Change of command ceremony of Pakistan Army to be held at GHQ tomorrow


RAWALPINDI, Nov 28 (SABAH): An eminent ceremony to welcome new Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) will take place tomorrow (Tuesday) at the General Headquarters (GHQ), in which General Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah will take charge as COAS.

General Qamar Javed Bajwa is all-set to retire tomorrow (Tuesday) after completing his six-year stint as the Chief of Army Staff.

Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif named the then Lieutenant General Syed Asim Munir on November 24, to take charge of the world’s sixth-largest army, with a formal handover from General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

According to the military’s media wing Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) the outgoing COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa will handover the command stick to the new-appointed COAS Syed Asim Munir, who will be the 17th Chief of the Army Staff.

General Syed Asim Munir who headed both the Military Intelligence (MI) and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) joined Pakistan Army from the Mangala Officers Training School Programme and became a commissioned officer in the Frontier Force Regiment.

Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah commanded the Northern Areas Force as a Brigadier and was appointed the Director-General of Military Intelligence (MI) in the year 2017.

In the year 2018, Syed Asim Munir was appointed as Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). He was succeeded by Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed.

He was then posted as Corps Commander Gujranwala. When he was picked for, he was serving as the Quartermaster General in the Pakistan Army.

General Syed Asim Munir is a Hafiz-e-Quran and is the first army chief who headed both the MI and ISI in the past.