Pakistan Army's General Asim Munir promoted to highest rank, despite hate speech that triggered Pahalgam attack

Pakistan's army chief General Asim Munir has been approved for promotion to the rank of Field Marshal on Tuesday, the highest position in the country's armed forces. 

In a surprising turn of events, Pakistan's Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, has 'approved' a proposal to promote General Munir, as per a statement from Pakistan's government. 

This announcement comes days after tensions between the two nations have become dormant again, following a few days of intense border conflict owing to Islamabad's response to India's Operation Sindoor: a series of precision strikes to combat terrorism after the devastating Pahalgam attack of April 22, which saw 26 civilians gunned down in India.

The promotion comes as a surprise because General Asim Munir's vitriolic speech in April was widely considered as the trigger for the religiously-motivated Pahalgam attack.

ALSO READ | Only one Pakistan Army Chief has ever been promoted to Field Marshal before Asim Munir

The terror attack, which India claimed was Pakistan's doing, was carried out by The Resistance Front, an offshoot of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba.

India's measured responses to Pakistan's attempts to escalate the situation—while also orchestrating a digital misinformation campaign against its nuclear neighbour—finally resulted in New Delhi's response of a calibrated drone (and missile) strike on Islamabad's air bases. 

This led to a telephone call from Pakistan's DGMO to his Indian counterpart, in which he "pleaded" for a ceasefire, to which India agreed to a "pause". 

Since the creation of Pakistan in 1947, the prestigious five-star rank of Field Marshal has only been awarded once before General Asim Munir—to General Ayub Khan—in an act of self-promotion.

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