Pakistan continues to run with West while hunting with Ummah: Report

London, Aug 17 Pakistan Army chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir's threat, during his recent visit to the US, that said that if pushed to the brink, Pakistan would “take half the world down,” explicitly mentioning India, had sparked international concerns, as the country has repeatedly weaponised "Ummah solidarity" as a bargaining chip in global diplomacy. "It continues to run with the West while hunting with the Ummah," as per a report.

During his recent US visit, FM Munir signalled carrying out missile strikes on Indian dams and economic assets, UK-based The Milli Chronicle said in a report. India's Ministry of External Affairs slammed him, terming his remarks as "nuclear sabre-rattling" and labelling Pakistan an "irresponsible nuclear state", while asserting it would not yield to nuclear blackmail.

The army chief's comments fit into Pakistan's history of opportunism and duplicity on the world stage.

"Pakistan has repeatedly weaponised the idea of 'Ummah solidarity' —not as a moral or theological commitment, but as a bargaining chip in global diplomacy. Its foreign policy choices reveal a pattern: alliance with the US while sponsoring its enemies; posturing as Iran’s partner while sheltering anti-Iran militants; waving the Palestinian flag while aiding Israel’s allies; condemning India while staying mute on China’s genocide against Muslims. This is not a strategy. It is duplicity dressed up as ideology. Pakistan continues to run with the West while hunting with the Ummah—a game that fools no one and secures nothing lasting," the report said.

Pakistan's foreign policy has often been a study in contradictions, as it had a crypto-alliance with the US during the war in Afghanistan, betrayed Iran by sharing intelligence with the US, engaged in a silent war against its own Pashtun population through forced displacement and resource exploitation, initiated a mass expulsion of Afghan refugees, remained silent on China's repression of Uyghur Muslims, suppressed Palestinian factions during Black September in Jordan, covertly aligned with Israel during the Azerbaijan–Armenia conflict, backed both Iran and US President Donald Trump — whom it nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. These inconsistencies expose a country untethered to any consistent moral compass or principled foreign policy.

After lunch with Trump in June, the Pakistani government announced its intention to recommend the US President for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize. Only two days later, the US launched strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan, and Fordow. Pakistan criticised the strikes and expressed solidarity with Iran, even while maintaining friendly ties with Trump privately.

The Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazl) condemned the Pakistan government's nomination of Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize as "morally indefensible" with party chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman terming it as an insult to the victims of the US aggression across the Muslim world. The double-speak showcases how Pakistan used the “Ummah card” to appease people in their own country, while continuing to have pragmatic deals with the US. Meanwhile, Iran has been accusing Pakistan of harbouring extremist groups like Jaish al-Adl, which conducted attacks on Iranian border guards from Pakistan’s Balochistan province.

Pakistan's duplicity with regard to the US is historical. During the US-led "War on Terror" after 2001, Pakistan permitted the US forces to use its airbases while simultaneously sheltering and backing jihadist proxies that targeted American troops in Afghanistan. The US gave aid worth billions of dollars to Pakistan, yet the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) covertly facilitated the Taliban and the Haqqani Network, according to The Milli Chronicle report.

Islamabad's double game was exposed when the US forces killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, just a short distance from Pakistan’s premier military academy. In 2020, Pakistan's then-Prime Minister Imran Khan, in his speech in parliament, called Osama bin Laden a "martyr." Former US Secretaries of State Hillary Clinton and Mike Pompeo had denounced Islamabad’s duplicity.

The International community has criticised Pakistan for forcibly expelling more than a million Afghan refugees, many registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). UN reports have revealed widespread abuses against returnees, especially women and minorities, demonstrating the emptiness of Pakistan’s claims of “Ummah solidarity.”

Under the pretext of launching a "war on terror", Pakistan has been involved in a war against its own Pashtun population, treating the tribal belt as both a buffer zone and an economic colony. For years, Pakistan has intentionally continued to keep low-intensity conflict simmering in the region to justify military control.

According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), over five million Pashtuns were displaced during military operations from 2004-2016, many of whom remain in limbo without proper resettlement or compensation. At the same time, the mineral-rich areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan have become a source of extraction instead of empowerment. Gold, copper and lithium deposits, important for the global energy transition, are being taken off by military-connected conglomerates and foreign partners, while local residents continue to live in poverty, according to The Milli Chronicle report.

Pakistan’s "principled" defence of Muslims reveals its selective outrage. The report stated: "Nowhere is this clearer than in its silence on China’s persecution of Uyghur Muslims and its contradictory stance on Palestine. Despite Beijing’s demolition of mosques, erasure of Islamic culture, and incarceration of more than a million Uyghurs in Xinjiang camps, Pakistan’s leadership has never once raised the issue on international platforms."

Pakistan's duplicity is also reflected in its approach to Palestine. For decades, Pakistan has claimed to be a supporter of the Palestinian cause; however, its actions tell a different story. During Black September in 1970, Pakistani General Zia-ul-Haq, then stationed in Jordan, advised Jordanian forces during their crackdown on Palestinian factions.

Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor