ISLAMABAD: The process of the appointment of the army chief has been started on Monday. General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the chief of Pakistan’s army is set to retire on November 29. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will have to select a new commander to lead the military at a politically and economically intense time.
Defense Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif announced it on Twitter that the process of appointment of Army Chief and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff has started on Monday.
“The process of appointment of Army Chief and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff has started today and will be completed soon as per the constitutional requirements”, he tweeted.
While talking to journalists in Islamabad, Asif further said that the summary will be sent from the Ministry of Defense in the next couple of days, and the process of appointing the army chief will be completed by November 25, days before the incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa retires.
General Bajwa has already started his farewell visits to formations – a tradition of an outgoing army chief before his retirement. He was appointed in 2016 by the then prime minister Nawaz Sharif and later granted an additional three-year extension in 2019 by the then prime minister Imran Khan.
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Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Nadeem Raza is also due to retire on November 27.
Those on the list are Lt Gen Asim Munir, currently serving in GHQ as Quartermaster General; Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Corps Commander Rawalpindi X; Lt Gen Azhar Abbas, Chief of General Staff (CGS); Lt Gen Nauman Mehmood, President National Defence University (NDU); Lt Gen Faiz Hamid, Corps Commander Bahawalpur; and Lt Gen Mohammad Amir, Corps Commander XXX in Gujranwala.
Traditionally, the General Headquarters (GHQ) sends a list of the senior-most lieutenant-generals, along with their portfolios to the Ministry of Defence, which then forwards them to the prime minister to appoint as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and another as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
However, the final decision is the sole discretion of the prime minister.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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