Islamabad, July 21 (IANS) Under Army Chief Asim Munir, Pakistan has heavily relied on narrative management, with every major failure portrayed as a foreign conspiracy, every protest considered security threat and every military escalation presented as national resolve. Munir, who is portrayed as a “global stabiliser”, has presided over one of Pakistan’s worst internal security slides in more than a decade, a report has detailed.
In 2022, Asim Munir took over as Pakistan’s Army Chief, when the country was already facing renewed militancy, unrest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and deteriorating ties with Afghanistan, according to a report in The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Under his control, Pakistan further moved deeper into a hard-security model built around military operations, arrests, cross-border strikes, bans and centralised army control. This approach did not produce stability. Instead, Pakistan faced increase in militant attacks, higher casualties among civilians and security forces, growing alienation in Baloch and Pashtun regions and conflict with Afghanistan.
Munir was elevated to the rank of Field Marshal in 2025. However, security data of Pakistan does not support Munir’s image as a successful stabiliser. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), militant attacks increased from 380 in 2022 to 645 in 2023, 908 in 2024, and 1,066 in 2025. PICSS said 2025 was the year with highest militant attacks since 2014 and highest security-force fatalities since 2011 and the worst civilian fatalities since 2015.
“The same military leadership that presents itself as a mediator in Iran has failed to mediate Pakistan’s own internal conflicts. Balochistan remains alienated. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remains violent. The former tribal belt remains militarized. Afghanistan relations have moved from tension to repeated armed escalation. A commander projected as a global stabilizer has presided over one of Pakistan’s worst internal security slides in more than a decade,” a report in MEMRI.
“The contradiction is structural, not cosmetic, and sits at the center of Munir’s security approach. Abroad, Pakistan speaks the language of ceasefire, dialogue and mediation. At home, the state relies on coercion, bans, arrests, disappearances, military sweeps and collective punishment. The same leadership that seeks diplomatic space between Washington and Tehran to bolster its international image has failed to create political space for its own Baloch, Pashtun, and Kashmiri citizens.”
Pakistan has also used its coercive approach in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), where the crackdown on the Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) showcased another layer of Pakistan’s internal security crisis. Protests around Rawalakot and Muzaffarabad in PoK in June turned deadly after the JAAC, a civil-society group demanding political and economic rights, was banned under anti-terror laws.
“The wider pattern is that Pakistan’s state keeps externalizing blame while avoiding internal reform. Every major security failure is attributed to hostile external forces. But the casualty curve shows that the deeper problem lies inside Pakistan’s own security and governance model. The Munir era has relied heavily on narrative management,” a report in MEMRI mentioned.
“Every major failure is reframed as a foreign conspiracy, every protest is treated as a security threat, and every military escalation is projected as national resolve. But narrative control cannot substitute for public security. HRW said Pakistani authorities in 2025 used vague and overly broad laws to intensify crackdowns on media freedom, political opposition and civil society.[14] The result is a state that polices criticism more aggressively than it resolves the conditions producing militancy,” it added.
–IANS
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