Pakistan has been ruled by generals before. However, what is happening under Field Marshal Asim Munir — Pakistan’s current army chief — is not another military takeover. It is the quiet conversion of military influence into permanent constitutional and institutional power, achieved without ever declaring martial law at all. Through a cascade of constitutional amendments, new courts, and legal restructuring over the past two years, Pakistan’s military has written itself into the architecture of the state — commanding not just the armed forces, but increasingly the judiciary, the economy, and the boundaries of political dissent. Freedom House’s 2026 report still technically rates Pakistan “Partly Free,” but even it concedes the military now exerts “enormous influence” over elections, government formation, and policy. Chatham House is blunter: the Twenty-Seventh Constitutional Amendment formalized Pakistan’s hybrid civil-military system and moved the country closer to outright authoritarian rule.
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Consolidating Command
The Defense Forces of Pakistan Act, 2026, passed August 20 amid an opposition walkout, is the clearest step yet. It gives the Chief of Defense Forces (CDF) full operational command over Pakistan’s armed forces — organization, administration, readiness, joint operations, and personnel matters. Because Munir holds the CDF post while remaining Chief of Army Staff, the law effectively puts all three services under one office.
Munir became Army Chief in November 2022, on a three-year tenure. In November 2024, parliament extended that to five years. On May 20, 2025, he was made a five-star Field Marshal. But the constitutional changes that followed mattered more than the rank itself.
The Twenty-Seventh Amendment, passed in November 2025, created the CDF office and specified the Army Chief would hold it concurrently — so the Army Chief no longer merely headed one of three coordinated services, but stood above the entire command structure.
Chatham House called these powers “unprecedented,” noting the CDF gained seniority over the naval and air chiefs, plus lifetime immunity and a much higher bar for removal. The restructuring let Munir’s tenure as CDF start fresh; on December 4, 2025, President Zardari approved his appointment as COAS and CDF for another five years, potentially keeping him atop the military through 2030 — spanning Pakistan’s next election.
Courts, Government, and the Economy
Pakistan’s judiciary has been restructured alongside this buildup. The Twenty-Sixth Amendment (October 2024) gave politicians more say over judicial appointments. The Twenty-Seventh went further, creating a Federal Constitutional Court (FCC). The International Commission of Jurists says the FCC took over powers once held by the Supreme Court — including constitutional disputes and fundamental-rights cases — with rulings binding on all courts. The ICJ called this a “flagrant attack” on judicial independence; two senior Supreme Court judges resigned in response.
Military trials of civilians have also returned, following the unrest of May 9, 2023. Human Rights Watch reported that Pakistan’s Supreme Court allowed military courts to try civilians linked to that violence, with secret proceedings and verdicts against 85 people.
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The economy shows a similar pattern. The Special Investment Facilitation Council, created in 2023, has the Army Chief on its Apex Committee and a serving officer as National Coordinator, shaping which investments get prioritized. Munir himself now meets foreign investors and Gulf leaders directly. Yet overall investment has weakened: State Bank data shows foreign direct investment fell 34% in FY2025–26, to $1.637 billion. Even so, military-linked businesses have kept performing well: Fauji Fertilizer reported roughly Rs73.6 billion in 2025 net profit, up from Rs64.7 billion in 2024.
Domestic Repression
At home, civic space has shrunk. Human Rights Watch documented intensified 2025 repression — arbitrary detention, media restrictions, communication blackouts. A joint appeal led by Amnesty International in August 2026 documented restrictions on journalists and lawyers, and prolonged internet shutdowns in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir. In June 2026, an anti-terrorism court sentenced Mahrang Baloch, a doctor who became a well-known activist for the Baloch minority in Pakistan, to life in prison after a closed trial. She was accused of inciting a crowd during a 2024 protest in which a security officer was killed. Amnesty International said there was no direct evidence tying her to the killing, and called the trial unfair.
Pressure has extended abroad too. Freedom House warned in March 2026 of growing transnational repression — seven exiled journalists and dissidents sentenced in absentia to life imprisonment. Reporters Without Borders documented four such sentences, alongside passport cancellations and frozen bank accounts, explicitly linking the deteriorating media environment to Munir’s expanded powers.
Taken together, these developments show that Pakistan’s military is now deciding how much dissent citizens are allowed, how justice is dispensed, and how the economy is run.
Image: Inter Services Public Relations Pakistan, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.
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