New Delhi: Terming India as its “arch-rival”, Pakistan Army chief General Syed Asim Munir has promised Islamabad’s continued “moral, political and diplomatic support” to Kashmir.
Munir expressed frustration over the lack of international support for Islamabad’s position on Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that the “silence of the world over Kashmir is deafening”.
He also took a veiled dig at domestic opponents and critics, asserting that the Pakistani military was well-aware of the “constitutional limits” and urged others to behave in a similar manner.
The Pakistani military for a few years has remained quiet about Kashmir, while handling the domestic economic and political crisis.
Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), started a campaign against the Pakistani military, which culminated in the violence of May 2023.
“The professionalism and brilliance of the Pakistan Air Force has been clearly displayed in wars against our arch-rival and profoundly in February 2019 in a short but seminal engagement against the misplaced calculus of our rival,” the Pakistani army chief said.
At the graduating parade of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Academy in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Thursday, Munir also raked up the aerial duel between the PAF and the Indian Air Force in February 2019 after India’s bombing on Balakot.
New Delhi: Terming India as its “arch-rival”, Pakistan Army chief General Syed Asim Munir has promised Islamabad’s continued “moral, political and diplomatic support” to Kashmir.
Munir expressed frustration over the lack of international support for Islamabad’s position on Jammu and Kashmir, asserting that the “silence of the world over Kashmir is deafening”.
He also took a veiled dig at domestic opponents and critics, asserting that the Pakistani military was well-aware of the “constitutional limits” and urged others to behave in a similar manner.
“Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan vide Article 19 has unambiguously drawn the limits to the freedom of expression and speech, which must not be misconstrued as freedom of expression of venom against others,” Gen. Munir said.
The Pakistani military for a few years has remained quiet about Kashmir, while handling the domestic economic and political crisis. In October 2022, Pakistan was removed from the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) — the global watchdog on money laundering and terror financing.
However, it struggled to get the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to release tranches of money as a part of a financial package signed in 2019, requiring a last gasp standby agreement in June 2023 to help prevent a balance-of-payments crisis.
In March, the new Pakistani government under Shehbaz Sharif indicated it was open to a medium-term bailout plan that could potentially be worth $8 billion. Not just economic woes, Islamabad also faced a difficult political situation after the removal of former prime minister Imran Khan from power in April 2022.
The National Assembly in April 2022 passed a no-confidence motion against the Imran Khan government. Khan and his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), started a campaign against the Pakistani military, which culminated in the violence of May 2023.
Hundreds of PTI supporters stormed the official residence of the corps commander in Lahore, after Khan’s arrest that same month. PTI supporters set fire to government buildings across the country.
The former prime minister blamed Munir for his arrest and recently claimed the judicial sentence awarded to his wife Bushra Bibi was a result of the pressure applied by the Pakistani army chief on the judiciary.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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