Asim Munir Tightens Military Grip On Pakistan

WASHINGTON, DC- Pakistan Army chief Asim Munir is presiding over what a report describes as a military takeover without a conventional coup, with the country’s military converting its influence into greater constitutional and institutional power.

Through a series of constitutional amendments, new courts and sweeping legal changes over the past two years, Pakistan’s military has expanded its reach beyond the armed forces into the judiciary, economy and political sphere, according to a report in online magazine ‘American Thinker’.

“The Defense Forces of Pakistan Act, 2026, passed August 20 amid an opposition walkout, is the clearest step yet. It gives the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) full operational command over Pakistan’s armed forces — organization, administration, readiness, joint operations, and personnel matters. Because Munir holds the CDF post while remaining Chief of Army Staff, the law effectively puts all three services under one office,” the report said.

“Munir became Army Chief in November 2022, on a three-year tenure. In November 2024, parliament extended that to five years. On May 20, 2025, he was made a five-star Field Marshal. But the constitutional changes that followed mattered more than the rank itself,” it added.

According to the report, Pakistan’s 27th Amendment, passed in November 2025, created the CDF post and stipulated that the army chief would hold it concurrently. Munir therefore no longer simply headed one of three coordinated services but stood at the top of the overall command structure.

The report cited British think tank Chatham House as describing the powers as “unprecedented”, pointing to the CDF’s seniority over the naval and air chiefs, lifetime immunity and a higher bar for removal.

The report also highlighted the military’s growing role in Pakistan’s economy. The Special Investment Facilitation Council, created in 2023, has the Army Chief on its Apex Committee and a serving officer as National Coordinator to determine which investments are prioritized.

“Munir himself now meets foreign investors and Gulf leaders directly. Yet overall investment has weakened: State Bank data shows foreign direct investment fell 34 per cent in FY2025–26, to $1.637 billion,” ‘American Thinker’ said.

On civil liberties, the report cited US-based advocacy group Human Rights Watch, which documented an escalation in repression in 2025, including arbitrary detentions, media restrictions and communication blackouts.

“A joint appeal led by Amnesty International in August 2026 documented restrictions on journalists and lawyers, and prolonged internet shutdowns in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir,” it added.

The report also said the crackdown has extended abroad, citing US-based think tank Freedom House, which warned in March 2026 of growing transnational repression, including life sentences handed down in absentia to seven exiled journalists and dissidents.

International press freedom group Reporters Without Borders documented “four such sentences, alongside passport cancellations and frozen bank accounts, explicitly linking the deteriorating media environment to Munir’s expanded powers.”

“Taken together, these developments show that Pakistan’s military is now deciding how much dissent citizens are allowed, how justice is dispensed, and how the economy is run,” the report said. (IANS)