Asim Munir’s promotion to field marshal signals an authoritarian Pakistan

IN MAY THIS YEAR, Pakistan and India engaged in armed hostilities for four days after the Pahalgam attack – the most serious crisis between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in decades. As the conflict ended with de-escalation, without a decisive outcome, both sides claimed victory before their respective national and political constituencies. In Pakistan, the internal perception of a decisive victory over India in the brief, intense and symbolically important exchange of hostilities has triggered deeper entrenchment of its military in national affairs.  

Pakistan has long been called a “garrison state” for the outsize role of its military in the country’s politics since its founding in 1947. The military has ruled the country directly three times – from 1958 to 1971, from 1977 to 1988 and from 1999 to 2008. But its political power extends beyond direct rule, and its decades-long ability to influence politics indirectly has been greatly enhanced in recent years by laws that have created jurisdiction for the military to operate at both the federal and provincial levels of government.