Pakistan’s General Asim Munir (left) and his close confidant, newly-minted National Security Advisor and chief of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik, have engineered the Pahalgam attack, said security officials.
While Pak army chief Asim Munir wanted 'revenge' for Jafar Express attack, his aide Asim Malik, as head of ISI, is bound to have known early on about Pahalgam
Pakistan’s two Asims – General Asim Munir and his close confidant, newly-minted National Security Advisor as well as chief of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik – have deliberately brought their country on the brink of war with India by engineering the Pahalgam terror attack, say security sources.
The Federal spoke to around half-a-dozen current and former security officials to understand the Narendra Modi government's assessment of who is responsible for the Pahalgam attack – was it the terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) or the two Asims who nurtured it?
The officials spoke freely on these sensitive matters on the condition of anonymity. Their consensus is this – both Asims are equally responsible for the attack.
Looking for legitimacy
“Asim Munir is directly responsible for the Pahalgam attack which was engineered as a 'revenge' for the Jafar Express attack in restive Balochistan,” a former security official told The Federal.
Another official said what Asim Munir has done can be traced back to the circumstances in which he became the army chief. And, it also has to do with how he was made to feel small by supporters of former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Security sources told The Federal a Pahalgam kind of attack could not have happened without the knowledge of Asim Malik. He may not have known the precise date or location, but must definitely have known an attack on tourists was about to happen.
“He is uninspiring and lacks vision. By targeting India, he thinks he can gain legitimacy within the army and among the people of Pakistan that was accorded to earlier army chiefs but was denied to him,” said the security official quoted above.
He even threatened to harm the families of those who were against him.
Mired in controversy
After the May 9, 2023 attacks on Pakistan army installations by supporters of arrested former Prime Minister Imran Khan, General Asim Munir held a closed-door meeting with senior officers in Sialkot.
During the meeting, a shaken Munir threatened the wives and children of his critics, most of whom were retired Pak army officers.
A reliable account of the meeting says Munir used “gutter” language against those he perceived as his enemies and warned that if he went down, he would take others along, too.
“Munir was clearly on a shaky wicket,” said another security official.
His appointment as army chief was mired in controversy. He was supposed to retire on November 27, 2022 and the then army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa was slated to hang his boots two days later, on November 29. This would have rendered Munir ineligible to become the army chief.
However, the Pakistani cabinet headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif passed a resolution authorising the PM to “retain” Munir's services beyond his date of retirement. This made Munir eligible to be appointed as the 15th army chief of the country.
Tussle with Imran Khan
Before becoming the army chief, Munir also served as the chief of the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, the all-powerful Pakistani spy agency better known by its abbreviation ISI. But his stint was curtailed to eight months after the then PM Imran Khan complained about him to the then army chief Bajwa.
Apparently, Munir had brought to Imran Khan's notice the corruption of close aides of his wife Bushra Bibi, also known as Pinki Peerni, which infuriated Khan. Munir was shifted as corps commander, Gujranwala.
Munir’s ascendency was opposed within the army establishment as some retired generals considered close to Imran Khan openly voiced their opinion against him.
“Asim Munir is uninspiring and lacks vision. By targeting India, he thinks he can gain legitimacy within the army and among the people of Pakistan that was accorded to earlier army chiefs but was denied to him,” said a security official.
In this backdrop, when Imran Khan was arrested from the premises of the Islamabad High Court on May 9, 2023, all hell broke loose. And then came the Sialkot meeting in which Munir threatened his enemies and their families.
The Friday Times reported that the Pakistan army headquarters in Rawalpindi was breached by protestors and the residence of Lahore corps commander Lt Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghani was set on fire. Ghani was shifted to Rawalpindi and Lt Gen Fayyaz Hussain Shah was asked to take his place. It was reported that Ghani refused to open fire on the protestors.
Tenure extended
Slowly, Munir's position started to get stronger as he surrounded himself with his loyalists – like Rawalpindi-based X corps commander Lt General Shahid Imtiaz and Asim Malik as the ISI chief.
Eminent Pakistan watcher and former R&AW special secretary Rana Banerji wrote that Munir is a graduate from Officers Training School in Mangla, which is considered a shade inferior to the Kakul-based Pakistan Military Academy.
Last November, he got his tenure extended by two years. He was supposed to retire in November 2025 but, following an amendment to the law by the Pakistan parliament that governed the tenure of army chiefs, Munir will serve for five years till November 2027.
“The ISI chief Asim Malik’s tenure was to end in September 2025 but by making him National Security Advisor, Munir has ensured Malik will continue to serve after his retirement too,” said another former security official.
Family benefits
Not only Munir but his immediate family too has benefited from his appointment as the army chief. Investigative journalist Ahmad Noorani reported in March, on his website Fact Focus, how Munir’s maternal uncle Syed Babar Ali Shah has been an “unannounced king of Islamabad” since early 2023, fixing key appointments.
Noorani said Shah was instrumental in making Ahmad Ishaq Jahangir the chief of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). Following corruption and mismanagement charges, Jahangir was removed. But Shah’s hand was also seen in Shahzad Naddem Bokhari becoming the Zonal Director of FIA Islamabad.
Munir’s first cousin Hajra Sohail benefitted from her brother’s all-powerful position. She was working as a scholarship manager in a federal government organisation called the Pakistan Education Endowment fund (PEEF), when Munir became the army chief. Within two years, she became the chief executive officer of PEEF.
Munir’s wife Iram Asim’s close relative Mohsin Naqvi is Pakistan’s interior minister as well as chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board.
Within hours of the publication of Noorani’s report, his brothers Mohammad Saif ur Rehman Haider and Mohammad Ali were picked up in Islamabad from their house by unidentified men and they remained missing for a month.
An April 20 report said the brothers were ‘rescued’ from Rahim Yar Khan following a police encounter.
Who is Asim Malik?
Malik comes from an army family — his father Lt Gen Ghulam Muhammad Malik retired as X Corps commander, Rawalpindi.
According to long-time Pakistan watchers, Munir wanted Malik to handle a Corps commander assignment but the latter seemed unwilling. But he continued to hold the trust of Munir, which resulted in the ISI assignment as well as becoming the National Security Advisor subsequently.
Before becoming the ISI chief, Malik was Adjutant General at the headquarters and was instrumental in overseeing proceedings against former ISI chief Faiz Hameed, who engineered the installation of Imran Khan as Prime Minister. But later, for the same reason, he was taken into custody when Munir became the army chief and is now facing a court martial.
Security sources told The Federal a Pahalgam kind of attack could not have happenned without the knowledge of Malik. He may not have known the precise date or location, but must definitely have known an attack on tourists was about to happen.
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