Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir promoted to field marshal

“This is not an individual honour, but one for the armed forces of Pakistan and the entire nation,” General Munir said in a statement issued by the military’s public relations office.

A senior security official told Reuters, that Munir would continue in his current role as army chief, but with elevated status. The move raises questions about the duration of Munir’s service, especially after a 2023 parliamentary amendment extended his term to five years, bypassing the traditional three-year limit.

In a statement, Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said Sharif had also approved the extension of Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu’s tenure in recognition of his service.

General Munir’s elevation is the first of its kind since 1965, when then-President Ayub Khan — who had seized power in a military coup — appointed himself field marshal.

Only a week before the Pahalgam terror attack, Munir had made a provocative speech which New Delhi views as having encouraged the terrorists. Calling Kashmir Pakistan’s “jugular vein” — a framing first used by Muhammad Ali Jinnah — the Pak Army chief said in Islamabad on April 15 that Pakistan “will not leave its Kashmiri brothers.”

(With Reuters and AP inputs)

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