Pakistan: Trump’s ‘favourite field marshal’ takes charge

Pakistan has just suffered its first “21st century coup”, said Monjorika Bose on Firstpost (Mumbai). There were none of the “tanks and curfews” typical of a standard military takeover. Instead, a “ridiculously weak” parliament rubber-stamped a constitutional amendment giving army chief Asim Munir control over all three armed-forces branches, along with the same “near total” lifetime immunity from arrest and prosecution that the president enjoys.

This has shot him to “a constitutionally protected super post with sweeping powers” and no accountability. His control is now so absolute, he can “stifle dissent” at will; judges “will be forced to look the other way”. Yet from the West there has barely been a “whimper” of objection, thanks largely to Munir’s successful wooing of President Trump. Munir made two visits to the Oval Office this year, one in June, one in September, courting him with flattery, the promise of access to minerals and a shady crypto deal. A delighted Trump has lauded him as his “favourite field marshal”.

Actually, this isn’t the “revolutionary change” alarmists claim it is, said Waqar Malik in the Daily Times (Lahore). The amendment simply modernises the military’s command structure, replacing the joint chiefs with Munir as a single head of the defence forces. The skirmish with India in May – the conflict in which Munir was promoted to become just the second field marshal in Pakistani history – demonstrated the need for streamlined decision-making in wartime. At a time when India is threatening our border, Munir has “restored public confidence”.

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That’s wishful thinking, said Shubhangi Sharma on News18 (New Delhi). Already, Munir has torn a page from the “old playbook” of Pervez Musharraf, the last Pakistani general to take power in a coup – ordering drone strikes on Afghanistan, fuelling proxy terror groups inside India, and making reckless nuclear threats, all pushing Pakistan “closer to a Kim Jong Un model than a functioning democracy”.

But Munir’s power grab essentially “formalises what has long been an open secret”, said The Hindu (Chennai). Pakistan’s military has for some time “pulled the strings behind a facade of democracy”; now the facade has crumbled. The only political leader still resisting is former PM Imran Khan – and he’s in jail for corruption. Yet it’s not all going the army chief’s way. Khan’s party is leading mass protests in the streets, and there’s an insurgency flaring in tribal areas. So Munir’s attempt to wield absolute power “could backfire – sooner rather than later”.