New Army Chief Takes over the Reigns of Pakistan Army

COAS Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa receiving a briefing at the Corp V Headquarter in Karachi on December 14, 2016

A new COAS has taken over the command of Pakistan Army. While he has shown proactive approach expected of the office of the COAS in visiting various forward positions and Corps Headquarters in the month, the most important public messages delivered have been with the COAS stating that ‘we will continue to move ahead the gains made so far [in Operation Zarb-e-Azb]’ as well as in Karachi.¹ The COAS also vowed to ensure ‘foolproof security for CPEC.’

The flurry of visits and public statements is also accompanied by a flurry of postings and transfers, which has seen the face of the Military high command being altered, with new Chief of General Staff, DG ISI, and DG ISPR in place.

PILDAT believes the most critical task facing the new Army Chief is of wrapping up the Operation Zarb-e-Azb by achieving the targets that were set. Although the return of Temporarily Displaced People was to be finished by December 2016, there seems to be no end in sight in this regard.² 

COAS Interactions with Foreign Dignitaries

The trend of COAS meeting foreign dignitaries, apparently without ambassadorial representation is continuing under the new COAS who held the following interactions during December 2016:

COAS calling upon the King of Saudi Arabia and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud on December 18, 2017

'Role' of outgoing COAS in Treason Trial of Gen. (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf

In the developing saga of Gen. (Retd.) Raheel Sharif allegedly protecting Gen. (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf from his treason trial, the former Military-dictator-turned-President decided to step into the fray himself in December 2016.

During an interview to Dunya TV’s Mr. Kamran Shahid on December 19, 2016, he stated that ‘He [Gen. (Retd.) Raheel Sharif] did help me and I am grateful… he helped me out because the cases are politically motivated. They [the PML-N Federal Government] put me on the ECL; they turned it into a political issue’. He went on to say that the Gen. (Retd.) Raheel Sharif had ‘a role to play in releasing the pressure behind the scenes … Once he [Gen. (Retd.) Raheel Sharif] got the Government to relieve the pressure that they were exerting, the courts gave their judgment and allowed me to go abroad for treatment’.

He also went on the say that ‘unfortunately, one has to say it, but shouldn’t have to… our judiciary works under pressure behind the scenes and then gives rulings’.

Gen. (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf’s controversial statements were quick to draw a rebuttal from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who during a hearing on the Ayyan Ali case on December 22, 2016 stated that ‘let it be known to everybody that the judiciary never decides cases under pressure, but in accordance with its conscience’.⁴

Interestingly, however, the presser issued by the Government did not deny the statements made by the former President regarding Gen. (Retd.) Raheel Sharif’s involvement, and instead took an exception to his statement about the sources of his differences with the PML-N led Government, which eventually led to the coup of 1999.⁵ As we noted in our November 2016 issue, it was in fact Federal Minister for States and Frontier Regions, Lt. Gen. (Retd.) Abdul Qadir Baloch, MNA, who had first indicated during a television programme, that saving Gen. (Retd.) Pervez Musharraf ‘had the signatures’ of Gen. (Retd.) Raheel Sharif.⁶

The Prime Minister and the COAS met once during December 2016 on December 05, 2016 when Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa called on the Prime Minister to ‘discuss professional issues related to national security’.

This was a one-on-one meeting without the presence of the Federal Minister for Defence.

References: