Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has just promoted Lt. Gen. Asim Munir and Lt. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza to the rank of four-star generals and appointed Munir Pakistan’s new Chief of Army Staff and Mirza the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Under Article 243 of the Constitution, President Arif Alvi is bound to approve the decision (or summary as it is called in the bureaucracy), although he can put it off for 25 days.
Some people are keenly watching to see how the President reacts and others are curious about the fate of the other four generals who were also candidates for these two top posts.
GHQ sent six names to the Ministry of Defence: General Asim Munir, General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, General Azhar Abbas, General Nauman Mahmood, General Faiz Hameed and General Aamir Mahmood in order of seniority. Munir and Mirza were ultimately chosen.
Rumors spreading on social media regarding the appointment of the Army Chief claimed that the Prime Minister would appoint General Asim Munir COAS and General Amir Mehmood the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. If this had indeed happened, all the seniors, Amir Mehmood, Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Azhar Abbas, Nauman Mehmood, Faiz Hameed would have to immediately resign and go home on the grounds of being “superseded”.
It is a tradition in the army that no officer works under his or her junior. That is, if the junior is promoted and the senior officer becomes subordinate to him or her, the senior officer will not continue the job but will immediately resign and go home.
Based on the same principle, whenever the fourth or fifth general on the seniority list were made the army chief, all the generals from first to third or fourth went home.
However, this time Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has appointed the first two generals on the seniority list to the highest positions as four-star generals. Therefore, the other generals on the seniority list are not affected in rank and will continue to serve until their terms are completed.
Every general who becomes a lieutenant general in the Pakistan Army serves for three years and at the end of this period, if he or she is not promoted to the rank of four-star general, they retire and goes home. If promoted to the rank of four-star general, they serve for another three years. General Qamar Javed Bajwa, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, including generals who served for more than three years, were extended by the government.
Lt Gen Azhar Abbas, Lt Gen Nauman Mehmood and Lt Gen Faiz Hameed were promoted to the rank of Lt General in April 2019. They will retire in April 2023.
These three generals now have six months left to their tenure. Meanwhile, they may be transferred to different positions within the army. General Azhar Abbas is currently the Chief of Staff at GHQ. Their chances of an exchange are high.
General Nauman Mehmood is the president of the National Defense University while General Faiz Hameed is commanding the Bahawalpur Corps.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan is accused of wanting to make General Faiz Hameed the army chief so that he could ostensibly win the next election with his help. Imran Khan has repeatedly denied this claim and said that he had no intention of making General Faiz Hameed the Army Chief, had the decision been his to make.
However, even if there was such an alleged plan, it is now unlikely to materialize. General Faiz Hameed will retire in April along with two other generals. The sixth candidate, Lt. Gen. Muhammad Aamir, will retire in September 2023.
In his latest conversation with journalists on Wednesday evening, Imran Khan said that if elections are held in October his or PTI’s popularity will not be harmed. This statement indicates that Imran Khan is now willing to wait for the election.
But it is not yet clear how much the recent changes in the military would change the political landscape further.
