Camouflaging Defeat: Routed Pakistan Army Chief “Promoted” as Field Marshal

Manas Dasgupta

NEW DELHI, May 20: Thus can happen only in Pakistan. The defeated army chief Asim Munir, whose armed forces received a drubbing from the India army during “Operation Sindoor,” is to be promoted and designated as the Field Marshal, the topmost military rank, an honour given only in the rarest of occasions and on achieving a stellar operations record throughout a career in the armed forces.

In a surprising, strangely-amusing decision, Pakistan’s Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has ‘approved’ a proposal to promote the army chief. The announcement comes days after a series of military escalations against India, which began with the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam.

The decision apparently is to mislead the people of Pakistan that the its army has actually won the war against India and accept the government’s inflated narratives that it had downed numerous Indian planes and had breached India’s security cover with swarms of drones.

General Asim Munir’s inflammatory and shockingly-communal speech is widely considered as the trigger for the religiously-motivated Pahalgam terror attack – in which 26 civilians, all tourists, were shot dead in India for failing to pledge their allegiance to Islam.

The terror attack, which was linked to Pakistan, was carried out by The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba. This led to India’s military response against terrorism. Under Operation Sindoor, India destroyed terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir by precision missile strikes. 9 major terrorist camps and related infrastructure were destroyed.

Pakistan’s army chief – the principal decision-maker of that country – then decided to step up the escalatory ladder and launch a military offensive against Indian military installations as well as target civilian and religious sites. Drone attacks from Pakistan went on for three consecutive nights, but most were successfully intercepted by India’s air defence systems.

In its response, India launched a sudden and calibrated missile and drone attack on 12 Pakistani air bases, resulting in widespread devastation on Pakistan’s military infrastructure and assets. Panicked Pakistan’s DGMO called his Indian counterpart and “pleaded” for a ceasefire, to which India agreed to a “pause.”

Pakistan then indulged in a massive misinformation campaign with videos and claims – all of which were proved to be doctored and false, with some even been simulations from video games. Unlike Pakistan, India gave proof with time-stamped photos and videos, as well as live satellite imagery. Despite his army’s drubbing, less than 10 days later, General Asim Munir has been appointed ‘Field Marshal’ based on these outlandish and outrageous claims.

Since Pakistan’s creation in 1947, the country has awarded the five-star rank of Field Marshal only once – to General Ayub Khan, who had self-promoted himself as he was the dictator of Pakistan in 1965. Asim Munir has become the second Field Marshal of the country.

The topmost rank of Field Marshal is a ceremonial rank, and Asim Munir will continue to remain the Army Chief even after the promotion. What is unclear though, is whether the promotion will mean that Asim Munir has no retirement age.

Asim Munir became Army Chief of Pakistan in November 2022. A year later, a parliamentary legal amendment extended his term to five years, from the usual three years for the role of army chief.

Meanwhile, the Congress’s contention that Operation Sindoor was a “small war” has sparked vehement objection from the BJP. Senior party leader Sambit Patra said this remark of Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi’s repeated demand for proof is an insult to the armed forces of the nation.

“Are Rahul Gandhi and Kharge ji not able to understand that our armed Forces entered Pakistan and struck nine terror sites there, and more than 100 terrorists were killed?  After retaliation by Pakistan, their 11 airbases were destroyed, and today, Pakistan is crying in pain,” Mr Patra said.

“You are saying that Operation Sindoor was a small war. This is fraud on the nation and the bravery of the armed forces,” he said. Mr Gandhi, he added, has been asking for proof for the last two days.

“We have been presenting digital proofs since day one. Pakistanis themselves have shown evidence. Despite this, you are asking for proof of the courage of the armed forces. This is the reason Rahul Gandhi and his leaders have become poster boys in Pakistan,” Mr Patra said.

Mr Gandhi, he alleged is a favourite of terrorist Hafiz Saeed and he “provides oxygen” to Pakistan. Mr Gandhi and the Congress have demanded that the government holds a special session of parliament to discuss Operation Sindoor – India’s retaliation to the horrific terror attack in Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22 in which 26 people were killed.

While the Opposition had firmly backed the government in any action it took after the Pahalgam attack, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, speaking at a rally in Karnataka recently, had called Operation Sindoor a “chutput (small) war.” Mr Gandhi has also criticised the government for informing Pakistan at the start of Operation Sindoor, questioning how many planes were shot down by the Pakistan because of that.

Under Operation Sindoor, the armed forces launched targeted, precision strikes on terror bases in nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir.