Field Marshal Asim Munir is today the strongest military ruler in Pakistan's history. The 27th Amendment of the Pakistani constitution gives him sweeping powers as the country's first-ever Chief of Defence Forces, heading all three armed forces and the nuclear forces, and an unlimited tenure as army chief. It elevates him as a military supremo above the civilian political class. He is effectively Pakistan's military dictator for life, controlling all aspects of what he called a 'hard state' on March 18 -- a garrison state where politics, economy and foreign policy are run by the military.

He thus formally joins the ranks of Field Marshal Ayub Khan, General Yahya Khan, General Zia-ul-Haq and General Pervez Musharraf, who have collectively ruled Pakistan longer than democratically elected l

See Full Page