World

Pakistan PM set to appoint new army chief

kem haris 2 years ago 3 min read

Pakistan’s nuclear-armed military will quickly have a brand new commander, with the top minister’s workplace confirming that it had acquired a listing of names of six senior generals for arguably the maximum effective submit withinside the us of a.

The contemporary leader of military group of workers, General Qamar Javed Bajwa, is to step down on November 29 after serving for 6 years.

The workplace of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif tweeted on Wednesday that it had acquired the names for the positions of military leader in addition to chairman of the joint chiefs of group of workers committee.

“The Prime Minister will take a selection at the appointments as according to the laid down procedure,” it noted.

Bajwa took price of the 600,000-sturdy military for 3 years in November 2016. He changed into granted an extension in August 2019 through then-Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The affirmation from the top minister’s workplace accompanied confusion, claims and counter-claims on Tuesday night time that performed out withinside the information in addition to on social media, triggering hypothesis of strained ties among the authorities and the navy.

The navy is taken into consideration to be Pakistan’s maximum effective group and has dominated the us of a for extra than 3 many years of the seventy five years because it won independence in 1947, and additionally imposed martial regulation thrice.

As top minister, Sharif has the authority to choose any preferred from a endorsed listing.

Defence minister Khawaja Asif tweeted that the listing of names could be despatched to the top minister’s workplace in “due time” after a personal broadcaster stated that the names have been in.

“The Prime Minister has now no longer acquired the precis as yet. God willing, receipt of the precis to PMO might be performed in due time,” he posted.

However, beyond midnight, Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the navy’s media wing, confirmed, thru a tweet, that the six names have been despatched to the defence ministry.

The defence minister took to Twitter an hour later to verify the listing’s status.

“The precis from Ministry of Defence has been acquired on the PMO. God willing, relaxation of the stairs may also be finished quickly,” he wrote.

Asif attempted to downplay what regarded to be a impasse over the selection for the pinnacle job. He stated in a TV interview that the authorities and navy don’t have any variations and any claims to the opposite have been unfounded.

Neither the ISPR nor the ministry noted the names of the pinnacle generals, who are, so as of seniority: Lt General Asim Munir, Lt General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Lt General Azhar Abbas, Lt General Nauman Mehmood, Lt General Faiz Hameed and Lt General Mohammad Amir.

Commenting at the uncertainty across the appointment, Singapore-primarily based totally protection analyst Abdul Basit stated the endless political tussles and strength video games have come on the price of governance in Pakistan.

“This steady battle for strength, ensuing in perpetual instability, is not going to subside regardless of the brand new leader’s appointment and elections subsequent year,” he stated.