There are two, not one, Hindi/Urdu phrases, used in colloquial diction commonly used by all Indians, which come to mind when one thinks of Pakistan right now. The first is … Jab ek hi ullu kaafi thaa, barbad gulistan karne ko, har shaakh pe ullu baithay hein, anzam e gulistan kya hoga? An appropriate parody on that would be something like this: Jab ek hi Asim kaafi thaa, barbad Pakistan karne ko. Ek aur Asim ko le aayay, anzam e Pakistan kya hoga?
The reference to the second Asim here is to the ISI Chief Lt Gen Asim Malik, who has become the 10th National Security Advisor (NSA) of Pakistan.
Amid the heightening tensions with India, the Pakistan government headed by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has given the charge of National Security Chief (NSA) to Lt Gen Asim Malik. Malik is presently the chief of military intelligence Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) which is primarily responsible for handling jehadi assets. So disdainful is the Pakistan Army of civilian administration and political class in general that Lt Gen has been given the assignment of NSA as additional charge.
At one level, it is an indirect admission on the Army’s part of its influence on security and foreign policy of Pakistan. Instead of pulling the ropes from behind the curtains, in the hybrid model that prevails, gloves are off for Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir who has brought in a fellow officer. It bears mention here that the insecurity which Pakistan faces today is because of the Pahalgam terror strike of April 22. Appropriately enough, ISI has been told to look after the security of the nation after dumping it into a well of insecurity.
The appointment letter of the officer was issued by the Cabinet Division on Wednesday and came into effect immediately, according to a Dawn report. Lt Gen Malik had assumed the charge of ISI chief in September 2024. It is a testament of his deft handling that ISI has landed Pakistan where finds itself today within eight months of his assuming charge and fulfilling the commands of his superior, another Asim.
The post of NSA had been lying vacant since April 2022 when Shehbaz Sharif managed to oust incumbent Prime Minister Imran Khan, with backing from the Army. Keeping the post of NSA vacant all these years was one of the things the Pakistan Army had forced the civil politicians to do. Malik becoming made NSA is keeping with that tradition, and he is now directly responsible for foreign policy and security of Pakistan.
During Imran Khan’s tenure as PM, a civilian Dr Moeed Yusuf served as the NSA, and he had created a National Security Policy (NSP) document. He had then claimed that few countries had codified security policies like Pakistan. Dr Yusuf said the NSP was centred around “economic security’’. He had said that “geo-strategic and geo-political imperatives’’ were also there in the policy pronouncement.
Over the last few years, these heavy words seem totally out of context with reference to Pakistan as it does not have any economic security. Besides, its geo-strategic andgeo-political vision is limited to using terror proxies against India. In that, it has been consistent.
During the function organised to release NSP, Dr Moeed had said the document showed “full civil-military consensus’’. Indeed, the two Asims, General Asim Munir and Lt Gen Asim Malik have now pushed this consensus further by putting PM Sharif on mute mode.
Meanwhile, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has accused India of taking “irrational steps’’. He said he backed the government’s stance that ending the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) would be taken as “an act of war’’. He realises that ending the IWT is not something Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced, it is just keeping in abeyance.
The declaration of end of the Treaty is something that may happen some day, but it is not an option that India wants to exercise right now. Just keeping it in abeyance is something that has Pakistan in a tailspin. Incidentally, the word abeyance does not figure in IWT. But that is what has been done by PM Modi.
Bilawal stated that Pakistan was taken out of the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), during his term as the foreign minister. This showed that Pakistan had no link to terrorist groups, he said, trying to whitewash the sins ISI have been committing of using its terror proxies against India for decades.
“India is currently taking emotional and irrational steps,” Bilawal said in an interview, commenting on the current situation. “Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has offered India an impartial inquiry into the Pahalgam incident,” he said. As if Pakistan (executioner) can be added in an investigation of a murder he has committed!
He needs to be reminded of how General Zia ul Haq had contrived to kill Bilawal’s grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto by orchestrating murder charges against him. Bilawal’s mother Benazir Bhutto Zardari was assassinated during General Pervez Musharraf’s regime. Hypoethetically speaking, can Zia be associated in a committee to probe ZA Bhutto’s death? Or Musharraf be associated with an inquiry regarding Benazir’s killing?
Similarly, since Pakistan itself is the fountainhead of all terror being orchestrated against India, there is no possibility of taking PM Sharif’s words seriously.
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