ISLAMABAD (THE THURSDAY TIMES) — Pakistan’s Chief of Defence Forces, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, has told a national gathering of ulema and mashaikh that Pakistan’s recent “Marka-e-Haq” victory came with the help and support of God, and declared that terrorism is “India’s habit, not Pakistan’s,” insisting that the country confronts its enemies openly rather than from the shadows.
Addressing the National Ulema and Mashaikh Conference in Islamabad, Field Marshal Munir drew a direct line between the idea of the State of Madina and the State of Pakistan, describing the relationship as “deep” and framing Pakistan’s strategic role in explicitly religious terms. He called the defence partnership between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia “historic” and said that among Muslim countries Pakistan had been uniquely honoured with the responsibility of protecting the Haramain.
The army chief argued that dignity and strength did not flow from internal division but from knowledge, hard work and intellectual effort. “Honour and power do not come through fragmentation,” he said, “they are earned through ilm and mehnat,” urging religious scholars to keep the nation united and to broaden the outlook of ordinary citizens rather than narrowing it through factionalism.
He warned that any society that abandons knowledge and the pen eventually becomes a breeding ground for conflict. “Where a nation leaves ilm and qalam,” he said, “there, disorder and fasad fil ardh take root.” In an important doctrinal intervention, Field Marshal Munir also stressed that in an Islamic state no individual or group has the authority to declare jihad, and that only the state itself can issue such a command.
Returning to the theme of security, he said that Pakistan’s success in the Ma’raka-e-Haq would not have been possible without divine assistance and the sacrifices of its soldiers. He contrasted Pakistan’s approach to violence with that of India, claiming that terrorism was New Delhi’s “pattern” while Pakistan, in his words, “does not hit from hiding, we confront the enemy by challenging him.”
Field Marshal Munir closed by placing responsibility on religious leaders to act as custodians of unity. He urged the ulema and mashaikh to resist narratives that sow division and instead foster a wider, more confident national vision that reflects both Pakistan’s spiritual claims and its strategic role in the Muslim world.
