PM Shehbaz picks Lt Gen Asim Munir as new army chief, Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza as CJCSC

After weeks of violent enterprise and rumours, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday chose Lt Gen Asim Munir as the new chief of army staff(COAS).

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb made the advertisement on Twitter, saying the premier had made the choice while exercising his indigenous powers. She further said that Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza had been picked as the president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee(CJCSC).

Key Points:

• PM picks Lt Gen Asim Munir as new COAS and Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza as CJCSC
• Information minister says summary for appointments has been sent for president’s approval
• Defence minister hopes president will not make the appointments “controversial”
• PTI chief Imran Khan says “I and the president of Pakistan will act according to the Constitution and laws” after the summary is received
• Outgoing CJCSC General Nadeem Raza holds farewell meetings with president and PM

She went on to say that a summary of the same had been transferred to President Arif Alvi.

Speaking to the media twinkles after the advertisement was made, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said the matter had been decided according to the law and the Constitution, calling on the nation to refrain from viewing it through a “political lens”.

He expressed the stopgap that the chairman would not make the movables “controversial” and would plump the advice of the premier.

The defence minister reiterated that the chairman should plump the premier’s advice so that a “contestation may not arise”. “This will also help our country and the frugality to get on track. presently, everything is at a deadlock.”

He expressed the same in a tweet, saying that the advice had been encouraged to the chairman. He went on to say that it would now be a test for former premier Imran Khan where he could either strengthen the institution responsible for defending the country or make it controversial.

“This is also a test for President Alvi, whether he’ll follow political advice or the indigenous and legal advice,” he said. “As the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, it’s his duty to cover the country from political conflicts,” he said about Alvi.

Imran to consult with Alvi

Meanwhile, PTI’s sanctioned account quoted Imran Khan as saying that “After the summary comes, I and the chairman of Pakistan will act according to the Constitution and laws.”

His statement comes a day after Imran claimed President Alvi will “definitely” consult him as soon as the summary for the appointment of next army chief reaches his office.

“President Alvi will definitely consult me on the summary for the appointment of army chief and take a decision as per the law and Constitution. I am head of the party that Dr Alvi belongs to,” he remarked while speaking to journalists at his Zaman Park residence on Wednesday.

Outgoing CJCSC calls on Alvi for farewell meeting

“The president appreciated the services of General Nadeem Raza for national defence,” it said. “The president expressed his best wishes for General Raza.”

COAS appointment saga
Gregarious COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa was first supposed to retire in 2019. still, his term was extended three times by also-high minister Imran Khan in Aug 2019, just three months before he was set to retire.

Despite enterprise about him seeking another extension, Bajwa had indicated several months ago that he planned to retire this time.

His withdrawal plan was latterly verified by the Inter-Services Public Relations(ISPR) on at least a couple of occasions and the general had himself in the last many months doubly made it clear that he’d no intentions to carry on — formerly during his visit to the United States and also again while speaking at the National Security Workshop at National Defence University.

The coming army chief’s appointment is at times mentioned as one of the major plots in the ongoing political extremity gulfing the country which began before this time following the tabling of a no-trust stir against Imran.

Dubieties about Bajwa’s withdrawal plan had been so strong that Imran when faced with the vote of no- confidence, suspected that the political movement against him was linked to Gen Bajwa’s impending withdrawal. He had, thus, offered an indefinite extension to Gen Bajwa in a shot to convert the also opposition’s vote against him, as per a recent presser by elderly military officers.

Gen Bajwa eventually started his farewell visits to conformations on Nov 1 with a visit to the Army Air Defence Command and followed up the coming day with a visit to Armed Forces Strategic Forces Command. Since also, he still voyaged a number of conformations.

Lt Gen Asim Munir —  A brief biography 

Lt. Gen. Asim Munir After completing the Mangala Officers Training School program, Lt. Gen. Asim Munir joined the Pakistan Army and became a commissioned officer in the Frontier Force Regiment.

He was a brigadier in charge of the Northern Areas Force before being given the position of director-general of Military 

Intelligence at the beginning of 2017.He was given the position of director-general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in 2018.

He was then appointed Corps Commander Gujranwala for a period of two years.He is currently working at the General Headquarters (GHQ) as the Quarter Master.

He will become the first army chief to lead the MI and the ISI simultaneously.Additionally, Lieutenant General Munir will be the first army chief to receive the Sword of Honour.

At the age of 38, the military officer became Hafiz-i-Quran, or a person who has memorized the Quran, when he was posted as a lieutenant colonel in Madina.

Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza —A brief biography

Lt. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza Lt. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza was the director-general of military operations under the former COAS Raheel Sharif. He is from the Sindh Regiment.

In addition, Lt. Gen. Mirza oversaw the fight against terrorists in North Waziristan and was a member of the group that coordinated negotiations with Afghanistan.

Additionally, the Gilgit-Baltistan Reforms Committee included him.In the wake of turning into a Lt Gen, Mirza was designated as the Head of the General Staff.He is currently the Corps Commander for Rawalpindi.

Source: Dawn News/Geo.tv