5 generals in fray to become Pak’s next army chief
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will announce the new chief of Pakistan’s powerful army by Friday, days before the incumbent General Qamar Javed Bajwa retires, defence minister Khawaja Asif said.
Bajwa, 61, is set to retire on November 29, after a three-year extension, paving the way for Sharif to name a new commander to lead the influential military at a politically tense time for the country. Bajwa has ruled out seeking another extension.
The defence ministry recommended five names to the prime minister’s office (PMO) on Monday for the appointment of the successor, The Express Tribune newspaper reported, quoting sources.
The report has the names of five top generals, it said. As per the seniority list, Lt Gen Asim Munir, Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Lt Gen Azhar Abbas, Lt Gen Numan Mahmud and Lt Gen Faiz Hameed are in contention for the job of chairman joint chiefs of staff committee and the army chief.
The appointment has been at the heart of tensions between Sharif and former premier Imran Khan who was ousted in April in a no-confidence vote.
Khan has said a new army chief should only be named after the country holds snap elections - which he is confident of winning after sweeping several local polls.
The former cricket star’s attempts to control military promotions when he was premier have been at the root of Pakistan’s current political tensions.
Late last year, Khan publicly opposed Bajwa’s choice to lead the nation’s spy agency, voicing support for one of his own allies to stay in the role. The army chief got his way, but the incident sowed the seeds for Khan’s ouster in a parliamentary no-confidence vote roughly six months later.
Man who tried to kill Musharraf to be set free
The Supreme Court on Monday ordered the release of a man on completion of his jail term in connection with the 2003 assassination attempt on the country’s former president Pervez Musharraf.
Rana Tanveer had been sentenced to 14 years in 2005 by a military court that convicted him of playing a role in the attack on Musharraf in 2003. Musharraf narrowly escaped two back-to-back bomb and gun attacks on his convoy in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.