Face-saving script: Why Pakistan rushed to promote Asim Munir as field marshal

Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (R) and President Asif Ali Zardari (C) jointly conferring the Baton of Field Marshal on Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir during a ceremony at the country's President House.

The elevation of Pakistan’s Army chief General Asim Munir to the rare rank of Field Marshal is a face-saving gesture by Islamabad following the humiliating military rout during India’s Operation Sindoor, top defence sources told Moneycontrol on Friday.

Munir’s elevation to the country’s highest military rank is more symbolic than strategic. The timing and rationale behind the move have raised eyebrows since it comes not in a moment of triumph but in the shadow of defeat.

The decision to anoint Munir as Field Marshal is not a reward for battlefield excellence - as there has been none - but rather a politically loaded manoeuvre aimed at securing his grip on power and insulating him from rising internal pressures.

Munir’s elevation can be termed as a desperate attempt to shift the public and media spotlight away from Pakistan’s operational shortcomings and military humiliation during Operation Sindoor. The Indian military’s swift and coordinated retaliation exposed Pakistan’s lack of readiness and weak air defences.

Operation Sindoor not only caught Pakistan’s defence establishment off guard but also exposed the brittle myth of its military invincibility. Islamabad's response is straight from its old playbook: glorify the army, silence dissent, and double down on its India obsession.

Pakistan's attempt to deny the damage caused by India's precision strikes during Operation Sindoor has only served to further expose Islamabad on the global stage. Despite official denials, independent satellite imagery and intelligence intercepts from within the Pakistani military establishment have contradicted the narrative being pushed by Rawalpindi.

India’s May 9–10 BrahMos missile strikes specifically targeted multiple Pakistani airbases, inflicting severe damage to runways, aircraft shelters, radar systems, and ammunition depots. While Pakistan issued boilerplate denials and downplayed the scale of destruction, open-source satellite imagery showed clearly scorched airstrips, damaged hangars, and unusual military activity indicating emergency response measures.

The Pakistan Army under Munir has gone to great lengths to crush the political comeback of former PM Imran Khan, who once enjoyed the military’s backing but has since turned into a vocal critic of the establishment. Elevating Munir to Field Marshal status sends a clear message that the army has no intention of allowing Khan back into the civilian-military equation. Munir is now being positioned as the undisputed authority, immune from political volatility.

With tensions simmering inside Rawalpindi’s power corridors, the Field Marshal rank offers a layer of legal and ceremonial immunity. Any potential challenge from within the army or civil society, be it a court martial, inquiry, or even dissent within the ranks, now becomes institutionally harder.

Elevating Munir is an attempt to rewrite the narrative after the embarrassment of Operation Sindoor. It’s a page out of Ayub Khan’s old playbook - pretend you’ve won, promote the general, and sell it to the public as national resilience.

The elevation of Asim Munir to field marshal is not an honour, it’s a warning. A warning that Pakistan’s military has learned nothing from history, that it still believes anti-Hindu rhetoric and covert jihad can mask internal failures.