Pakistan's Army in Turmoil: Asim Munir Detained as Coup Rumors Swirl After India Strikes
May, 9 2025
Unrest in Pakistan's Military: Army Chief Detained Amid Escalating India Tensions
Pakistan’s military and political landscape is in complete disarray. Social media is ablaze with talk that Army Chief Asim Munir has been detained, with insiders and half-whispered sources all but convinced there’s a full-blown military coup playing out behind Islamabad’s high walls. Official confirmation? Nowhere to be found. But what’s not in doubt is the sudden spike in anxiety both in Pakistan and across the border, as India ramps up military pressure in retaliation to a bloody attack in Pahalgam.
The trigger for this latest storm was the Pahalgam terror attack, which resulted in Indian authorities pushing back hard—sending jets to destroy a Pakistani AWACS surveillance system and downing several fighter jets (JF-17 and even an F-16) in airspace above Pathankot, Akhnoor, and Jaisalmer. It’s a rare direct show of strength by India, but it’s the aftershocks that are rocking Pakistan’s army the most.
Inside the Coup Rumors and Pakistan's Volatile Leadership
The real drama, though, is off the battlefield. According to a swirl of unofficial reports, General Munir’s removal wasn’t about battlefield performance, but deep resentment inside the military. Officers accused him of carrying his own 'personal agenda'—a phrase that’s always code for leadership that’s lost its support base in Pakistan’s military tradition. Allegedly, Munir ruffled feathers with his repeated and vocal assertions that Kashmir is Pakistan’s 'jugular vein.' This rhetoric reached fever pitch after India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri directly linked Munir’s statements to the timing and ferocity of the Pahalgam attack.
And now? Eyes are turning to Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza. He’s being talked up as the likely replacement for Munir—and he brings his own style, known for being pragmatic but not shy about flexing Pakistan’s military muscle. But Mirza may inherit a mess not of his making: as border shelling intensifies near Uri and throughout Kashmir, the Line of Control is hot, and Indian forces are holding nothing back in their response.
The situation has left Pakistani civil society, its nervous politicians, and the rest of South Asia on a knife’s edge. Military leadership struggles are piling stress on a country already battered by economic pressure and now, international isolation. Each day without official word from Islamabad only makes things worse, leaving Pakistan coup chatter to reach new heights—both at home and in embassies from Washington to Riyadh.
With leadership in limbo and military units on high alert, Pakistan’s own stability is in question in ways not seen since the coup rumors that haunted earlier decades. It's not just about one general or one border crossing. The stakes spill into every home and office in the region, leaving everyone asking: just how far will this crisis go?