Pak Army’s threat to Imran for 9 May violence signals power rise of Gen Munir

Although General Asim Munir’s tough statement at the end of the formation commanders meeting in Rawalpindi on Wednesday targeted PTI chief Imran Khan Niazi for his role in instigating the May 9 insurgency against the Pakistan Army, there was an oblique message to civilian political leadership that no one is above “Fauj (army)” in the Islamic Republic.

“It is time that the noose of law is also tightened around the planners and masterminds (of May 9 events) who mounted the hate-ripened and politically driven rebellion against the state and state institutions to achieve their nefarious design of creating chaos in the country,” the Pakistan Army said in a statement.

The Forum also resolved that “any attempt by any quarter to create impediments and stymie the conclusive defeat of ill-conceived inimical forces will be met with iron hands.”

With the Pakistan Army enforcing the Army Act and the Official Secrets Act against the May 9 instigators, planners, and executors, it is clear that the politics of a former cricketer who could swing the ball on both sides is over for the time being and in the near future, with senior PTI leaders abandoning the Niazi bandwagon in response to Army pressure.

But, in the long run, Army Chief General Asim Munir will rise in stature and wield more power over the civilian leadership led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.