Zia Sarhadi
The primary function of all militaries is to defend the borders of state. They do not always fulfill this responsibility well. At the other extreme, there are some regimes that launch wars against other countries terrorizing people to grab their land or resources or both.
Two predatory powers can be immediately identified: the US and Israel. In the past, others also indulged in such barbaric practices. The entire colonial and post-colonial history provide ample proof of such aggressions.
Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Portugal et al launched wars for resources. The plunder continues in many parts of Africa and West Asia even today using the pretext of ‘fighting terrorism’. As is immediately obvious, they are all European powers and now the US and zionist Israel have also joined the campaign of terror and plunder.
Aside from western predatory powers, the performance of militaries in the Muslim world is no better, in fact much worse. The only exception is the Islamic Republic of Iran whose armed forces as well as Revolutionary Guards have demonstrated superb mastery of the art of warfare to ward off aggressors. This was witnessed most recently in June 2025 when the zionist entity and its financier and backer, the US, attacked the Islamic Republic.
After 12 days of war, the zionists were exhausted and on the verge of collpase. They begged for a cessation of hostilities. In last month’s standoff with the US, it was Donald Trump who blinked first. Iran stood its ground.
In the rest of the Muslim world, unable to confront foreign enemies, militaries launch attacks on their own people. Egypt and Pakistan immediately come to mind. Both maintain huge standing armies but they tremble before foreign enemies, notwithstanding their self-serving bravado and chest-thumping.
The militaries also frequently storm the corridors of power citing the civilians’ lacklustre performance. While it may be true, it is none of the military’s business to assess the performance or lack thereof of civilians.
That is the responsibility of the people. They must assess the politicians’ performance and remove them from office through the ballot box if they feel they are not performing well. The militaries take their orders from the US and thus act as foreign agents. They belong to the ranks of traitors.
Unfortunately, the masses’ right is frequently violated. Further, when the military grabs power, there is no accountability for their criminal conduct nor their dismal performance whether it relates to economic, political or social policies.
Even their military performance is not subject to assessment. This is as true of Egypt vis-à-vis zionist Israel as it is of Pakistan against India.
On December 16, 1971, tens of thousands of Pakistani troops—soldiers and officers— surrendered to the invading Indian army in Dhaka. Not one general was held accountable for this disgraceful surrender.
Had a few generals been tried for treason and publicly hanged, Pakistan would be in a very different situation today. Instead, the military has become even more powerful and usurped all powers of state.
Pakistan’s thuggish generals even claim credit where none is due. Take the brief skirmish with India in May 2025. It lasted for a grand total of four days after which the US imposed a ceasefire.
Immediately, the military propaganda machine went into high gear with the army chief Asim Munir making tall claims about his ‘leadership’ as if he had singlehandedly defeated India. He did no such thing. It was the air force that performed relatively well although the Indians caused extensive damage to Pakistani bases including the nuclear command centre at Nur Khan air base at Chaklala.
But in typical Pakistani style, Munir elevated himself to the rank of field marshal. He joins that other thug and renegade, Khalifa Haftar in Libya. Munir visited Libya in December and signed a deal with Haftar to supply $4.5 billion worth of weapons. Who will pay for them? The Emiratis, of course, who have also armed and financed the genocidal militia in Sudan. Both acts are illegal.
We need to compare Munir’s antics, who has declared himself the ‘chief of defence forces’, with some figures from history. When the Second World War ended in May 1945, Britons went to the polls a month later. Elections had been suspended during the war years.
The Conservative Party believed it would win handily because Winston Churchill had led the country so successfully in war against Germany. He was a war hero.
Britons rejected the Conservative Party and handed a massive majority to the Labour Party led by Clement Attlee. They wanted a peace-time prime minister, not continue with a war-time prime minister, no matter how brilliant!
Imagine if Munir were the prime minister of Briton at the time, instead of Churchill. (Munir of course is no Churchill). It is absolutely certain that Munir would have declared martial law and appointed himself life-time ruler, as he has done in Pakistan for achieving nothing.
Let us consider another example. Dwight D. Eisenhower served as the Supreme Commander of Allied Expeditionary Forces during the war in Europe. He commanded millions of troops and successfully defeated the Nazis. At the end of the war, he discarded his uniform and ran for president in 1952 winning two consecutive terms.
Before he left office, he warned the American people about the military-industrial complex and its negative influence on politics and decision-making in the US. Eisenhower had emerged from the ranks of the military yet he warned against its corrosive influence.
Munir doesn’t come anywhere close to Eisenhower. While the American five-star general discarded his uniform and contested the election, the self-appointed five star general in Pakistan has grabbed power by illegitimate means.
If Munir thinks he is so popular, he should discard his uniform and jump into the political arena to contest elections. He will discover the truth about his popularity.
There is also a more recent example. In 2010, General Stanley McChrystal, serving as commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, was quoted in the RollingStone magazine article criticising White House officials including then vice president Joe Biden about not support a troop surge in Afghanistan.
President Barack Obama called the general to the White House and dismissed him from his post immediately. Following McChrystal’s dismissal, Obama said the article had eroded trust and “undermines the civilian control of the military that’s at the core of our democratic system”.
Consider Obama’s dismissal of a senior general in the middle of a war and the conduct of Pakistani generals. These thugs threaten and arrest people’s family members and torture them even at the slightest criticism of their disgraceful conduct.
Real men do not behave this way. But then, Munir is not a real man. He is a coward and a thug. His thuggish behaviour is merely a cover for his cowardly conduct.
Pakistan will never make progress with such men in control of its destiny. They must be divested of the illegal usurpation of power, and as soon as possible.
