Pakistani military's obsession with grandeur poses danger to country: Report

Islamabad, Oct 25 Pakistan’s military delusion poses danger not merely in external miscalculations but in its internal decay, as Generals’ addiction to grandeur blinds them to the realities of an economically desperate and climate-vulnerable society, a report said on Saturday.

“Asim Munir’s rise to Field Marshal and his enduring dominance over Pakistan’s political and institutional landscape mark not a renaissance of national strength but a deepening of a historic pathology — the military’s delusion of grandeur that has repeatedly sabotaged the country’s potential for stability and progress,” a report in India Narrative detailed.

According to the report, following the footsteps of former Army Chiefs Ayub Khan, Zia-ul-Haq, and Pervez Musharraf, Munir reflects the army’s belief that salvation lies not in democracy or development, but in a militarised nationalism that places the soldier above the citizen and paranoia above pragmatism.

“For seventy-five years, Pakistan’s generals have fashioned themselves as guardian angels of a fragile state, swooping in to ‘rescue’ it from civilian incompetence. From Ayub Khan’s coup and Zia’s Islamisation to Musharraf’s 'Enlightened Moderation,' each intervention was justified as a patriotic necessity — and each left the country weaker, poorer, and angrier,” it mentioned.

The report stressed that, cloaked in rhetoric about national pride and Islamic fortitude, Munir’s ascendance to the rank of Field Marshal in 2025 theatrically asserted that the real seat of power in Islamabad lies behind the khaki curtain of Rawalpindi’s General Headquarters.

“Munir’s self-styled image as the devout general — a Qur’an memoriser and moral guardian — plays well in a society steeped in religio-military nationalism. Yet it obscures the essential truth: that Pakistan’s generals, intoxicated by their perceived divine destiny, have repeatedly mistaken personal authority for state strength. The result has been an endless cycle of authoritarianism wrapped in ideology, breeding both political stagnation and economic ruin,” it emphasised.

The tragedy of Pakistan under Munir, the report said, lies in its duplicity--a republic in name but a garrison in practice, with civilian governments existing only as administrative extensions of the military's will. The judiciary bends under the pressure of “national security” imperatives, while the media remains under constant siege.

The report stated that the latest manoeuvres of Munir — including a ten-year extension plan to retain power until 2035 —highlight the military’s conviction that “Pakistan’s salvation” lies in “continuity of command” rather than “constitutional accountability”.

“Unless Pakistan’s citizens reclaim sovereignty from its barracks, the nation will remain a tragic theatre of militarised hubris — where generals dream of empire while their country staggers under debt, disillusionment, and decay. Munir’s reign, though wrapped in the pomp of a Field Marshal, will likely be remembered not for victories won but for opportunities lost — a continuation of Pakistan’s longest, most ruinous delusion: that salvation wears a uniform,” it noted.

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