ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif intends to appoint a new army chief in the third week of November this year but is being advised to do it now or before the end of this month to avoid speculations besides enabling the new chief to have detailed interactions with the incumbent COAS on important strategic and defence matters before the formal handing over of the baton.
Informed sources said that during the recent weeks and after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s return from London following his heart bypass surgery, the premier was advised by different people to announce the appointment of the new army chief a few months in advance. Some even wanted the new appointment to be announced in August this year.
However, the prime minister avoided doing this. Although, Nawaz Sharif did not share his mind with many, an informed N-Leaguer said that during his few weeks’ back discussion with Nawaz, he found the PM in no hurry to make this appointment. “He told me that he would like to do it in the third week of November,” the PML-N source said.
There has been a lot of speculation about the initiation of the appointment process but in actual the defence ministry did not move any summary containing the names of the eligible candidates. Last month, there were some media reports suggesting that dossiers of eligible senior most Lt-Generals had been sent to the PM. However, it was denied by top Defence Ministry authorities when contacted by The News.
According to an informed federal minister, who was contacted by this correspondent a few weeks back, the panel and the dossiers of the eligible Lt Generals would likely be sent to the PM during the second week of November.
With some of late developments including the Dawn controversy, which is being used by some to create rift between the civil and military leadership, and in view of the PTI’s Oct 30th showdown the demand for early appointment of the new army chief is growing.
There is a frustrated lot, who propagate that the Dawn story was part of some plot and a deliberate government attempt to dent the military. Representing the same lot, a senior journalist wrote, “So who’s peddling the line that things are going wrong on the foreign policy front and Pakistan faces isolation? Elements in the government. And because the army command is being held responsible for these failures, this tack, suddenly so pronounced, amounts to an indirect assault on the army … a chance to get back at the army command for all the acute discomfort caused to the government over the last three years by Gen Raheel Sharif’s public standing … his popular hero status. But there is also a more pragmatic angle to this line of attack.”
Amir added, “As Gen Raheel’s retirement draws nearer, and the question of appointing his successor comes to the fore, raising an alarm over Pakistan’s purported drift towards isolationism at the army’s hands is a way for the government to claw back space and freedom to appoint its own man as the next army chief.”
In journalist’s view, “And the Sharifs have not managed to appoint a loyalist with whom they could feel comfortable as army chief. This is one disappointment which rankles. So this is their last chance to fix the problem and they don’t want to get it wrong. A whispering campaign against Gen Raheel has already started and there has been news of a top-level meeting where purportedly the ISI’s jihadi policies, and their contribution to Pakistan’s purported isolation, came under harsh scrutiny.”
The thinking of the likes of the journalist has influenced many conspiracy theorists, who believe and propagate that an independent newspaper like Dawn has been used by the government to target the army.
As against such frustrated voices, there are some who argue with reasons and logic as to why it is important for the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to announce the new army chief now.
Another senior journalist, in his article, argued, “In the present situation, it is critical that this transfer of power is done on the back of detailed interaction between the outgoing and incoming chiefs. It cannot just be a handshake, a salute and a bouquet of good-wishes. It has to be a deliberate, extensive and many-phased interaction spread over the remaining weeks of General Raheel Sharif’s tenure. From Afghanistan’s peace puzzle to the CPEC, from India touching Pakistan’s nuclear threshold to Washington double-timing Islamabad, from Karachi’s seedy politics to Fata’s final settlement, from the army’s internal financial and administrative affairs to building a core consensus with the civilian leaders on counterterrorism’s next-generation plans, a million things need to be told and explained.”
He added, “Doing it well in the present context means doing it now and doing it gracefully. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will be failing in his duty to the need of the hour and of the nation if he were to keep this decision pending till the last minute. He should be open and swift about it. Announcing the decision on time is a constitutional requirement. Sounding it out to the person replacing General Sharif now is the requirement of the country’s strategic interests. By letting this selection linger on is an expensive policy Pakistan cannot afford.”
“The country needs to plan ahead, politically and militarily. It is confronted with a set of rough challenges. There is no time to stand on ceremony. The new chief’s nomination is the call of our times,” he concluded.
