Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen. Asim Munir on Thursday vowed that no one will be permitted to spread anarchy in Pakistan, stressing that the “greatest sin” before Allah was creating chaos.
“The Pakistan Army is struggling to eliminate anarchy in the land,” he told a gathering of religious scholars in Islamabad. “Whoever doesn’t adhere to the shariah and the Constitution, we don’t consider them Pakistanis,” he added.
“The anarchy is spread through social media. If anyone tries to spread chaos in Pakistan, by God, we [Army] will stand against them,” he said and urged the religious scholars to preach restraint and unity instead of extremism to help society return to a level of moderation that avoided anarchy and chaos.
Stressing that people had the right to protest, he said they should ensure to remain peaceful, as unrest would not be tolerated.
Echoing a previous press conference of military spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the Army chief said criminal and smuggling mafias were providing patronage to terrorism. “We are trying to convince them [Afghanistan] to not oppose their neighbor, brotherly Islamic country and longtime friend [Pakistan] for the sake of the Fitna al-Khawarij [Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan],” he said, stressing Pakistan had shown hospitality to millions of Afghans for the past 40 years. “The Khwarij are a big fitna (mischief),” he added.
Noting that the people of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa had rendered significant sacrifices in the war against terrorism, he said the Army appreciated their efforts and stood with them.
“No power can harm Pakistan because this country came into being to exist,” he said, adding that anyone who wished to understand the importance of the establishment should look to what occurred in Iraq, Syria and Libya. “Where are those who used to say that ‘the two-nation theory has been drowned in the Bay of Bengal’,” he questioned, referring to the recent unrest in Bangladesh that saw the ouster of Hasina Wajed as prime minister and the installation of a new interim government.
During his address, Gen. Munir also reiterated that Kashmir remained an “unfinished agenda” of Partition and expressed regret over the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. “Palestine gives us the lesson that we have to protect ourselves and strengthen Pakistan,” he stressed.