Pakistan’s Internal Security Has Deteriorated Under Munir: Militant attacks rose sharply (from 380 in 2022 to 1,066 in 2025), with 2025 recording the highest security-force and civilian fatalities in over a decade, despite intensified military operations and crackdowns.

Coercive Approach Has Failed to Deliver Stability: Heavy reliance on military sweeps, arrests, bans, enforced disappearances, and cross-border strikes in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and former FATA has deepened alienation, failed to reduce violence, and strained relations with Afghanistan, including deadly civilian incidents.

Contradiction Between External Image and Domestic Reality: While Gen. Munir is portrayed internationally as a mediator (e.g., between the US and Iran), his leadership has presided over worsening domestic instability, political repression, and failure to protect strategic assets, highlighting a gap between narrative management and effective governance.

In November 2022, Asim Munir became Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, taking charge at a time when the country was already facing renewed militancy, rising unrest in Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and worsening tensions with Afghanistan. Under his command, Pakistan moved deeper into a hard-security model built around military operations, arrests, bans, cross-border strikes and centralized army control. This approach has failed to produce stability. It has coincided with a sharp rise in militant attacks, higher casualties among civilians and security forces, growing alienation in Baloch and Pashtun regions, and a widening conflict with Afghanistan. 

Pakistan’s Security Data does Not Support The Image Of A Successful Stabilizer 

Munir was elevated to the rank of Field Marshal in May 2025, but the promotion came during a period of worsening internal security. Pakistan’s own security data does not support the image of a successful stabilizer. According to the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies (PICSS), militant attacks rose from 380 in 2022 to 645 in 2023, 908 in 2024, and 1,066 in 2025. PICSS described 2025 as the year with the highest militant-attack count since 2014, the highest security-force fatalities since 2011, and the worst civilian fatalities since 2015. In 2025 alone, PICSS recorded around 3,387–3,413 combat-related deaths, including about 664 security forces personnel and 580 civilians. The first half of 2026 added another 2,166 fatalities, including 307 security forces personnel and 404 civilians. 

This record exposes the central contradiction of the Munir era. Outside Pakistan, Munir has been projected by the United States as a peacemaker and mediator. Reuters described Pakistan’s 2026 diplomatic makeover as a shift from........

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