4 hours ago
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Islamabad:
Amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack, reports that Pakistan Army chief General Syed Asim Munir has "fled the country" have sparked hashtags and memes on social media. Source-based reports claim General Munir has gone 'MIA' (missing in action) following New Delhi's diplomatic offensive.
These unconfirmed reports claim that the Pakistan Army Chief has either fled the country with his family or is hiding in a bunker in Rawalpindi, even as the country's political leaders have doubled down on their rhetoric against India.
As the online chatter on Munir's whereabouts gained momentum, the hashtag #MunirOut started trending on the microblogging site platform X, with users on both sides of the border questioning the Pakistan Army Chief's absence in the media in the past few days.
However, as the buzz intensified, the Pakistan Prime Minister's Office rushed to clear the air and posted a photo of General Munir with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, attending an event on April 26.
"Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir (NIM) and officers of PMA Kakul in a group photo with the graduating officers of 151st Long Course at PMA Kakul, Abbottabad. April 26, 2025," said the caption.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif, Chief of Army Staff General Syed Asim Munir (NIM) and officers of PMA Kakul in a group photo with the graduating officers of 151st Long Course at PMA Kakul, Abbottabad.
April 26, 2025. pic.twitter.com/HLmVg9nUwg
But social media users questioned the timing of the post and the explicit mention of the date in it. One user even called it an "AI-generated false photo" posted to counter speculation over the Army Chief's absence.
India's Actions Against Pakistan
In the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were killed, India has taken a raft of measures, downgrading diplomatic ties with Pakistan. As intelligence reports reportedly place Pakistan-based groups behind the Pahalgam attack, New Delhi has suspended the Indus Water Treaty of 1960--a historic first-- and revoked all visas issued to Pakistani nationals. The Wagah-Attari border has also been closed amid a tense relationship between the two nuclear powers.
The terrorist attack, one of the worst in the country in nearly two decades, came days after Gen Asim Munir described Kashmir as Islamabad's "jugular vein".
Addressing the Overseas Pakistanis Convention in Islamabad on April 16, he spoke about Kashmir and said, "Our stance is absolutely clear, it was our jugular vein, it will be our jugular vein, we will not forget it. We will not leave our Kashmiri brothers in their heroic struggle."
He told a gathering of Pakistanis who are based abroad that they were the country's ambassadors and must not forget that they belong to a "superior ideology and culture".
India has blamed Pakistan for the attack after The Resistance Front (TRF), a proxy of Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) claimed responsibility for it.
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