Same script, new leader: The old playbook behind Pakistan army chief's 'Kashmir is our jugular vein' remark

Pakistan army chief Asim Munir

Pakistan army chief Asim Munir is a man surrounded by turmoil.

When General Asim Munir took over the reins of Pakistan army in 2022, he faced the uphill task of restoring the military’s tarnished public image, healing internal rifts and managing strained civil-military relations — all amid a resurgent Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) threat, rising public anger against military interference in politics and growing instability inherited from his predecessor General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

In the last two years, the security establishment in the country has failed to counter the Balochistan insurgency or contain the growing threat from Pakistan Taliban. Add to this, a rising dissent within the ranks of the army against General Munir’s leadership.

Therefore, a familiar anti-India rhetoric, callback to Jinnah's vision and romanticising stories of Pakistan's "incessant struggle" for Kashmir make for a much-needed eyewash. Munir's recent speech has gone viral on X for these reasons.

In his address to a gathering of Pakistanis based abroad, Asim Munir said that his country's stance on Kashmir is absolutely clear: that it's the "jugular vein of Pakistan." He added that Pakistan will not forget this and expressed solidarity with the "struggle" of the region.

Munir's statement, widely criticised and panned by netizens in India, is often attributed to Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah — though there's no official record or speech confirming it.

Over the years, Pakistani prime ministers, presidents and military officials have borrowed the statement as a form of diversionary showmanship to deflect attention from more pressing issues: think skyrocketing inflation, poverty, security threats, and so on.

For instance, in 2013 and 2015, then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif described Kashmir as a "national issue and the jugular vein of Pakistan" while supporting peaceful relations with India. Again, on February 5, 2015, during 'Kashmir Solidarity Day,' he reiterated this pitch, saying that he has an emotional bond with Kashmir and would continue to support the right of Kashmiris.

Like a stuck record. Meanwhile, this is a consequence & it's not India or US or anyone else who did this to Pakistan:- GDP per capita about the same in 1990; now is almost double that of , GDP is 10X- 's GDP per cap. was less than for years; now also double that https://t.co/lIA8TaWCN8
Tanvi Madan (@tanvi_madan) April 17, 2025

In 2014, then army chief General Raheel Sharif called Kashmir the "jugular vein" of Pakistan and emphasized that the issue be resolved with the intervention of United Nations Security Council resolutions. In 2016, then President Mamnoon Hussain referred to Kashmir as the "jugular vein of Pakistan."

Ousted former Prime Minister Imran Khan in 2019 also said that "Kashmir is Pakistan's jugular vein" as he criticised India's decision to revoke Jammu and Kashmir's special status. Munir's predecessor General Qamar Javed Bajwa repeated the statement in September 2019 and expressed Pakistan's "support" for the Kashmiri brethren.

Though India is yet to respond to the latest diatribe, it has often dismissed these remarks and advised Pakistan to fix its own internal issues.

Munir's statement on Kashmir and propagation of Jinnah's two-nation theory (that Hindus are different from Pakistanis in every way) come in the backdrop of turmoil within and outside the Pakistani army.

Tanvi Madan, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, described the diatribe like a "struck record" and drew up a fitting comparison between India and Pakistan's GDP since 1991.

"Like a stuck record. Meanwhile, this is a consequence & it's not India or US or anyone else who did this to Pakistan: - India and Pakistan GDP per capita about the same in 1990; now India is almost double that of Pakistan GDP is 10X. Bangladesh's GDP per cap. was less than Pakistan's for years; now also double that," she said.

Thus, the familiar rhetoric may land well in a room full of Pakistani expats, but does little to change the ground realities of Pakistan — a country grappling with homegrown insurgency, cross-border terrorism and growing public anger.