Former Pakistani Minister of Information Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday claimed that Army Chief General Asim Munir not Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is currently calling the shots in Pakistan.
“Frankly, there is no two opinions about that. Right now, Pakistan is led by General Asim Munir. He is the de facto leader of Pakistan. The decision-making right now is with the Field Marshal or CDF…,” Chaudhry told news agency ANI.
He cited US President Donald Trump’s purported remarks calling Munir the leader of Pakistan.
“Even yesterday, President Trump actually named General Asim Munir as the Leader of Pakistan, and he has not even bothered to talk about Shehbaz Sharif…,” the former Pakistani Minister said.
Fawad Chaudhry is the leader of Imran Khan’s PTI. Khan has been a staunch critic of Army leadership. His differences with Munir eventually led to his conviction in a corruption case and the leader remains incarcerated since then.
Munir’s influence in Pakistan is evident from the fact that despite being thrashed by India during the Operation Sindoor, Pakistani government promoted him to the rank of Field Marshal.
During Pakistan’s recent engagements with the United States, Munir was prominently featured alongside PM Shehbaz Sharif and at some moments, he even overshadowed the elected leader of the country.
According to reports, it was Munir and not Sharif who played a key role in bringing the US and Iran on the negotiation table, albeit, in a failed attempt.
Before the announcement of ceasefire, US and Iran were passing messages to each other reportedly through Munir, who has been in the good books of both US President Donald Trump and Iranian military generals.