Overview

• Field Marshal Asim Munir will travel to Sri Lanka on a taxpayer-funded trip featuring a special aircraft, ceremonial bike escorts, multiple helicopter rides and a stay at a Colombo five-star hotel.
• The tour highlights the contrast between the army chief’s privileges and government austerity rules that ban foreign travel and luxury spending for civilian ministers.
• Pakistan is grappling with over $133 billion in external debt, soaring inflation and an IMF bailout that allocates half of the federal budget to loan servicing.
• Social media users have condemned the planned visit as a “joyride on broken backs” and a “mockery of national pain,” signaling widespread public anger.
• Analysts say the exemption underlines the military’s untaxed commercial autonomy and could deepen tensions between Pakistan’s armed forces and its civilian government.