ISLAMABAD : Information minister , Maryam Aurangzeb , has said there was no discussion at the moment on appointment of the new army chief. She, however, in a private TV show on Tuesday evening , said the appointment of the next army chief will be made by the incumbent government .
The appointment of the new army chief is always a thorny issue in Pakistan’s politics . It does have some reasons .
Pakistani politicians always desire to have close relationship with the military leadership.
The sitting army chief , Qamar Javed Bajwa, is scheduled to retire on November 29,2022. Historically , the prime minister in office appoints the new army chief around two months or so prior to the date of retirement of the sitting army chief .
If the same approach is followed this time too, the prime minister can appoint the new army chief sometimes in late September or in early October this year .
Since Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) chairman , Imran Khan , had great desire to appoint the new army chief of his choice , but he lost the rule by taking his this great desire in his heart since ouster in April last he is pressing the government to call on new elections maximum by July 31, 2022. The idea behind his demand of having the new general elections in the country by end July is appointment of the new army chief. Although, the PTI chairman is keeping his anti Sharifs and Zardari’s rant intact and keep on pressing the Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) led cialition government to call on general elections through street shows, but so for his political pressure is not quite enough to force the coalition government to accept his demand .
In the prevailing political scenario ,there is very little chance that Imran Khan succeeds in overthrowing incumbent government and come into the power before the retirement of the sitting army chief . Although Imran Khan has clarified recently that he did not want to bring in his own man in the army as its chief, but his clarification carries little weightage as he had been time and again speaking out his mind in the party circles and high level meetings like the federal cabinet to appoint a general known for his close contact as next army chief .
Informed sources in Islamabad claim that the ousted prime minister lost his trust to the army leadership for two reasons and the same cost him his rule : appointment of top spy master and appointment of Qamar Javed Bajwa’s successor .
The Information minister also spoke on various important issues like performance of the ousted government , price hike , inflation , the recently reported political support of general , Zaheerul Islam and its possible affect on the government .
