
Making sense of Munir's madness
So, who blinked first? It might be too early for an informed analysis on the truce after four days of Indo-Pak conflict as information is rather sketchy. The ceasefire violation within a few hours further complicated matters. But the initiative for a telephonic call for talks on Saturday afternoon came from the Pakistani side. Pakistan's Director General of Military Operations called his Indian counterpart and both arrived on a ceasefire agreement. The seeds for the conflict were sown by Pakistan army chief Asim Munir as he recently called Kashmir India's jugular vein and regurgitated the two-nation theory that led to India's partition.
"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," Gen Munir said while addressing the first Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad on April 17, attended by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistanis living abroad.
Also, Pakistan's footprint in the Pahalgam massacre of Indian tourists were recently revealed in a news media expose. For, a top US-based space tech company found a sudden spike in orders for high-resolution satellite images of Pahalgam and its surrounding areas barely two months ago from a Pakistan-based geo-spatial company, Business Systems International Pvt Ltd (BSI), the Print reported. The Pakistani firm is linked to federal crimes in the US. Between February 2 and 22, BSI placed at least 12 orders—double the usual number— with Maxar Technologies. BSI became Maxer's partner last year. Orders for Pahalgam satellite images started appearing on the portal in June 2024, months after the partnership deal. The deal is now off.
There you have a smoking gun, possibly enough for the US turning the screws on Pakistan's hybrid leadership with Gen Munir at the helm. No wonder, US President Donald Trump sought to take credit for drumming some commonsense and forcing Pakistan to step back.
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