Pakistan seeks Constitutional modification to rule on military chief appointment

The Pakistan authorities is looking for to amend the Constitution to allow the prime minister to nominate or retain a military chief with only a notification.

Islamabad,UPDATED: Nov 17, 2022 06:45 IST

Pakistan’s Chief of the Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa will retire on November 29 (Photo: File)

By Press Trust of India: With lower than two weeks left for the retirement of General Qamar Javed Bajwa, the Pakistan authorities is looking for to amend an Act of 1952 to have better authority over the appointment and retention of the Army chief, in accordance with a media report on Wednesday.

The present military chief, Gen Bajwa, will likely be retiring by November 29 after serving for six years, which incorporates one extension to his time period.

The deliberate modification of the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) 1952 would empower the prime minister to retain an incumbent Army chief with a easy notification moderately than by means of a posh constitutional course of which additionally requires the President’s assent, the Dawn newspaper reported.

“The current legislation calls on the government to follow a set procedure to reappoint or extend the tenure of the Army chief, through a summary through the Ministry of Defence, followed by the Prime Minister’s approval and a final nod from the President,” a senior lawyer was quoted as saying by the report.

According to the proposed modification in Section 176 titled ‘Power to make rules’, sub-section (2-a), in clause (a) of the PAA, the word ‘retention’ shall be inserted after ‘reappointment’ within the present textual content of the legislation, whereas the phrase ‘resignation’ can be inserted after the phrase ‘release’.

The proposed adjustments have been authorized by the Ministry of Defence final month and have been set to be at a November 11 assembly of the Cabinet Committee for Disposal of Legislative Cases (CCLC) however have been cancelled for unknown causes, the report mentioned.

Lt-Gen Asim Munir, the senior most of these mentioned to be within the working to turn into the subsequent military chief, can also be set to retire just a few days earlier than Gen Bajwa’s tenure involves an finish.

The appointment of the Army chief could also be a routine affair for different nations, however in Pakistan, it generates numerous warmth as a result of energy wielded by the individual heading the Army.

There has been intense ongoing hypothesis concerning the appointment of the brand new Army chief. The current go to of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to London the place he met his elder brother Nawaz Sharif and his influential daughter Maryam Nawaz added additional momentum to the hypothesis.

Ousted Prime Minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman, Imran Khan has beforehand slammed Shehbaz and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) supremo Nawaz, and questioned how the Prime Minister may seek the advice of with “a convict” on the appointment of the brand new Army chief.

Nawaz was in jail serving a time period for conviction in a corruption case when he was allowed by the courtroom to go away the nation for London in 2019 for medical therapy.

He lambasted the present authorities by saying that “essential choices are taken overseas by those that have plundered the state wealth for the previous 30 years”.

However, Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif rejected reports about consultation with former premier Nawaz Sharif over the Army chief’s appointment, underlining that the decision was “strictly” Prime Minister Shehbaz’s prerogative.

Generals in Pakistan have immediately managed energy for nearly half of the historical past of Pakistan.

When not in energy, a few of them pull the strings from behind in a typical sport of thrones.

Read | Imran Khan once more targets Pakistan Army, accuses it of weakening unbiased establishments

Published On:

Nov 17, 2022