{"id":39443,"date":"2025-05-09T11:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-09T11:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=39443"},"modified":"2025-05-09T06:41:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-09T06:41:29","slug":"missile-strikes-and-drone-attacks-heighten-south-asian-crisis-8-questions-answered-over-the-role-of-pakistans-military-in-responding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/missile-strikes-and-drone-attacks-heighten-south-asian-crisis-8-questions-answered-over-the-role-of-pakistans-military-in-responding\/","title":{"rendered":"Missile strikes and drone attacks heighten South Asian crisis – 8 questions answered over the role of Pakistan\u2019s military in responding"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ayesha Jalal<\/a>, Tufts University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pakistan\u2019s government has pledged to respond<\/a> \u201cat a time, place and manner of its choosing\u201d following an air attack from India that killed 31 people in Pakistan on May 6, 2025.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The missile strike comes at a time of increased tension between the two South Asian neighbors following a terror attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir<\/a> on April 22 that resulted in the deaths of 26 Indian tourists.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

India blamed the assault on its neighbor although has yet to provide any solid proof<\/a> of a link between the assailants and the Pakistani state.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

To understand more about how Pakistan\u2019s powerful military is viewing the incident, and weighing a response, The Conversation U.S. turned to Ayesha Jalal, an expert on South Asian history and politics<\/a> who is the Mary Ricardson Professor of History at Tufts University.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who will makes the decisions over how Pakistan responds?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is clearly a defense issue, so the Pakistani military is going to take the lead. Any decision over how to respond to the Indian airstrikes will have to be done in consultation with the civilian government. But ultimately it will be the powerful Pakistani generals that will be making the decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Pakistan, this is the usual way of doing things. The military has dominated politics in Pakistan for decades<\/a>. Partly, this is due to the very dynamic we are seeing now. From the creation of Pakistan onward, there has been tension with India, including over Kashmir<\/a>. Indeed the two countries went to war over Kashmir within a year of the partition of India<\/a> soon after the creation of Pakistan. So the military has always been seen as central to Pakistan\u2019s view of itself as an independent nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then in 1958, the Pakistani army toppled the civilian government in the country\u2019s first of several military coup attempts<\/a>, three of which have been successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since that time onward, no civilian government has been able to govern successfully for long without the support of the army. Recent political developments in the country \u2013 the ouster and arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan<\/a> and a 2024 election that resulted in a weak coalition government<\/a> \u2013 have only strengthened the hand of Pakistan\u2019s military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do we know about Pakistan\u2019s army chief Gen. Syed Asim Munir?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Despite the Pakistani Army\u2019s position of power, Gen. Syed Asim Munir, the Chief of Army Staff, is someone who has tried to keep out of the spotlight. He is known as a very religious character \u2013 he is a Hafiz, meaning he has memorized the Quran. And he is seen as a tough, fairly inaccessible soldier<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is also a hawk when it comes to relations with India. Speaking after the Kashmir attack and before India\u2019s airstrikes, Munir warned<\/a>, \u201cLet there be no ambiguity: Any military misadventure by India will be met with a swift, resolute, and notch-up response.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Chief of Army Staff Syed Asim Munir on July 16, 2023. Iranian Presidency\/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This approach is somewhat of a departure from that of the man he replaced in 2022, former Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa. Bajwa was more inclined to look for a peaceful resolution<\/a> with India over Kashmir and other issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munir, by contrast, presents a a more belligerent front in the face of what many in Pakistan see as Indian aggression, while framing the rivalry between the two nations in religious terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What role has he and the Pakistani army played so far in the crisis?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A lot has been made, especially in India<\/a>, of comments that Munir made a few days before the attack in Pahalgam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Munir described Kashmir as Pakistan\u2019s \u201cjugular vein\u201d and framed the long-running animosity between Pakistan and India in religious terms, invoking the \u201ctwo-nation\u201d theory that states that India is a homeland for Hindus; Pakistan is one for Muslims. The theory, conveyed by much of India\u2019s media<\/a>, is that Munir\u2019s was an inflammatory statement that encouraged the Pahalgam attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there is nothing in what he said that was entirely original or new: This has been the narrative of the Pakistani military for several decades. It is simply how they talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there evidence that Pakistan\u2019s military played a role in the attack?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

None that India has presented as yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

India has blamed Pakistan for supporting the Kashmiri militants responsible \u2013 but hasn\u2019t articulated what the actual relationship is between Pakistan and the militant group, The Resistance Front<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Certainly, Pakistan has in the past had ties to some of the many militant groups in Kashmir. For some groups, that has meant crossing over from Indian-controlled Kashmir to Pakistan for training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n