It's almost time for the government to take one of the toughest decisions of its tenure: who to appoint as Pakistan's next army chie...
It's almost time for the government to take one of the toughest decisions of its tenure: who to appoint as Pakistan's next army chief.
A senior Pakistan Muslim League (N) leader and member of the federal cabinet hinted at the behind-the-scenes talks, saying Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif could start talks on the appointment by the end of August and possibly by mid-September. You can make a decision.
The general impression is that he will consult his allies in the ruling coalition before taking a final decision, but a Pakistan People's Party (PPP) source said the party may not want to be part of the decision because it It is the discretionary power of the Prime Minister to take the decision.
According to Article 243(3) of the Constitution, the President appoints the Chiefs of Services on the recommendation of the Prime Minister.
Schedule 5-A of the Rules of Business specifies the cases to be submitted to the Prime Minister for the approval of the Chief of Army Staff, in accordance with which a Lieutenant General in the Army or an equivalent rank in the Defense Services is appointed by the Prime Minister, in consultation with the President. Will do later.
However, the statute book does not explain in much detail how this process works, nor does it set any specific criteria for promotion to a rank of officer other than the vague condition that the army The general selected for leadership must have commanded a corps.
Traditionally, the General Headquarters (GHQ) sends a list of four to five senior lieutenant generals, along with their personal files, to the Ministry of Defence, which forwards them to the Prime Minister to select the officer for the post. Choose the one that suits you.
Legally, the Ministry of Defense can vet the names before submitting them to the Prime Minister, but this is not usually done and the Ministry acts as a mere post office.
The qualifications of the generals are then considered in the Prime Minister's Office or Cabinet, after which the Prime Minister holds 'informal consultations' with the outgoing Army Chief, his own input also counts. And they also discuss this with their close advisors.
Observers closely following the issue also refer to an 'institutional recommendation' being made to the prime minister about a particular candidate, although at least two former defense secretaries refuted this claim. It is insisted that only the outgoing army chief gives his personal opinion during his 'informal consultation' with the prime minister on who he thinks should succeed him.
From 1972 until now, five of the country's ten army chiefs were appointed by Mian Nawaz Sharif, the elder brother of the current prime minister, as prime minister in separate terms. ', but ironically, none of them have been appointed well.
Because of this experience, Sharif Bardars are beginning to understand that they may never be able to fix it all. Some PML-N leaders said in behind-the-scenes interviews that they had more or less decided that instead of succumbing to the temptation of looking for an 'ideal' candidate, they would appoint only on the basis of seniority. .
"Then no matter what twists and turns things take, we will at least be satisfied that there was no personal choice," said a party leader.
However, another group within the party speculates that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif may simply go with the advice of the current chief.
The process of change
Chief of Army Staff, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was appointed in 2016, is set to retire in the last week of November. Prime Minister Imran Khan extended their tenure in August, but the Supreme Court later called for legislation on the reappointment of service chiefs.
Parliament followed suit in January 2020 and allowed the Prime Minister to extend the tenure of service chiefs at his discretion, however the legislation set an age limit of 64 years at which service chiefs can retire. Must have.
In this sense, 61-year-old General Qamar Javed Bajwa could be eligible for another term, due to a technicality, there are also speculations that the current army chief wants or is interested in another term extension.
However, according to a military source, General Bajwa has told people around him that he will retire in November, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) of the Pakistan Army has also confirmed that the current army chief is indeed retiring. are
The Army Chief is not the only four-star position that will be vacant in November, but Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza will also retire at the same time. The scope has become available for him to choose the army chief without causing much trouble and anxiety among the superior officers.
Interestingly, at the time of retirement of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, four of the six senior lieutenant generals belong to the same batch. The seniority of this lot is determined on technical grounds i.e. by the PA number assigned to them from their training days at the Pakistan Military Academy and may or may not be significant when the Chief Of Army Staff and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee will be selected, apart from two others, one of whom is almost the most senior of the lot while the other is relatively junior.
Lieutenant General Asim Munir
Lt Gen Asim Munir will be the most senior of the lot when the next Chief of Army Staff and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee is decided, even though he was promoted to the rank of two-star general in September 2018. He took charge two months later, which will see his four-year tenure as lieutenant general end on November 27 when the current chief of army staff and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee retire from his army uniform. , Since recommendations and decisions for the appointment of two four-star generals are to be made some time in advance, it is up to General Qamar Javed Bajwa to decide whether to include their names or not and the final decision rests with the Prime Minister.
He is an excellent officer but due to technical complications in the matter of this appointment he can be termed as a 'dark horse' as per the English proverb i.e. he is also a strong candidate for the post.
Lt Gen Asim Munir, who joined the service through the Officers Training School Program at Mangala and was commissioned in the Frontier Force Regiment, has been a close associate of the current Chief of Army Staff ever since he served as Brigadier under General Bajwa. But Force Command took over the command of troops in the Northern Areas where General Qamar Javed Bajwa was then Commander X Corps. However, his tenure as the top intelligence officer was short-lived as he was replaced by Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed within eight months at the insistence of the then Prime Minister Imran Khan. He was posted as Gujranwala Corps Commander before being transferred as Quartermaster General at HQ where he held the post for two years.
Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza
Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza is the most senior among the 4 candidates from the same batch. He belongs to the Sindh Regiment, which is the parent unit of the current Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Nadeem Raza. Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza has had an impressive career in the Army and has held key leadership positions over the past 7 years. He began to gain attention as Director General Military Operations (DGMO) in General Raheel Sharif's last two years. In this capacity, he was part of General Raheel Sharif's core team at GHQ that oversaw operations against the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in North Waziristan and also served in the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG). Keep doing it. This group consisting of Pakistan, Afghanistan, China and USA played the role of mediation in the inter-Afghan talks. Apart from this, Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza was also a part of the committee formed for reforms in Gilgit-Baltistan under the leadership of Sartaj Aziz.
After becoming a lieutenant general, he was appointed Chief of General Staff, which meant that he became virtually the second most powerful figure in the army after the Chief of Army Staff. In this capacity, he was involved in important decision-making related to foreign affairs and national security. He was also with former Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in the strategic talk held with Chinese Foreign Minister Weng Xi in 2021.
In October 2021, he was posted as Corps Commander Rawalpindi to gain operational experience and qualify him for key positions. A military source has quoted him as saying that he is a clear candidate to become the Chief of Army Staff or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
Lieutenant General Azhar Abbas
Lt Gen Azhar Abbas is the most experienced person on India affairs among the current candidates. He is currently the Chief of General Staff (CGS), which means he practically runs the army, overseeing the operations and intelligence directorates at GHQ. Earlier he had commanded 10 corps. 10 Corps is stationed in Rawalpindi but its main focus is on Kashmir and it is also a politically important corps. This is an indication that he has full confidence of the current army chief.
During the time he was commanding 10 Corps, India and Pakistan forces agreed to respect the 2003 Line of Control ceasefire agreement. It was the responsibility of Lt. Gen. Azhar Abbas to ensure the implementation of this agreement.
Lieutenant General Azhar Abbas has been the Commandant of Infantry School Quetta in the past. He was also the personal staff officer of former Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, which means he has seen the decision-making at the highest level very closely. Due to this position, he has been meeting with the leadership of Pakistan Muslim League (N) and the top leadership of other friendly countries. He also commanded the 12th Infantry Division stationed in Murree where Azad Jammu and Kashmir was included in his area of responsibility.
Lieutenant General Nauman Mehmood
Lieutenant General Nauman Mehmood, who belongs to the Baloch Regiment, is currently the president of the National Defense University. He also has vast experience as Chief Instructor of Command and Staff College Quetta. He had commanded an infantry division in North Waziristan from where he was posted as Director General (Analyses) in the ISI. In this capacity, he played an important role in the analysis of foreign policy in the context of national security. Due to this position, he also got the opportunity to liaise with foreign intelligence agencies on behalf of the ISI.
After becoming a Lieutenant General in 2019, he was posted as Inspector General of Communication and Information Technology at GHQ. Later he was posted in 11 Corps i.e. Peshawar Corps in December 2019. In this capacity, he Oversaw the security and fencing of the Afghan border. This was the period when America was withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan.
In November 2021, he handed over the command of Peshawar Corps to Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed.
Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed
Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed belongs to Baloch Regiment. At present, among the candidates for Army Chief, he is being mentioned the most. It is said that General Bajwa and Lt General Faiz Hameed have known each other for a long time. As Brigadier, Lt Gen Faiz Hameed served as Chief of Staff to General Bajwa in 10 Corps. At that time General Bajwa was commanding 10 Corps.
At the time of General Qamar Javed Bajwa's appointment as Army Chief, Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed was a Major General and was commanding an infantry division in Pannu Aqil, Sindh. Shortly after becoming the Army Chief, General Bajwa appointed him Director General (Counter Intelligence) in the ISI where he was responsible for internal security as well as political affairs.
After becoming a Lieutenant General, he was posted as Adjutant General at GHQ in April 2019. Two months later, he was surprisingly posted as DGISI. In this capacity, he assisted the government in many matters. These included negotiating agreements with IPPs in the energy sector, government reforms, economic recovery. Apart from this, he continued to work on foreign policy and national security issues.
In his last stint as DGISI, he became the center of attention in the conflict between the Army Chief and Imran Khan. The Army Chief wanted to appoint him as Corps Commander Peshawar but Imran wanted him to remain DGISI. He was eventually posted in Peshawar where he spent less than a year after which he was posted as Corps Commander Bahawalpur.
According to some political pundits, it is very difficult for the PML-N leadership to choose him as the army chief, as he was in the news as DGISI during the previous government's tenure. However, even after that, their deployment is not impossible.
Lieutenant General Mohammad Amir
Lt. Gen. Muhammad Aamir belongs to the Artillery Regiment and is currently commanding the Gujranwala Corps. Earlier he was Adjutant General at GHQ. As a Major General, he has commanded 10 Infantry Division in 2017-18 which is stationed in Lahore. He has also served as DG Staff Duties in the Chief of Army Staff Secretariat, which gives him considerable experience in command positions and GHQ. Before that, he was also the Military Secretary of former President Asif Ali Zardari from 2011-13. During his career he has been very close to today's decision makers.
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