LAHORE: Former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairperson Imran Khan said that neither did he care about who the new army chief would be nor did he want the army chief of his choice but wanted a merit-based appointment of the new army chief.

“All I care about is the merit-based appointment of the new army chief,” the PTI chief said talking to th journalist at the Chief Minister House in Lahore on Wednesday.

Pakistan’s constitution allows the prime minister to pick the military head from a list of generals submitted by the outgoing chief. The army chief’s term is three years.

Earlier in the day while addressing a press conference Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that the process of appointing the new army chief would start by month-end.

“Five senior officers are shortlisted for the appointment of the new army chief,” the defence minister said addressing a press conference in Islamabad, adding that the new army chief could be chosen from any of those officers.

Speaking about preparations for his party’s long march on Islamabad, Imran Khan claimed that he will give the federal government a “surprise” this time as the government was “clueless” about his plan.

“I will not tell anyone the date, everything is recorded, that’s why I have kept the details of long march to myself,” the PTI chief said.

Earlier in the day, while delegating the responsibilities to the district-level officer bearers in Punjab, the PTI chairman directed the local leaders to gather 6,000 people for the long march from each district of the province.

He said that he would announce the ‘Haqeeqi Azadi’ [real freedom] movement soon. “This will be my last call before the election.”

Imran Khan, who was deposed through a no-confidence vote in April, has been staging rallies of his party supporters nationwide to press for early general elections, alleging that his successor conspired with the United States to oust him from office.