over the Pehlgaam massacre, believing that India would not respond and even if it did, it would unify a polarized country faced with a polycrisis.
07:57In his wildest imagination, he did not imagine the Indian reaction, non-kinetic followed by kinetic.
08:05He had not anticipated that terror headquarters and air bases being attacked in Punjab.
08:11So much so that Pakistan was forced to plead for talks and show the white flag that they had had enough.
08:18But how to sell this surrender to the people of Pakistan?
08:22How to cover up Munir's loss of face?
08:26How to reassert control over domestic perception?
08:30Even before Pehlgaam, Pakistan's military image was collapsing.
08:35Internally, there was dissent, the rank and file were demoralized and what they saw was happening in the country and the deteriorating security situation,
08:44especially in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtungoa.
08:48Junior officers were questioning the leadership.
08:51Imran Khan continued to be as popular in the army as in the streets.
08:56The economy was in shambles.
08:58Against this backdrop, Operation Sindoor was an unwelcome force multiplier.
09:04It was not just a military defeat.
09:06It was a psychological one.
09:08Pakistan's delusional narrative of invincibility was shattered.
09:13Its nuclear bluff called.
09:15So Pakistan did what they do really well.
09:18Narrative warfare.
09:20Through propaganda.
09:21Through creating a myth.
09:23Through distraction.
09:24Through optics.
09:25The elevation of Munir to field marshal was not about battlefield performance but about narrative building and consolidation.
09:33You give the defeated general a bet on and call him a field marshal.
09:37The elevation wasn't a reward for victory.
09:40Far from it.
09:41It was a desperate attempt at damage control.
09:44It was like promoting the captain of the Titanic for great navigation.
09:50Instead of accountability, Pakistan handed out a promotion.
09:54The field marshal title was a sedative.
09:56A signal to the domestic audience.
09:58We are still in charge.
10:00We are still unbeatable.
10:02We have lost up our victory against India.
10:05We elevated a hero because we won.
10:08Munir's promotion is thus a symptom of a deeper rot.
10:12Despite dominating the polity, it is a military that can't take responsibility for defeat.
10:18It is a system where propaganda and narrative matters more than performance.
10:23A country where generals become field marshals to distract from failures.
10:28When the rank of field marshal is conferred not for victory but to manage optics, it loses its meaning.
10:35Instead of field marshal, it becomes fiction marshal.
10:40India, by contrast, did not declare any heroes.
10:44It showed results despite the fact that it had changed the game, the rules of engagement and the equation.
10:51That's the difference between strategic culture and a culture of narrative building.
10:56Operation Sindur was swift, precise, effective.
11:00When you win, you don't need to shout.
11:03You don't need a field marshal to do so.
11:09Munir's promotion changes nothing for Pakistan.
11:12It is not a celebration or victory but damage control for defeat.
11:16The creation of another myth, like the myths created after 1965, 1971 and 1999 wars with India.
11:25Because of geopolitics, perception may be powerful but only until it collides with reality.
11:31Because with titles, you can't stop missiles.
11:34You can't defend borders with betons and promotion doesn't erase humiliation.
11:39When history is written, it will be about the day India struck terror factories in Pakistan.
11:46It won't be about a field marshal.
11:48In future episodes, I will talk about why the army dominates Pakistan.
11:55See you again soon with another topic and another anecdote.
