Shorn of rhetorical flourishes, Pakistan army chief General Asim Munir’s speech underscores the multiple crises that he, his army, and indeed Pakistan itself face today. On the face of it, he fiercely upheld the two-nation theory, but the fact that he had to zealously enunciate the raison d’être of Pakistan 78 years after it came into being implies that it still needs justification for its existence.

Addressing the Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad, Munir said, “Our religion is different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different—that’s where the foundation of the two-nation theory was laid. We are two nations; we are not one nation."

OK, General. Point taken; nobody is saying that Pakistan is not a nation or that it is part of India. Once it was; now it’s not. In the 1940s, Congress leaders disliked the two-nation theory and the demand for a separate nation for Muslims, but they reluctantly agreed to it. India has never demanded the annexation of Pakistan, so why do you have to reassert the theory?

Munir also spoke about Balochistan—with the same bluster and cavalierism Pakistani generals are infamous for. “We will beat the hell out of these........

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