CHALLENGES FACED BY PAKISTAN NEW ARMY CHEIF

 CHALLENGES FACED BY PAKISTAN NEW ARMY CHIEF

General Asim Munir has taken over at a time when Pakistan is dealing with a number of crises.

               

Pakistan, Islamabad - General Asim Munir, who took command of Pakistan's nuclear-armed military last week, now holds arguably the most powerful position in the country.

The 57-year-old former spy chief now wields considerable power in the country's internal and external affairs.

Politics at home

According to analysts, the new army chief's first challenge will be to deal with the chaos and instability that has engulfed politics since former Prime Minister Imran Khan was removed from office.

Khan was defeated in a parliamentary vote of confidence in April of this year, which he claimed was orchestrated by the US in collaboration with his political opponents and the powerful military.

Both Islamabad and Washington have repeatedly denied the allegations.

In a U-turn last month, the leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) said he no longer blamed the US for his ouster, emphasising that he wants good relations with Washington if and when he returns to power.

Despite Khan's continued criticism of the military's involvement in politics, the cricketer-turned-politician has previously asked the army to move elections that would otherwise take place in late 2023.

Addressing the army's top brass, Bajwa stated that the military has decided not to interfere in political matters because such interventions, which he claims have occurred in the past, are unconstitutional.

"He (Munir) must first establish his credibility as a truly neutral army chief in order to be accepted without question across the political spectrum," Nizami told Al Jazeera.

According to Mosharraf Zaidi of the Islamabad-based think tank Tabadlab, the military's frequent meddling in politics and control over the media should end.

"Under a new commander, the military must resist the temptation to use the vast extraconstitutional and illegal influence and power it has over the judiciary, the civilian administration throughout the country, and the news media," he said.

The image of the military

This brings us to Munir's second major challenge: the military's image among Pakistanis.

The army has directly ruled Pakistan for more than 30 of its 75 years of independence and is regarded as the country's supreme arbiter in domestic matters, whether in power or not.

Retired army general Omar Mahmood Hayat believes Munir should prioritise raising the morale of the military's rank and file.

"We've seen in the past that with a professional approach, the image can be corrected quickly," he told Al Jazeera.

Former defence secretary and retired army officer Asif Yasin Malik believes "perception management" will be a challenge for Munir.

"The first challenge for him will be to manage public perception of the army's involvement in politics. This is the first thing he must pursue and correct. "This is affecting the army's operational mindset," he stated.

"They [soldiers] should be able to see what's going on in the world and what people are saying on WhatsApp or social media, but their focus should be on their mission and professional orientation."

Afghanistan and the TTP threat

Abdul Syed, a Pakistan and Afghanistan expert, told Al Jazeera that one of Munir's main challenges would be to contain the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) armed group.

The TTP, which is ideologically aligned with Afghanistan's ruling Taliban, violated a ceasefire agreement reached with the Pakistani government in June - a deal mediated by Kabul.

The TTP ordered its fighters to launch new attacks "across the country" in a statement announcing the end of the ceasefire. Two days later, three people were killed, including a police officer, in a TTP-claimed suicide bombing during a polio immunisation campaign in the southwestern city of Quetta.

The TTP has launched more than 70 armed attacks this year alone, killing dozens of people, according to data compiled by the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based research organisation.

Pakistan has demanded that Kabul take action against the TTP leadership, which Islamabad claims has taken refuge in Afghanistan, while the Taliban insists that their territory will not be used to carry out attacks on other countries.

"It is clear that the Pakistani Taliban has sought refuge in Afghanistan. Pakistan now has two options for resolving this issue: political and military," Syed explained.

"If Pakistan chooses military action, it will inevitably harm relations with Afghan Taliban government and will hamper its strategic objectives. Pakistan, on the other hand, can try to find a solution.

India

India has historically been Pakistan's main rival, involving both countries' militaries. The two nuclear powers have fought two of their three full-scale wars over Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between them but claimed by both.

Both countries frequently blame each other's intelligence gathering for military conflict on their soil.

They were on the verge of another war in early 2019, after India blamed Pakistan for a deadly attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir and responded with an air raid across the border.

ater that year, as India's Hindu nationalist government deprive Kashmir of its special status and implements an unprecedented security crackdown in the valley that lasts for months, the relations deteriorate and all diplomatic contacts between them are frozen.

Up until March 2021, frequent battles along their Himalayan border continued before the two nations chose to abide by a 2003 ceasefire deal.

Days after becoming army chief, Munir travelled to Kashmir, which is governed by Pakistan, and vowed to "protect every inch of our motherland."

He declared, "The Indian state would never be able to carry out her evil plans.

Keeping relations between the US and China in check

Maintaining solid ties with China and the US, two global adversaries, would be one of Munir's biggest problems, according to numerous analysts who note that Pakistan has long maintained tight ties with both countries.

However, during the past few years, Pakistan has become more dependent on its northeastern neighbour as a result of China's massive investment in projects all throughout Pakistan.

Islamabad's relations with Washington, meantime, have been tense, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is now trying to repair the damage done by Khan's administration.
In the latter months of his leadership, the former army chief Bajwa travelled to China and the US.

"They [China] have never told us who we should and shouldn't be friends with. But the United States and other Western nations seem to have a problem with that," said Malik, a former defence secretary, to Al Jazeera.

Foreign policy expert Mohammed Faisal, who is based in Islamabad, believes that Munir needs to find a way to balance the "competing influences" coming from Beijing and Washington.

Pakistan needs to find a method to win the necessary backing from both of the main lenders since it needs both military and economic assistance from both nations, he added.

The military should, however, "completely back the government's foreign policy engagements and resist the impulse to lead or manage the foreign policy themselves," according to Tabadlab's Zaidi.