Islamabad: In diplomacy, it is always said that protocol is never accidental.
Who steps off the plane first, who gets the embrace, and who stands in the shadows often signals more about a country’s real power structure than any press release ever could.
These days, Pakistan is reflecting a similar reality, adding another chapter to it, when on Wednesday, Pakistan Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir landed in Tehran for a high-stakes diplomatic mission, claiming efforts to broker peace in Iran.
However, the visuals from the tarmac did not just hint at who runs Pakistan, but they loudly exposed the true reality.
At the airport, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi, second in Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Cabinet and chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), who also accompanied the Pak army chief, was barely visible as he followed Munir down the aircraft steps.
Further, more shocking was the presence of Munir’s aide-de-camp hovering close behind him, holding a bulletproof shield, a level of protection typically reserved for heads of state, not military chiefs on foreign visits.
It was after these visuals, which many were watching, that the scene confirmed what has long been an open secret in Islamabad, that the military establishment and not the elected leadership is where authority truly resides.
The Pakistani delegation’s trip to Tehran came at a critical moment, following the first round of US-Iran talks in Islamabad on April 11, which ended without agreement on Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions, or the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz.
With regional tensions still elevated after the US-Israel war on Iran that began in the last week of February, Pakistan has unsuccessfully positioned itself as a broker.
The Pakistan army’s media wing, ISPR, confirmed that Field Marshal Munir led the delegation to Tehran, carrying messages in order to keep backchannel talks between Washington and Tehran alive.
Tehran's Reception Rests The Military Vs Elected Leadership Debate The analysts also noticed the treatment, suggesting that the reception in Tehran left little room for interpretation.
At the airport, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi personally received the delegation and embraced Munir as soon as he stepped onto the tarmac.
Araghchi later posted on X that he was “delighted to welcome Field Marshal Munir to Iran” and thanked Pakistan for hosting the dialogue, calling it a reflection of the “deep and strong bilateral relationship”.
Surprisingly, the post on X made no mention of Interior Minister Naqvi.
The video shared by Araghchi captured the hierarchy....
