ISLAMABAD: Five lieutenant generals are in the running for the top two military slots — Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of the Army Staff.
Defence Ministry sources said that dossiers of five senior-most eligible officers had beensent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to make these appointments. These sources said that the PM was expected to make these high profile appointments in a couple of days, possibly after his return from a foreign visit.
The officers included in the panel in order of their seniority include Chief of General Staff Lt-Gen Zubair Hayat, Multan Corps Commander Lt-Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed, Bahawalpur Corps Commander Lt-Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday, Inspector General Training and Evaluation Lt-Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and Gujranwala Corps Commander Lt-Gen Ikramul Haq.
It is said that generally while making these appointments, the competent authority, besides looking into concerned officers’ dossiers, considers intelligence agencies’ input about the concerned officers’ conduct and repute. Informal consultation with a selected few is also done.According to a cabinet minister, in the present selection process for the new army chief, the government’s 2014 sit-in experiences will also seriously matter.
Till now there is no idea to anyone, even the influential cabinet ministers, who will be the next army chief. It is also said that the prime minister has not yet made up his mind but this is such a sensitive issue for him that even if he has decided, he would not share it with anyone prematurely.
However, Lt-Gen Zubair and Lt-Gen Bajwa appeared relaxed during the reception hosted by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in honour of outgoing Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif. Bitter experiences of the past have made the process of appointment of the army chief a challenge for every prime minister. Every time foremost concern for the prime minister remains to find such an army chief who should respect the constitutional rule and avoid undermining the civilian government’s supremacy.
Under the Constitution, the prime minister has the discretionary power to appoint any eligible officer as the army chief. Mostly in the past, the prime ministers used their discretion instead of strictly following the principle of seniority to make these appointments.
Nawaz Sharif in 1998 appointed Musharraf as the army chief while ignoring his senior on the basis of his apparent loyalty for the Sharifs. However, just like what the late General Ziaul Haq, who too was appointed by Bhutto while ignoring his seniors, did to the Bhutto government, Musharraf also overthrew Nawaz Sharif’s government.
Yet in the case of the incumbent Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s decision of making him the COAS while ignoring his senior worked generally well despite the fact that there had been civil-military tensions on different issues during the last three years.
It is generally acclaimed by the Nawaz Sharif government that General Raheel’s role during the 2014 sit-in was positive and pro-democracy.During the last PPP’s regime and on the basis of his bitter experience of Oct 12, 1999, Nawaz Sharif had said that the appointment of the army chief should be made on the basis of seniority instead of pick and choose.
According to sources, former army chief General (retd) Ashfaq Parvez Kayani did not formally recommend in 2013 who he wanted to see as his successor. However, the sources said that Kayani had groomed the-then Chief of General Staff and incumbent Chairman CJCSC General Rashad Mahmood as his possible successor. Nawaz Sharif, however, opted for General Raheel Sharif while superseding a senior.
The PPP, during its last government, opted to give three-year extension to the-then army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Now the voices from within the PPP, including the Leader of the Opposition Syed Khursheed Shah, suggest the prime minister to make key military appointments on the basis of seniority-cum-fitness.
Syed Khursheed Shah, in a recent public statement, suggested to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to make future top military appointments on the basis of seniority. Shah said that the senior most officer on the panel should be appointed Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and the second one should be offered the post of the army chief.
For the prime minister, the priority would remain to select an army chief who believes in constitutional rule and democracy, remains focused on military’s professional domain and avoids confronting and embarrassing the civilian government. The challenge, however, remains how to select one.