WILL THE PAKISTAN ARMY WITNESS AN INTERNAL COUP?

The Pakistan Army is witnessing significant divisions within its ranks, with the present Chief of Army Staff Qamar Javed Bajwa on one side and Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed, who till recently served as the chief of Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the ISI, on the other.

These internal differences are likely to come out in the open in the coming months as the tenure of the present COAS comes to an end on 28 November. Official sources within the GHQ, Rawalpindi, on the condition of not being named, told The Sunday Guardian that these internal divisions, that have been going on for almost a year now, also played a significant role in Bajwa refusing to come out in support of former Prime Minister Imran Khan, who had chosen to side with Hameed. Bajwa, the GHQ source said, has been assured complete support by the new Shahbaz Sharif government in ensuring that anyone but Hameed succeeds him.

Bajwa, who has publicly announced that he will not seek a third term as the chief of the world’s sixth largest Army, is likely to ensure the appointment of either Lt Generals Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Azhar Abbas or Nauman Mahmood Raja as his successor. Bajwa’s decision to publicly announce that he would not be seeking a third term stems from the assessment that he played a key role in ensuring the removal of Khan from the office of Prime Minister. According to non-government sources in Pakistan, there is “unprecedented” anger against Bajwa among a large section of society, especially among the supporters of Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-einsaf (PTI).

According to these sources, one of the main reasons behind the internal discord between the duo of Khan-hameed and Bajwa was Khan insisting on entering into a dialogue with armed groups