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Pakistan is facing a severe crisis ever since the regime change whereby Prime Minister Imran Khan was voted out of office following a vote success of a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly of Pakistan tabled by the Pakistan Democratic Movement which is a coalition of 14 political parties including PML-N, PPPP, JUI-F, BAP, MQM, ANP among others. Leadership of all these parties have corruption charges against them. After his ouster, Mr. Khan and his political party staged massive protests and was able to gather huge crowds form the public against the coalition government of PDM. Mr. Imran Khan demanded early elections and implied in his speeches that his ouster from office was due to foreign intervention due to measures he had taken to safeguard Pakistan’s national interests. Former Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the former Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Jawed Bajwa of not doing his duty and siding with the foreign conspiracy to overthrow his government. Since then, a series of unpleasant incidents including the arrests of many journalists, who supported Mr. Khan’s response and the arrests of members of PTI like Senator Azam Swati and Mr. Shehbaz Gill, led to a great deal of resentment between the public and the institutions especially when reports of gruesome human rights violation against those arrested, spread among the public. The martyrdom of Journalists Arshad Sharif and the assassination attempt of Mr. Imran Khan added fuel to fire.  In the prevailing economic, social and security crisis General Asim Munir has been appointed the new Chief of Army Staff. He Graduated from Fuji school Japan, Command and Staff College, Quetta, Malaysian Armed Forces College, Kuala Lumpur and National Defense University, Islamabad. Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir was commissioned in the 23 Frontier Force Regiment in 1986. He passed out with 17 Officers Training course, Mangla and was awarded the coveted sword of honor. Before this, he was the quartermaster general at the General Head Quarters. General Asim Munir also holds M Phil in Public Policy and Strategic Security Management from National Defense University. Chief of General Staff General Asim Munir was also posted as Command Staff at Command and Staff College, Quetta, Brigadier Major of Deployed Infantry Brigade at Kel, General Staff Officer Grade 2, CGS Secretariat and Chief of Staff Mangla Corps. General Asim Munir commanded the 23rd Frontier Force Regiment, Infantry Brigade, remaining Force Commander, Northern Areas, Gilgit and Commander, 30 Corps, Gujranwala. He also served as Director General of Military Intelligence (MI) and was appointed Director General of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He was then appointed Corps Commander Gujranwala for two years. After leading the Gujranwala Corps, he was posted to his current posting at GHQ. Gen Munir became the first army chief to head both  MI and ISI. He will also be the first army chief to be awarded the Sword of Honor. One of the main challenges facing the General Asim Munir is to take a firm stance on securing Pakistan’s borders as the South Asian theater is more volatile than ever. Pakistan’s army chief must mitigate the risks of a battle with India’s nuclear-powered rival along its eastern border. This means showing a muscular stance against India’s hawkish ultra-nationalist BJP government. General Aim Munir and his team will have to secure the Line of Control in highly volatile Kashmir, as well as deal with an increasingly aggressive Taliban regime that is removing the barbed wire fence that runs along the Durand Line (the Pakistan-Afghanistan border). western border. In the fight against terrorism, the new appointee will have to redouble intelligence operations (IBOs) and initiatives such as Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad to clear the tribal belts of militant sanctuaries, especially in the fight against the dangerously resurgent anti-Pakistani governments supported Pakistan Tehrik-e-Taliban. -designated terrorist group) whose dormant cells have awakened and are carrying out terror in Pakistan by infiltrating across the Afghan border. Eliminating TTP cells will be a major challenge for the military leader. Another difficult front is the restoration of domestic security and the suppression of insurgencies in the Pashtun and Baluchistan regions (often sponsored by foreign countries). General Asim Munir will play a key role in whether Islamabad aligns its foreign policy with China or the US in the great power contest between Washington and Beijing that will define international relations for years to come. US President Joe Biden recently stated that “Pakistan is one of the most dangerous countries in the world” because the country has “nuclear weapons without any cohesion”. This will require immediate damage control. Here, Pakistan’s incoming military commander will remain steadfast, continuing to support transparent IAEA inspections (as Pakistan routinely does) and assuring and get it accepted by the world from the global community of Pakistan’s robust safe Pakistan’s nuclear command and control systems and that India’s nuclear command and control system unsafeguarded   in turbulent South Asia wracked by nuclear conflict. Another challenge is repairing the reputational crisis that occurred after Prime Minister Imran Khan was ousted from power in what he says was a fabricated no-confidence vote. The new army chief may focus on the army’s reputation through genuine national consensus building and stakeholder engagement, including strengthening the misguided civil-military relationship be as good as in the past.. Such reputational repair requires a multi-pronged ploy from covert PR campaigns to long-term social reintegration and aid for Pakistan’s 35 million flood victims, largely carried out by the Pakistani military. Pakistan is plagued by political polarization, disunity and economic turmoil. In light of the lackluster performance of some elected representatives, every COAS may feel the urge and compulsion to continue to interfere in the political arena. As the incoming COAS circumvents this and exercises strict restraint on intrusions into government politics, he will meaningfully mend civil-military relations and steer Pakistan towards financial, diplomatic, political and economic stability.

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