General Asim Munir has taken charge as Pakistan’s new army chief, a crucial change of command in an institution that plays a hugely influential part in the governance of the nuclear-fortified nation.
“I’m certain that his(Munir’s) appointment will prove positive for the army and the country,” gregarious chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Tuesday at a handover form at the army’s General Headquarters in the garrison megacity of Rawalpindi.
Munir, who was named as the new chief last week, takes control at a time when the army has been drawn into a political showdown between the government and former high minister Imran Khan, indeed as the country faces a profitable extremity and TTP terror group.
The army has historically applied huge influence in Pakistan, ruling it for half of its 75- time history, but it has also been fighting original and foreign zealots since 2001 when Pakistan came to a support of the United States in the “war on terror.”
The alliance infuriated Pakistani zealots, some of whom joined the Afghan Taliban in the times-long war that ended in 2021 with the pullout of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Also Read: Timeline of Talks with Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan(TTP)
TTP challenge
One of the crucial challenges faced by the country’s new army chief, General Asim Munir, will be how to respond to the rearmost trouble from the Pakistani Taliban, also known as TTP, which has ordered its fighters to renew attacks across the country.
The service has also been fighting secessionists in the southwest.
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate group but is confederated with the Afghanistan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan more than a time ago as the US and NATO colors were in the final stages of their retirement.
Bajwa, during his term, had approved a series of operations against the zealots to evict them from the country’s former northwestern ethnical regions skirting Afghanistan.
Bajwa also opened peace addresses with TTP before this time.
Also Read: A Timeline Of Pakistan’s Army Chiefs Since 1947 To 2022
The Pakistani Taliban had agreed to an indefinite ceasefire in May after addresses with Pakistan’s government and military officers in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.
The TTP, in a statement on Monday ended the ceasefire, covenanting new attacks.
That has raised fears of violence in Pakistan, which has witnessed scores of deadly attacks, substantially claimed by the TTP, a marquee group of several militant coalitions.
The Pakistani Taliban were behind a 2014 attack on an army-run academy in the northwestern megacity of Peshawar that killed 147 people, substantially schoolchildren.
On Tuesday, Hina Rabbani Khan, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister, traveled to Kabul on a planned visit. She was anticipated to bandy colorful issues, including the rearmost trouble from the Pakistani Taliban, in her addresses with government officers.
Military’s part in politics
Tuesday’s change in military command comes days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif named Munir to replace Bajwa, who handed over his traditional “cane of command” to Munir at a form amid tight security in the garrison megacity of Rawalpindi.
Munir was promoted to four-star general by Sharif last week to replace Bajwa, who retired at the height of his unpopularity.
In his speech, Bajwa complimented Munir and hoped that during his term, the country’s defence would be further strengthened.
Bajwa surfaced as one of the most controversial army chiefs this time when opposition leader Imran Khan indicted him of ousting his government as part of a US-led plot, a charge Sharif, the United States, and the service have denied.
In his speech last week, Bajwa admitted the service’s hindrance in politics for the once 70 times, which he said was “unconstitutional.”
“Thus, in February last time, the service decided after a lot of deliberation that it would noway again intrude in any political matter in the future. I assure you we’re rigorously committed to it,” he said.
Khan, a former justice star turned politician, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament, and he wants new military leadership to end the political fermentation. The army chief is extensively seen as the de facto sovereign in Pakistan.
Munir’s approach to the moping political feud was unclear.
Munir has assumed the command of the military amid an impasse between Khan and Sharif, who says the coming pates will be held as listed in 2023. The service so far has intimately said that it’ll not play a part in politics, meaning it was over to Sharif’s government and Khan to resolve any political issues.
Source: TRT World
General Asim Munir has taken charge as Pakistan’s new army chief, a crucial change of command in an institution that plays a hugely influential part in the governance of the nuclear-fortified nation.
“I’m certain that his(Munir’s) appointment will prove positive for the army and the country,” gregarious chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said on Tuesday at a handover form at the army’s General Headquarters in the garrison megacity of Rawalpindi.
Munir, who was named as the new chief last week, takes control at a time when the army has been drawn into a political showdown between the government and former high minister Imran Khan, indeed as the country faces a profitable extremity and TTP terror group.
The army has historically applied huge influence in Pakistan, ruling it for half of its 75- time history, but it has also been fighting original and foreign zealots since 2001 when Pakistan came to a support of the United States in the “war on terror.”
The alliance infuriated Pakistani zealots, some of whom joined the Afghan Taliban in the times-long war that ended in 2021 with the pullout of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Also Read: Timeline of Talks with Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan(TTP)
TTP challenge
One of the crucial challenges faced by the country’s new army chief, General Asim Munir, will be how to respond to the rearmost trouble from the Pakistani Taliban, also known as TTP, which has ordered its fighters to renew attacks across the country.
The service has also been fighting secessionists in the southwest.
The Pakistani Taliban is a separate group but is confederated with the Afghanistan Taliban, who seized power in Afghanistan more than a time ago as the US and NATO colors were in the final stages of their retirement.
Bajwa, during his term, had approved a series of operations against the zealots to evict them from the country’s former northwestern ethnical regions skirting Afghanistan.
Bajwa also opened peace addresses with TTP before this time.
Also Read: A Timeline Of Pakistan’s Army Chiefs Since 1947 To 2022
The Pakistani Taliban had agreed to an indefinite ceasefire in May after addresses with Pakistan’s government and military officers in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.
The TTP, in a statement on Monday ended the ceasefire, covenanting new attacks.
That has raised fears of violence in Pakistan, which has witnessed scores of deadly attacks, substantially claimed by the TTP, a marquee group of several militant coalitions.
The Pakistani Taliban were behind a 2014 attack on an army-run academy in the northwestern megacity of Peshawar that killed 147 people, substantially schoolchildren.
On Tuesday, Hina Rabbani Khan, the country’s Deputy Foreign Minister, traveled to Kabul on a planned visit. She was anticipated to bandy colorful issues, including the rearmost trouble from the Pakistani Taliban, in her addresses with government officers.
Military’s part in politics
Tuesday’s change in military command comes days after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif named Munir to replace Bajwa, who handed over his traditional “cane of command” to Munir at a form amid tight security in the garrison megacity of Rawalpindi.
Munir was promoted to four-star general by Sharif last week to replace Bajwa, who retired at the height of his unpopularity.
In his speech, Bajwa complimented Munir and hoped that during his term, the country’s defence would be further strengthened.
Bajwa surfaced as one of the most controversial army chiefs this time when opposition leader Imran Khan indicted him of ousting his government as part of a US-led plot, a charge Sharif, the United States, and the service have denied.
In his speech last week, Bajwa admitted the service’s hindrance in politics for the once 70 times, which he said was “unconstitutional.”
“Thus, in February last time, the service decided after a lot of deliberation that it would noway again intrude in any political matter in the future. I assure you we’re rigorously committed to it,” he said.
Khan, a former justice star turned politician, was ousted in a no-confidence vote in Parliament, and he wants new military leadership to end the political fermentation. The army chief is extensively seen as the de facto sovereign in Pakistan.
Munir’s approach to the moping political feud was unclear.
Munir has assumed the command of the military amid an impasse between Khan and Sharif, who says the coming pates will be held as listed in 2023. The service so far has intimately said that it’ll not play a part in politics, meaning it was over to Sharif’s government and Khan to resolve any political issues.
Source: TRT World
