General Asim Munir: A Man with great patriotic spirit and firm belief

Pakistan army is the custodian of magnificent history and heart touching stories of Shuhada (martyrs), Ghazis and is considered one of the best in the world. Whole nation is proud of its armed forces and standing with them like a rock and rejected wholeheartedly the negative and fabricated propaganda against it which is a part of fifth generation war. Commanding Pakistan Army is a matter of great pride.

Chief of Army Staff General Hafiz Syed Asim Munir who took the charge of this prestigious institution on 29th November,2022 at a very difficult time facing many challenges on national and international fronts. He now by the grace of Almighty Allah completed one year. General Hafiz Asim Munir is a man of action and his actions speak louder than his words. Prior to becoming Army Chief, he served at the GHQ as Quartermaster General and also commanded the XXX Corps in Gujranwala from 17 June, 2019 to 6 October, 2021. He is recipient of prestigious sword of honour for his outstanding and meritorious performance at Officers Training School (OTS) at `Mangla. He also served as 23rd Director General of IST (DG ISI) till June 16, 2019.Syed Asim Munir’s late father Syed Sarwar Munir was the principal of the Federal Government Technical High School. He was also Imam of Masjid e Quraish at Dehra Hassanabad where he delivered Friday sermon. General Hafiz Asim Munir has two brothers Syed Qasim Munir and Syed Hashim Munir who are also Hafiz e Quran. General Asim’s family is popularly known as “Huffaz’s family”. Asim Munir is a vibrant, committed and dedicated thorough professional and is fitness enthusiast. He likes running, physical workout and sports. He has good intellectual capacity and likes book reading. He is fluent in English, Punjabi, Urdu and Arabic. He studied at Command and Staff College, Quetta, The Malaysian Armed Forces College, Kuala Lampur.

When he took the charge, Pakistan was facing many challenges and was in a very difficult situation. At the one hand Terrorism was a big hindrance in maintaining peace and tranquility in the country and at the other hand economic crisis was the worst in its history. General Asim took the all stakeholders including federal and provincial governments, law enforcement agencies, business community at one page and urged that it is the duty of each and every one in one’s own capacity and domain to be hundred percent loyal to the country and no stone should be left unturned to create unity, harmony with sense of patriotism and responsibility and move forward towards peace and economic development. It was a very difficult task and seemed impossible. But Hafiz Asim Munir does not have the word” Impossible” in his dictionary. At that time economic growth continuously moving downwards, current account deficit was increasing, stock market was at the lowest, rupee was depreciating at record level, export was declining but now the situation has been changed.

If we look towards the latest statistics there are many positive developments like Pakistan’s regional exports enhanced 12.21 percent in four months. There is good news that Kazakhstan is seeking more textile goods from Pakistan and has offered its US$ 2 billion market. Fish industry is also flourishing and earned US$ 123.86 million in four months. United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) has launched its 40 projects in Pakistan which is a revolutionary step. It is very encouraging that Economic Coordination (ECO) has approved Technical Supplementary Grant (TSG).

Pakistan Stock Market also witnessed healthy signs and crossed the historic 60,000 points mark. Pakistan and GCC signed Free Trade Agreement ( FTA) and Pakistan Kuwait signed seven Memoranda of Understanding ( MoUs) on manpower, energy, defence and also indicated to seal US$ 10 billion investment deal. Pakistan and United Arab Emirate (UAE) mineral giant wish mining ventures; NT to invest around Rs. 2.5 billion in establishing mineral-based business in Pakistan.

Health sector has also been given priority and Federal government decided to launch Rs.6.8 billion health programme. Afghan Transit Trade was another troublesome area and it was the complain of national business community that this ATTA is widely used for smuggling and causing huge losses to national exchequer andf also damaging Pakistani industry. It has been decided to send back all undocumented Afghans and to curb the dollar and other type of smuggling. The government announced ten percent processing fee on items imports under the Afghan Transit Trade Agreement (ATTA). It helped to curb smuggling and to encourage local industry.

Country needed foreign investment desperately and to attract foreign investment “ Special Investment Facilitation Council ( SIFC) “ was formed which is creating a positive atmosphere for attracting foreign investment. SIFC committee applauds initiatives, plans for oil and gas sector investment. Businessmen call for SIFC-CPEC collaboration

Water theft was a major problem of Karachittes and serious notice has been taken by government and over 150 hydrants were razed and 1,200 illegal connections has been disconnected. Anti-smuggling drive yields dividends; robust measures implemented in Baluchistan have translated into significant relief for Pakistanis. Earlier, millions of dollars were smuggled in Afghanistan every day. According to Bloomberg report that traders and smugglers were moving $5 million a day. With effective anti-smuggling measures, the value of the dollar has declined from 315 rupees to 276 rupees, which shows that the economy is stabilizing due to these efforts. Petrol price has dropped from Rs 330 to Rs 283. Similarly, the price of flour dropped from Rs10,000 to Rs7,500. Apart from this, the security forces seized a huge quantity of urea which was being smuggled to Afghanistan. After which the market price of urea fell to Rs500 from Rs600 per sack.

Another positive economic indicator is that foreign exchange of about US$ one billion deposited into banks after crackdown and currency dealers daily average trading volume surged from US$ 5 to 7 million to an impressive US$ 50 million. •Current Account Deficit improved significantly to $1.1 Billion during Jul- Oct FY24 as compared to $3.1 billion during Jul-Oct FY23.

All these indicators show that Pakistan is economically is in safe hands and moving forward towards economic stabilities. The whole nation salutes to our armed forces especially Chief of Staff General Hafiz Asim Munir.