An Indian journalist, Praveen Swami of The Print wrote on August 10, 2025 that Field Marshal Asim Munir of Pakistan, on a recent visit to Tampa, in Florida, USA, addressed a selective gathering of 120 Pakistanis, at Hotel Grand Hayatt, and there in his speech, threatened India and the rest of the world with a “Nuclear Holocaust”.
Of course, his verbosity was laced with verses from the Holy Quran – which he often quotes.
FM Asim Munir was in Tampa to attend the retirement function of General Michael Kurilla, the outgoing commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). It is learnt that Michael Kurilla is Pakistan’s good friend and he was recently awarded with Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military). New CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper also met with FM Asim Munir at the function. Therefore, one can understand US military’s close ties and sympathies with Pakistan.
According to Praveen Swami, participants at the Black-Tie dinner were not allowed to carry mobile phones. Therefore, he had to interview some participants verbally, to extract information on what Munir had said. It was strange that a nuclear threat was being made to “India” from the US soil. And US officials have not reacted – so far, though India is also a strategic partner of the USA and a member of QUAD grouping (India, Australia, Japan, and USA).
It is surprising that these threats were made at a closed door gathering to a select group. No mobiles were allowed inside, so that no recording could be made. Did he not plan to let these threats be known to India? Was the “deliberate secrecy” a mere drama, fully knowing that participants would anyway talk in a “hush-hush” manner in their social and political circles, later?
Praveen Swami, as an Indian journalist, was perhaps deliberately chosen by the Pakistani organisers, to leak the essence of the talk. It was an “engineered disclosure”. Is Praveen Swami Tampa-based? Certainly Not! Then what was he doing in Tampa or who invited him there? He must have been sounded earlier to be around, to break the story, as a scoop
Praveen Swami, as an Indian journalist, was perhaps deliberately chosen by the Pakistani organisers, to leak the essence of the talk. By all means, it was an “engineered disclosure”. Is Praveen Swami Tampa-based? Certainly Not! Then what was he doing in Tampa or who invited him there? He must have been sounded earlier to be around, to break the story, as a scoop.
Praveen Swami is liked in Pakistan because he had done a story on ex-Naval Commander Kulbhushan Jadhav, an alleged Indian spy in Pakistan military’s custody. This report of Praveen Swami on Kulbhushan Jadhav was quoted by Pakistan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Thus, Parveen Swami seemed to be the perfect candidate to break this story, too.
It was a clever game of avoiding the US laws by the Pakistani organisers, by making it a “secret talk without any record,” so as to circumvent the charge of threatening a “Strategic Partner and a member of QUAD” from the US soil. If asked by the US law-enforcing agencies, there would be no proof of any such statement. In fact, Pakistanis can blame the Indian journalist for “cooking up” a false story. Accordingly, the ball will be in India’s and Praveen Swami’s court, who had eagerly and willingly played the alleged game.
What is more interesting is that Israel’s military attaché to the US was also present amongst the invitees, who, Asim Munir knew, would surely pass-on his threats to India. It cannot be a surprise if this Israeli invitee leaked the contents of the talk to Praveen Swami, who in his video of six-and-a-half minutes, attributes following interesting but threatening statements to Field Marshal Asim Munir.
It was a clever game of avoiding the US laws by the Pakistani organisers, by making it a “secret talk without any record”, so as to circumvent the charge of threatening a “strategic partner and a member of QUAD” from the US soil. If asked by the US law-enforcing agencies, there would be no proof of any such statement. In fact, Pakistanis can blame the Indian journalist for “cooking up” a false story. What is more interesting is that Israel’s military attaché to the US was also present amongst the invitees, who, Asim Munir knew, would surely pass-on his threats to India
- On Existential Threat to Pakistan from India: “We are a nuclear nation, if we think we are going down, we’ll take half the world down with us.”
- On IWT (Indus Water Treaty) being held in abeyance by India: “We will wait for India to build a dam, and when it does so, phir 10 missile sey faarigh kar dengey (then we will destroy it with 10 missiles).”
- Continuing with IWT, he further said: “The Indus River is not Indians’ family property. Humein missilon ki kami nahin hai. (We have no shortage of missiles).
- Use of Bangla Desh and a possible strike from the Eastern side where India has its strategic assets, in a futuristic scenario: “We’ll start from India’s East, where they have located their most valuable resources, and then move westwards.”
- Comparing India to a Mercedes and Pakistan to a dump truck: “I am going to use a crude analogy to explain the situation,” Field Marshal Munir went on, “India is a shining Mercedes coming on a highway like Ferrari (sic), but we are a dump truck full of gravel. If the truck hits the car, who is going to be the ultimate loser?”
- Talking about the “Hybrid” arrangement of Governance in Pakistan, where he emphasised on the role of military in Pakistan: “They say war is too serious to be left to the Generals, but politics is also too serious to be left to the politicians.”
- To make an emotional appeal, he had evoked national sentiments and had compared Pakistan to a “Mother”: “Whether black or otherwise, a mother is a mother, Pakistan is our mother – we love her.”
It seems that this closed-door meeting was held with a defined purpose, to send a well-crafted message to India from the American soil to warn India to desist from any further retaliation, if Pakistan based militants do another Pahalgam-type incident in the near future.
The message probably also conveys that the USA might have agreed to give a limited control of Pakistan’s nukes back to Pakistan, which was not there with Pakistan during the opening hours of Operation Sindoor. It is also evident from a statement of Rana Sanaullah, political advisor of Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif
Its purpose was to tell India that now even the USA was behind Pakistan. It will not be a surprise if it was done with the concurrence of the US “deep state”. Munir was also in the know of the presence of the Israeli military attaché at the event. Who does not know that Israel is close to India. Therefore, the so-called closed-door address was no secret at all. It was really intended to send a message to India.
The message probably also conveys that the USA might have agreed to give a limited control of Pakistan’s nukes back to Pakistan, which was not there with Pakistan during the opening hours of Operation Sindoor. It is also evident from a statement of Rana Sanaullah, political advisor of Pakistan Prime Minister, Shehbaz Sharif.
Rana Sanaullah has reportedly told a Pakistan news anchor that when India had struck on Noor Khan air base at Chaklala (Nuclear Command Centre), Pakistan was rattled and it had to decide within 30-45 seconds. And it had probably approached USA for the “nuclear codes,” which might have alerted the USA, who had then intervened.
All said and done, these dangerous statements by Asim Munir, might be part of an arm twisting of India by the USA. Whatever, it should not be taken lightly by India. By threatening to bomb a dam, likely to be built by India on River Indus, though laughable it also exposes Asim Munir’s poor intellect.
Firstly, he should know that a dam may be constructed in 6-7 years. By then, he might not be the army chief. As it is there is big opposition nowadays, within the Pakistan’s Government, on giving him an extension in service beyond November 28, 2025.
Similarly, the USA ought to realise that for its short-term gains, it cannot endanger the world and leave it at the mercy of such crazy generals. Has USA not learnt a lesson from 9/11, which had out and out Pakistan’s signatures on it. Doesn’t USA know how Pakistan had fooled it over Osama Bin Laden? Pakistan had played a double game with it over Afghanistan – which has understood Pakistan better than the USA. It is these games which has led USA to be under $37 trillion debt, at present
Secondly, let us say, even if he stays beyond 7 years and decides to strike the dam, who will suffer if not Munir’s country? Pakistan will be inundated, too. Also, what would India do? Could Pakistan’s famous Tarbela and Mangla Dam be saved from the Indian strikes – which have already shown their precision attack capability?
It is strange that such men of poor intellect rule over Pakistan. What a shocking revelation that he talks about partnership in Governance. The idea of a hybrid regime is antitheses of democracy in Pakistan. No wonder, Pakistan is in a political and economic mess, today. Instead of taking care of Balochistan and KPK, military leaders are talking about Kashmir as their jugular vein – which was never the case.
Similarly, the USA ought to realise that for its short-term gains, it cannot endanger the world and leave it at the mercy of such crazy generals. Has USA not learnt a lesson from 9/11, which had out and out Pakistan’s signatures on it? Doesn’t USA know how Pakistan had fooled it over Osama Bin Laden? Pakistan had played a double game with it over Afghanistan – which has understood Pakistan better than the USA. It is these games which has led USA to be under $37 trillion debt, at present.
Overall, one hope that the US Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, had truly meant business, when he had said, “We became distracted by open-ended wars, regime change, and nation building. These costly diversions lacked clearly defined goals and were not tied to vital and core American interests. We are not making the same mistakes again. Not this generation and not now. We are done with that approach.”
-An ex-NDA and Wellington Staff College graduate, Col Rajinder Singh is a renowned author and security analyst. He has authored four books, two individually and two in collaboration. His best-selling books are Kashmir – A Different Perspective and The ULFA Insurgency. The views expressed are of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
