R Krishna Das
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif today named General Asim Munir as Pakistan’s next army chief, a choice that could harden former premier Imran Khan’s opposition to the government and plunge the country into fresh political crisis.
Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza has been named as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
The move could also stoke Khan’s high-stakes clash with the military as he as Prime Minister had removed Munir from the role of intelligence chief. In the political circle, the appointment is also seen as a possible obstacle to force early elections in the country.
Munir will take over from Qamar Javed Bajwa Bajwa who retires on November 29. He has been a close aide of Gen Bajwa ever since he commanded troops in the Force Command Northern Areas as a brigadier under the outgoing army chief, who was then Commander X Corps.
Lt Gen Munir was later appointed Military Intelligence director general in early 2017. In October next year, he was made the Inter-Services Intelligence chief. However, his stint as the top intelligence officer turned out to be the shortest ever.
He was replaced by Lt Gen Faiz Hamid within eight months, on the insistence of then-Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Outgoing COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa was originally supposed to retire in 2019. However, his tenure was extended for three years by Imran Khan in August 2019, just three months before he was set to retire.
The next army chief’s appointment is at times mentioned as one of the major subplots in the ongoing political crisis engulfing the country that began earlier this year following the tabling of a no-trust motion against Imran.
Hours after receiving a summary about Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s nominations for the next army chief and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), President Arif Alvi touched down in Lahore for a meeting with PTI chief Imran Khan.
