Pakistan to amend army law to have greater influence over appointments, Defense minister ahead of planned resignation of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa.
Defense Minister Khawaja M. Asif on Wednesday confirmed the government's plan but expressed his disapproval of the "media hype" about it. He said the government was not considering any major changes to the Pakistan Army Act (PAA) in . Asif said the proposed set of changes was necessary following the Supreme Court's 2019 ruling, which called for legislation on service chiefs' conditions.
However, he appeared non-binding on the scope of the changes and the timeline for the legislation, saying that no major changes to the Army Law were being considered and that any changes that would be made would be made in due course. Moment. ' reported the Dawn newspaper.
General Bajwa, 61, who has been extended by three years, will retire on November 29. The minister tweeted: "The media hype surrounding the amendments to the Pakistan Army Act is unnecessary.
The government is not considering any major changes to the said law. The SCP had called for a review of the relevant clauses of the law. PAA in its sentence in CP 39/2019 to be complied with in due course.
Consistent with the proposed amendment to Section 176 entitled “Power to Make Regulations”, subsection (2-a), the word “retention” is added after “re-election” in clause (a) of the PAA. in the current text of the law, while the word “resignation” would be inserted after the word “release.
The change was originally proposed by headquarters, according to the Department of Defense summary for the Cabinet Committee on the Provision of Legal Matters (CCLC) and, on the face of it, it appears it that should achieve the goal of getting General Bajwa to continue," the report said.
Retaining an acting army chief with a simple notification, rather than a complex constitutional process that also requires the President's approval. The proposed changes were approved by the Department of Defense last month and finalized at a Nov. 11 meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Eliminating the Legislative Cases (CCLC), but were canceled for unknown reasons.
A retired defense official, who wished to remain anonymous, told Dawn that the "preservation" plan appeared to be aimed at the acting army chief, and none other than.
The leader of Pakistan's opposition Tehreek-e-Insaf party, Imran Khan, who had previously shown keen interest in the appointment of the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS), appears to have taken a back seat and has stated that he has no problem with the shehbaz government being appointed as the new chief of the army.
Meanwhile, as is tradition, General Bajwa began making his farewell visits to various formations. Yesterday Malir visited Garrison in Karachi. He and Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the th Army, have claimed that he will retire at the end of his term and will not seek further extensions.