asim munir Archives - Lokmarg

Armed Forces Are Servants Of People: Imran To Munir, Military Leaders

By LokMarg 30th November 2022

In a message to the newly appointed military leaders, including army chief Asim Munir, former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday expressed hope that they will work to end the prevailing trust deficit between the nation and the State.

“Congratulations to Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza as the new CJCSC and Gen Syed Asim Munir as the new COAS. We hope the new leadership will work to end the prevailing trust deficit that has built up in the last 8 months between the nation and the State. Strength of the State is derived from its people,” Khan said in his congratulatory tweet for the newly appointed military leadership.
In his Twitter post, the PTI chief quoting Pakistan’s founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah, “Do not forget that the armed forces are the servants of the people and you do not make national policy; it is we, the civilians, who decide these issues and it is your duty to carry out these tasks with which you are entrusted.”

This comes a day after General Asim Munir took over the command from outgoing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Marking an end to his six-year tenure as the most powerful person in the country, Bajwa passed the baton of command to Lt Gen Munir at a ceremony held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Since his ouster from power in April this year, Imran Khan has had a fallout with the country’s coalition government and military establishment.

The hype and hoopla created over the appointment of Pakistan’s new army chief came to rest after General Asim Munir and General Sahir Shamshad Mirza were notified as the next chief of army staff (COAS) and chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) respectively on November 24.

Munir, who was to retire on November 27, two days before Bajwa completed an extended tenure of almost six years, was among six generals in the race for the top post — a cause for much uncertainty and speculation till this week.

There was an unprecedented hysteria and frenzy in Pakistan by the former Prime Minister, his followers, and his social media brigade after the PTI government was thrown out of the power corridors of Islamabad in April. The Shehbaz Sharif government has accused Khan of making the appointment of the new army chief controversial for political gains.

For the last month, Pakistan was literally paralysed administratively and economically because of the delay in the appointment of the army chief who is considered the most powerful personality with all political stakeholders dying for his blessings.

Notably, Pakistan’s military has directly ruled the country of 220 million people for nearly half of its 75-year history. (ANI)

Lt Gen Asim Munir Takes Command As Pakistan’s Army chief

By LokMarg 29th November 2022

Pakistan army General Asim Munir on Tuesday took over the command from outgoing Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

Marking an end to his six-year tenure as the most powerful person in the country, Bajwa passed the baton of command to Lt Gen Munir at a ceremony held at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, the Dawn newspaper reported.
The hype and hoopla created over the appointment of Pakistan’s new army chief came to rest after General Asim Munir and General Sahir Shamshad Mirza were notified as the next chief of army staff (COAS) and chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) respectively on November 24.

People familiar with the matter in Pakistan said Munir’s reputation as a straight military officer who played by the book helped him clinch the post.

There was an unprecedented hysteria and frenzy in Pakistan by former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his followers, and his social media brigade after the PTI government was thrown out of the power corridors of Islamabad in April. The government has accused Khan of making the appointment of the new army chief controversial for political gains.

Notably, Pakistan’s military has directly ruled the country of 220 million people for nearly half of its 75-year history.

Gen Munir was promoted to the rank of a three-star general in September 2018, but he took charge two months later. As such, his four-year tenure as Lt Gen ends on November 27, around the same time when incumbent Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Gen Nadeem Raza and Chief of Army Staff Gen Bajwa will be doffing their army uniform, reported Dawn.

Lt Gen Munir entered the service via the Officers Training School programme in Mangla and was commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment.

He has been a close aide of Gen Bajwa ever since he commanded troops in the Force Command Northern Areas as a brigadier under the outgoing army chief, who was then Commander X Corps.

Lt Gen Munir was later appointed Military Intelligence director general in early 2017, and in October next year was made the Inter-Services Intelligence chief, Dawn reported. (ANI)

Lt Gen Asim Munir Named Pak’s New Army Chief

By LokMarg 24th November 2022

Lieutenant General Asim Munir was on Thursday appointed as the new chief of army staff (COAS) of Pakistan, ending weeks of intense speculation and political tussle in the country.

“The Prime Minister of Pakistan Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has decided to appoint Lt. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Lt. Gen. Syed Asim Munir as the Chief of the Army Staff using the constitutional authority,” Pakistan Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb tweeted.
Aurangzeb said that a summary of the same had been sent to Pakistan President Arif Alvi.

On Wednesday, the Pakistan government confirmed that it had received the summary from the Ministry of Defence with a “panel of names” for the appointment of the new COAS.

“The PM office has received the summary from the Ministry of Defence with a panel of names for the appointment of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Army Staff. The Prime Minister will take a decision on the appointments as per the laid down procedure,” the Pakistan prime minister’s office said in a statement.

Gen Bajwa, 61, is slated to retire next week after a three-year extension.

On Tuesday, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the summary had been forwarded to the PMO from the defence ministry. “The rest of the steps will be completed soon,” he tweeted.

Pakistan’s defence minister has warned opposition leader and former Prime Minister Imran Khan, saying that the coalition government will deal with him, after the completion of the appointment process of the new Army chief.

“The process will complete in two to three days. The excitement will end, after which we will deal with Imran Khan,” the Pakistan defence minister was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune.

He made these remarks on the floor of the Pakistan National Assembly, hinting at the formal announcement of the key appointment within the next three days.

This comes after the process to appoint the new army chief started on Monday as Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote a letter to the country’s Defence Ministry for a summary of the potential candidates. (ANI)