RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD: Chief of Defence Forces and Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir on Sunday issued a pointed warning to Afghanistan, asserting that a majority of militants infiltrating into Pakistan under the banner of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) were Afghan nationals and urging Kabul to make a clear choice between Pakistan and what he described as the “Khawarij insurgency”.
Addressing the Ulama and Mashaikh Convention held on Dec 10, Field Marshal Munir said Afghanistan could not continue to maintain ambiguity on the issue of militancy. “Afghanistan must decide whether it stands with Pakistan or with the Khawarij,” he said, according to a statement released by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
In a wide-ranging address, the army chief spoke on Pakistan’s internal security challenges, the regional geopolitical environment, military preparedness, and the role of religion and knowledge in nation-building.
He warned that societies which abandoned their intellectual traditions and the scholarly legacy of their forebears had historically declined.
Referring to terrorism, Field Marshal Munir said militant violence was being directed against Pakistan’s civilians, including women and children, with the backing of the Afghan Taliban.
He claimed that around 70 per cent of militants entering Pakistan from Afghanistan and forming part of the so-called Khawarij insurgency were Afghan citizens.
On the religious dimension of militancy, he stressed that in an Islamic state, the authority to declare jihad or issue fatwas rested solely with the state. Any attempt by non-state actors to appropriate this authority, he added, was a distortion of Islamic teachings.
Quoting verses from the Holy Quran, Field Marshal Munir outlined what he termed Pakistan’s ideological foundations and global role.
He drew parallels between Pakistan and the Islamic state of Madina established 1,400 years ago, saying both were founded in the month of Ramazan and were rooted in the Kalima Tayyiba, with migration playing a central role in their establishment.
He further said that Allah had bestowed upon Pakistan the honour of being the protector of the two holy mosques, adding that the country’s armed forces had witnessed divine support during military operations, including Operation Bunyanul Marsus.
Concluding his address, the army chief posed a direct question regarding Afghanistan’s role in cross-border militancy, asking whether the continued violence did not amount to “the spilling of the blood of Pakistani children”.
