Indian missiles, drones, and loitering munitions struck with deadly precision. Radar sites were blinded. Terrorist camps were targeted. Air defences failed. Command structures crumbled. There was chaos on the ground. The Pakistan Army froze, paralysed by speed, overwhelmed by surprise.
Yet, nothing changed in Pakistan. No outrage, no inquiry and no accountability. The Army remained in command. Still revered. Not because it won the war, but because it won the story.
Over decades, it has told powerful myths. It blended faith, history, geography, and ideology. It has rewritten how people think, vote, and even pray. In Pakistan, the Army is more than an institution. It is the State. It stands above the Constitution. Above the ballot. Beyond question. Its defeats are buried. Its failures erased. Its generals are honoured.
Religion as Armour: Zia’s Transformation
The foundation of this psychological fortress was laid after the 1971 defeat. The loss of East Pakistan had shattered the Army’s image. General Zia-ul-Haq responded by transforming the military from a professional force into an ideological one. Islam was woven into its command structure, recruitment, training, and messaging. Textbooks were rewritten. Clerics were co-opted. Martyrdom became glorified.
A Pakistani soldier was now not just defending borders, but defending Islam. Any criticism of the Army became an insult to faith. This Islamisation wasn't limited to soldiers. Society was conditioned to see the military as Fauj-e-Risalat—the Army of the Prophet.
Kashmir: The Holy Cause
Zia’s ideological military found its purpose in Kashmir. Pakistan’s Kashmir policy was rebranded from a territorial dispute into a religious duty. India became the oppressor of Muslims. Support to militants was presented not as proxy warfare, but as jihad. Groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad were created with state support. They were labelled freedom fighters and not terrorists. Their actions were framed as Pakistan’s sacred responsibility. The Army’s grip on society deepened. By owning the Kashmir cause, it gained emotional legitimacy. Even when it failed in battle, the public still revered it.
Emotional Capture: Weaponising Jazba, Junoon, and Imaan
The Army crafted a national mood built on Jazba (patriotic passion), Junoon (fanatic zeal), and Imaan (unshakable faith). These weren’t just values. They were weapons.
TV dramas, songs, and state media glorified the soldier. Schoolbooks praised martyrs. Children were taught that the Army was sacred. India was evil. The "coward Hindu" was the enemy. The soldier was pure. Every parade, anthem, and war story reinforced one truth: Pakistan survives because the Army stands guard. Dissent was crushed. Journalists vanished. Critics were traitors.
People didn’t just support the Army. They worshipped it. Only the Pak-Army had the requisite Jazba to fight. Only its Generals had the Imaan to lead. Pakistani people had the Junoon to destroy the enemy.
Strategic Geography and the Global Game
Pakistan’s location gave the Army its strongest bargaining chip: leverage. Situated between India, China, Central Asia, the Middle East, and the Arabian Sea, it became a geopolitical asset. The Army sold this geography to global powers to the US during the Cold War and War on Terror, to China through CPEC. This brought aid, weapons, and diplomatic cover.
But at home, it was spun differently. "The world needs us," the Army claimed. It used strategic indispensability to justify its control over policy, economy, and internal security. The Geopolitical location of Pakistan is therefore the most powerful tool in the hands of the ‘Generals’. They know no one in the West or China can ever abandon Pakistan. Pakistan will always be preferred over India due its blessed Geography.
The Nuclear Umbrella and Calculated Irrationality
In 1998, Pakistan tested nuclear weapons. The Army projected its as an Islamic bomb. It warned that even limited Indian provocation could trigger a nuclear response. This doctrine of calculated irrationality bred fear. India hesitated. The West worried. And at home, debate was silenced in the name of national survival.
Operation Sindoor: The Narrative Strikes Back
After the precise and punitive strike by India to demonstrate its resolve, the Pakistan Army once again seized the narrative. It reframed Operation Sindoor as proof of Indian aggression and justification for a militarised, Islamic Pakistan. Funeral processions, televised prayers, and ISPR videos flooded screens. The message was clear: India wants to destroy Pakistan. The Army is the only shield. Criticism helps the enemy.
OP Sindoor didn’t weaken the Army. It reinvigorated its myth. Defeat was recast as sacrifice. Failure became proof of divine testing. The military’s dominance was reconfirmed. Dissent vanished.
Narrative as a Weapon of Internal Control
By combining religious legitimacy, the Kashmir cause, geopolitical centrality, nuclear deterrence, emotional programming, and victimhood in events like Operation Sindoor, the Army built one of the most sophisticated psychological control systems. It allows the military to rule without appearing to govern. It silences dissent as blasphemy or treason. It justifies failure by invoking enemies. It stays above law, reform, or scrutiny. Even those who know the truth remain quiet. Speaking against the Army feels like speaking against Islam, Kashmir, and the nation.
Operation Sindoor showed that India has options. More importantly, it showed that Pakistan’s myth can be challenged, if not from within, then from without.
Conclusion
The Pakistan Army’s greatest weapon is not its missiles or soldiers. It is the myth it has built around itself. A myth that equates the Army with Islam. That turns every crisis—Kashmir, terror, Sindoor—into fuel for greater power. Until that myth is broken, Pakistan will remain a challenge to world peace.
(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of ETV Bharat)
