RAWALPINDI. A senior security official has said that Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir does not have any advisers in an official capacity.
The statement came a day after the British daily newspaper Financial Times (FT) referred to so-called “advisers to army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir” in a report on a proposed port along the Arabian Sea.
The official stated that “conversations or proposals by private individuals or commercial entities are exploratory and should not be construed as state initiatives.”
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According to the FT report, the plan envisions American investors building and operating a terminal in Pasni, Balochistan, designed to facilitate access to Pakistan’s critical mineral resources.
The security official explained that a concept of port on southern coast also surfaced in private discussions with Mota Engil Group. “It has not been submitted through official channels, has not been reviewed at any strategic or governmental level, and remains a commercial idea pending appropriate consideration.”
The FT report follows a high-level meeting in September, during which Field Marshal Munir accompanied Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to the White House for talks with US President Donald Trump.
During the meeting, the prime minister invited American companies to invest in Pakistan’s agriculture, technology, mining, and energy sectors.
According to the FT report, the port proposal was floated with some US officials and was shared with Field Marshal Munir ahead of the White House meeting.
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The blueprint excludes the use of the port for US military purposes and instead aims to attract development finance for a rail network linking the proposed terminal to mineral-rich western provinces, the report added.
The security official said, “The [FT] piece acknowledges it is not official policy, yet implies a link to the army chief — which is not accurate.”
With additional input from Reuters
