Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah is Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, appointed in November 2022. A descendant of a religious and scholarly family, he is the first army chief in Pakistan’s history to be a Hafiz al-Quran, having memorised the entire Qur’an. A career officer, he previously headed both Military Intelligence and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), though his tenure at the latter ended after differences with then–Prime Minister Imran Khan, who has since been imprisoned during Munir’s leadership. In May 2025, following the India–Pakistan conflict, Munir was promoted to Field Marshal, becoming only the second officer in Pakistan’s history, after Ayub Khan, to attain the rank. He now leads at a time of political and economic turbulence, navigating unprecedented public criticism of the military’s influence on governance while confronting the challenge of redefining civil–military relations in Pakistan’s future.