Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir has raked up the two-nation theory and emphasised that India and Pakistan are two different nations, twice at the time of writing.
The first time the General spoke about it was on April 16, while addressing a Convention for Overseas Pakistanis in Islamabad. In his address, Munir claimed that Hindus and Muslims are different nations and urged the audience to tell the story of the creation of Pakistan to their children.
“You have to tell Pakistan’s story to your children so that they don’t forget that our forefathers thought we were different from Hindus in every possible aspect of life,” he said, evoking the two-nation theory propagated by Pakistan’s founder, M. A. Jinnah.
“Our religions are different, our customs are different, our traditions are different, our thoughts are different, our ambitions are different. That was the foundation of the two-nation theory that was laid there. We are two nations; we are not one nation,” he added.
In the same address, speaking about Kashmir, he had said: “Our stance is very clear: it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein and we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle.”
On Saturday, April 26, Munir again highlighted the two-nation theory, stating that Muslims and Hindus are two different nations. This time he was addressing the passing out parade of cadets at the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul, in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“The two-nation theory was based on the fundamental belief that Muslims and Hindus are two separate nations, not one. Muslims are distinct from Hindus in all aspects of life, religion, customs, traditions, thinking and aspirations,” Munir said.
Munir’s second invocation of the theory came in the wake of the tensions between India and Pakistan following the terror attacks in Pahalgam, where 26 people, 25 of them Hindus, were shot down in cold blood by terrorists belonging to The Resistance Front, affiliated with the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist group.
Undeterred by the unfolding security situation, Munir continued the provocation, stating that Pakistan was achieved after many sacrifices and that it was the duty of the armed forces to keep it safe.
“Our forefathers made immense sacrifices for the creation of Pakistan… we know how to defend it,” he said.
Such addresses are carefully chosen, as they convey messages to audiences beyond the immediate ones. And to rake up the two-nation theory in a country where Muslims are in the majority and Hindus are a minuscule minority cannot but be targeted at India.
Of course, it is no doubt a reflection of Munir’s own piety as he comes from a religious background and is a Hafiz himself, that is, one who has memorised the Quran.
But beyond his personal sensibilities, the speeches accomplished two objectives: first, they turned focus to the so-called “external threat”; and second, they highlighted the central role of the Pakistani army in Pakistan’s politics, underscoring the axiom that while most states have an army, in Pakistan, it is the army that has a state.
Why was it necessary for General Asim Munir to highlight the now discredited two-nation theory? (The theory was first discredited when Pakistan’s eastern wing, Bangladesh, seceded on the basis of language and ethnicity despite a common religion.)
Everything has a context and in this case, it is Pakistan’s very painful predicament caught as it is between hostile neighbours all around and its own internal contradictions, manifesting themselves in the worst possible instances of violence and terror.
Pakistan recently faced its worst terror attack in decades with the hijacking of the Jaffer Express, just a month before the General’s rant.
The attack was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), which is fighting the Pakistani state for an independent Baloch state. It was also a huge humiliation for Pakistan’s army. The exact number of dead and wounded is not known. While official claims said at least 64 people, including 18 soldiers and 33 attackers, were killed during the incident and 38 others were injured, the BLA, on the other hand, claimed that they had killed 50 members of the security forces and 214 hostages.
According to reports, militants went from compartment to compartment looking for Pakistani army soldiers. (A rerun of this was executed during the Pahalgam massacre where civilians were asked to prove their religion.)
Added to that has been Pakistan’s ongoing conflict with the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which wants to establish a sharia state there. This conflict has now morphed into a conflict with Pakistan’s northern neighbour, Afghanistan.
The Afghan Taliban is in no reconciliatory mood made evident by the fact that it is Pakistan that is sending envoys to Kabul to placate its once-upon-a-time protégé.
If last month Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Ambassador Muhammad Sadiq, travelled to meet with the Taliban, then on April 21, its Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar travelled to Kabul to continue negotiations.
While relations with India on its eastern borders were already complicated (the two sides had already downgraded diplomatic relations since 2019), Pakistan’s relations with its western neighbour Iran were no less complex. Last year, the world was witness to astonishing military attacks by Iran on Pakistan’s territory, to which Pakistan also retaliated.
Facing mounting internal chaos, economic collapse, and regional isolation, Pakistan’s Army Chief General Asim Munir has raked up the discredited two-nation theory to divert public attention towards India and reinforce the army’s central role in Pakistan’s troubled state apparatus.
If this was not enough, there is also internal political turbulence over the arrest of former Prime Minister Imran Khan. And topping it all is Pakistan’s worsening economic crisis. For nearly five years, the country remained on the grey list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) for terror funding. Pakistan’s $350 billion economy is struggling with inflation, which rose to 38.5% in May 2023, with growth turning negative, reserves shrinking and interest rates jumping to 22%.
Its debt-to-GDP ratio is in the danger zone of 70% and between 40% and 50% of government revenues are earmarked for interest payments. Last month, the IMF reached a deal with Pakistan for a new $1.3 billion arrangement.
All of this is borne by the common people of Pakistan and points to an abysmal failure of the Pakistani state, increasingly incapable of providing either economic or physical security.
Parallel to this unraveling of the Pakistan story has been the India story.
India is not without its problems or woes. But it is pushing ahead, the world’s fifth-largest economy, which has shown the fastest growth rate at 7 percent, even against global uncertainties. It is moving ahead not just in the IT servicing sector but also in space, in technology, in the arts, in every direction possible.
India has been courted by the Joe Biden administration and instead of the uncertainties that hovered over President Donald Trump’s era, Vice President J.D. Vance paid a visit within a hundred days of the new administration taking charge.
And what of Kashmir, Pakistan’s so-called jugular vein?
It had almost gotten back on track. Elections in Kashmir had been fairly successful and democratic legitimacy restored. Tourism, one of beautiful, splendid Kashmir’s economic mainstays was flourishing. Investments had poured in, not only from Indians but from countries like the UAE.
Hotels, orchards, and restaurants multiplied. Tourists came in hoards, increasing the livelihood prospects of thousands of Kashmiris engaged in the industry. Development increased at a dynamic pace. There was a sense of purpose and indeed unity. Till Pahalgam happened. All of this was an emphatic negation of the two-nation theory.
The Pakistani state has been at the receiving end of the Baloch, who like many in Sindh, being Muslims do not want to be a part of the state for whose creation, according to General Munir, “Our forefathers made immense sacrifices…”
This is the same state that lost 558 lives in 2024 to the onslaught of the TTP alone, and 504 lives, again in 2024 alone, to the onslaught of the BLA, though the General insists the “Pakistani army knows how to defend.”
And not to forget the continuing disenfranchisement of communities like the Ahmediyyas, who were declared non-Muslims in the land of the pure and the continuing animosity between Shiites and Sunnis, Deobandis and Barelvis, all Muslims but at loggerheads with one another precisely on matters of faith.
Worse, long-time foes India and the Taliban had made up and were on their way to establishing diplomatic relations, while India and Iran have always shared warm and mostly cordial relations. Even with China—Pakistan’s “iron brother”, India seemed to be rebooting relations.
It was obvious that the course of events was becoming an embarrassment to the Pakistani establishment. Even following the Pahalgam massacre, some of the memes doing the rounds on social media while funny were also poignant, pointing out that India’s strident measures cannot bring much harm to Pakistanis as life is already so bad for ordinary folks. From electricity to tea, everything is being rationed and people are being asked to cut down.
So the best way to divert people’s attention from the pressing problems at home was to invoke the eternal external threat – India. And something like Pahalgam had to happen. In retrospect, General Asim Munir’s first rant about the two-nation theory is being perceived as a dog-whistle for it. The focus will now again be on the Pakistan army, which has once again found the opportunity to position itself as the saviour of its people.
This time around, however, he may find that he has bitten off more than he can chew.
