All names in seniority list sent by GHQ recommended for appointment of new COAS including Lt. Gen Faiz will be deliberated: Khawaja Asif
ISLAMABAD, May 11 (SABAH): Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif has said that the possibility of holding general elections prior to the appointment of a new chief of army staff (COAS) cannot be ruled out. Khawaja Asif said that all the names in the seniority list sent by General Headquarters (GHQ) recommended for the appointment of new Chief of Army Staff (COAS) in next November including Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed will be deliberated.
In an interview with “BBC Urdu”, Khawaja Muhammad Asif said, “It is possible that we hold elections before the [new] army chief’s appointment, before November. There will be a caretaker government at that time. It is also possible that the caretaker government is gone and the new government is [in power] before November.”
Incumbent Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa will remain in office till November 29 this year, after his three-year tenure was extended in 2019.
In response to a question about whether the PML-N-led coalition government could give the incumbent COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa another extension, Khawaja Asif said General Bajwa had already announced that he does not want his tenure to be extended.
The defence minister said he welcomed the announcement because it had “closed the doors of speculation” and noted that the previous army chief, General (retd) Raheel Sharif, too, had not “directly or indirectly demanded an extension”.
He was then asked whether the entire process for Imran’s removal was because of the former premier’s “desire to do things his way”. Denying that this was the case, Khawaja Asif said it was the prime minister’s prerogative to choose who he wanted from the list of names recommended to him by the army.
He noted that army chiefs had been appointed in 2013 and 2016 and the premier at the time had taken the decisions on merit and respected the army’s recommendations.
“[Former premier] Nawaz Sharif did not know general Raheel Sharif. He knew General Qamar Javed Bajwa because he had served as the Rawalpindi core commander. But the institution’s recommendations were respected both times. The [new] appointment will be made on merit in the same way.”
Khawaja Asif said he believed the process for appointing an army chief should be “institutionalised” similar to the judiciary. “There is no speculation about [a chief justice]. I know who will become the chief justice in 2028.”
“In my personal opinion, instead of discussing the matter of the army chief’s appointment, the process should 100 per cent be based on merit. This is a big and very important issue, it should never be the subject of political debate,” BBC Urdu quoted him as saying.
In a bid to protect his political interests and the continuation of his rule over the country, former prime minister Imran Khan wanted to bring an army chief of his choice, BBC Urdu quoted Asif as saying.
Khawaja Asif further added that his government was not toppled over to stop his interference in the process of appointing the new army chief.
The defence minister maintained that it is the discretion of the prime minister to select one of the names sent by the army. The PML-N leader admitted that Khan is a “popular leader” but he has failed to deliver.
“He [Imran Khan] is hiding his failures behind two or three statements. Khan is playing the religion card and retreating from the anti-US narrative,” he added.