This comment analyses well-known Pakistani columnist Suhail Warraich’s positive portrayal of Pakistan’s military leadership—from endorsing the Bajwa-Faiz hybrid regime in 2019 to idealizing Asim Munir as a pro-democracy figure in 2025. It critiques media-military dynamics and highlights Pakistan’s personality-driven political culture over institutional reform.
Highlights
- Warraich’s 2025 column presents General Asim Munir as a humble, democracy-respecting leader who rejects coups and values martyrdom.
- The DG-ISPR denied that any meeting between Warraich and Munir occurred.
- Earlier, Warraich’s 2019 column praised Bajwa and Faiz for enabling a hybrid civil-military regime to ensure stability.
- He argued that long-term military-led continuity was essential for economic development.
- Warraich’s tone has shifted from strategic endorsement of military leadership to moral idealization of Munir.
- Both columns reflect a media tendency to focus on personal virtues of military leaders rather than institutional accountability.
- The commentary underscores Pakistan’s persistent reliance on personality-driven narratives in political discourse.
- It critiques the ambiguous, often romanticized relationship between media and military in shaping public perception.
On 16 August 2025, senior journalist and commentator Suhail Warraich published a column in Roznama Jang, a widely circulated Urdu newspaper published in five major Pakistani cities: Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Quetta, and Multan. The column was titled Field Marshal se Pehli Mulaqaat! (First Meeting with the Field Marshal!).1 In it, Warraich recounted his first encounter with Field Marshal Sayed Asim Munir in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. General Munir was there to meet and address members of the overseas Pakistani community. During their discussion, the two examined issues concerning Pakistan’s political landscape, defence matters, and economic policies.
Warraich wrote that General Asim Munir dismissed rumours about any change in the existing governmental structure. He firmly ruled out the possibility of a military coup, stating, “God has made me the protector of this country. I desire no other position. I am a soldier, and my greatest wish is martyrdom.” The columnist also detailed their conversation regarding the potential for political reconciliation and models of economic development. Through his writing, Warraich aimed to offer an insight into Field Marshal Asim Munir’s personality and vision for the nation.
Waraich describes Munir as being received by the overseas Pakistani community as a ‘war hero’ who, after centuries, had ‘defeated’ a Kafir Mulk (infidel country, i.e., India). He would portray Munir as a humble leader who genuinely cares for his people, values their efforts, and does not adhere to strict VIP protocols. However, following the publication of the column, the DG-ISPR categorically denied that any such meeting between the Army Chief and Suhail Warraich had ever taken place!2
It is worth noting that in an earlier column published in August 2019 for BBC Urdu titled General Bajwa ki extension aur tasalsul wa istehkaam ka roshan khayaal model (General Bajwa’s extension and the enlightened model of continuity and stability)3, Warraich had commended the then Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa and ISI Chief General Faiz Hameed. In that piece, he predicted a 12-year period of military-led stability, six years under General Bajwa followed by six years under General Faiz, which he argued was essential for Pakistan to become an economic and military power like Malaysia, Hong Kong, or China. He had stressed that sustainable development requires long-term political stability and consistent policy implementation over at least 10 to 15 years. According to Warraich, such progress could only be achieved if a single economic vision was maintained over a prolonged period.
In the same column, Warraich also reflected on why past military rulers such as Ayub Khan, Zia-ul-Haq, and Pervez Musharraf failed. He argued that their attempts to stabilise the country through martial law, while sidelining the constitution and democracy, ultimately undermined progress. In contrast, he praised the ‘Bajwa-Faiz fusion’ for avoiding those mistakes and allowing political leadership to function and evolve beneath the military leadership, thus fostering a hybrid system of governance.
What has changed for Suhail Warraich from the ‘Bajwa-Faiz’ fusion to portrayal of Asim Munir’s as non-partisan?
To understand the evolution of Suhail Warraich’s perspective on Pakistan’s military leadership, one must compare his 2019 column on General Bajwa with his 2025 piece on Field Marshal Munir. In his 2019 BBC Urdu article, Warraich had appeared to rationalise and even legitimise the military’s direct involvement in Pakistani politics, portraying it as a stabilising force essential for economic development, something he believes the civilian system had repeatedly failed to achieve. By “direct military role,” Warraich did not mean the imposition of martial law but rather a civil-military hybrid system where the military leads the show. In this context, he presents the Bajwa-Faiz duo as ideally suited for this task.
In contrast, his 2025 column on Asim Munir casts the Field Marshal as a democracy-loving military leader, one who respects civilian supremacy, rejects the idea of a coup, and prioritises institutional integrity. Warraich suggests, these qualities are crucial in Pakistan’s current political context. This marks a notable discursive shift in his view of the military’s role in state affairs: from endorsing the controlled, hybrid regime led by the Bajwa-Faiz partnership to idealising General Munir as a pro-democracy figure who supports civilian supremacy.
Warraich’s portrayal of Munir as a humble “war hero” and true soldier who seeks “martyrdom, not power” invokes quasi-religious and nationalist imagery, casting him as a moral guardian of the nation. By comparison, his depiction of the Bajwa-Faiz fusion was more technocratic and strategic in tone, less personal, more utilitarian. His 2019 praise for Bajwa and Faiz can be interpreted as a tacit endorsement of a soft-authoritarian setup, whereas his 2025 column seems to reflect an attempt to rehabilitate the military’s public image in a more democratic light, especially in the wake of the PTI crisis and the country’s ongoing political instability.
What remains consistent in both pieces is a common trend found among many Pakistani columnists: a tendency to focus on the personal virtues of individual leaders, military or civilian, rather than advocating for robust independent institutions and systematic checks and balances. This contributes to Pakistan’s persistent, personality-driven political culture.
Warraich’s writing exemplifies the ambiguous relationship between the Pakistani media and the military. While many journalists are critical of past military dictatorships, they often portray contemporary military figures in redemptive or saviour-like terms, and in comparison, civilian leadership is perceived as ineffective. For many in the media, the military continues to occupy a central role in Pakistan’s political imagination, even when that role is narrated through a pro-democracy lens.
Dr Afroz Khan is a Research Analyst in an ongoing project at MP-IDSA, New Delhi.
He focuses on strategic affairs in the neighbourhood.
End Notes
1. Roznama Jang, 16 August 2025, https://e.jang.com.pk/karachi/16-08-2025/page6
2. ISPR DG shoots down Suhail Warraich's claims regarding COAS ‘interview’, Sama TV, 22 August 2025. https://samaa.tv/2087338181-ispr-dg-shoots-down-suhail-warraich-s-claims-regarding-coas-interview
3. BBC Urdu,21 August 2019, https://www.bbc.com/urdu/pakistan-49409305
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