Bajwa’s second tenure announced over three months before expiry of first term

ISLAMABAD: Three months and ten days before the expiry of his first three-year tenure, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s term was extended by three years by Prime Minister Imran Khan.

Last time, Gen Bajwa’s appointment as chief commander had been notified on Nov 26, 2016, just three days before the start of his tenure. He had assumed the command on November 29 after the retirement of Gen Raheel Sharif.

Gen Bajwa is the second top commander, who has been given another tenure as COAS by a civilian government. Earlier, army chief Ashfaque Parvez Kayani’s tenure was extended by three years by the then Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) government.

In the cases of some other army chiefs, including Pervez Musharraf, Ziaul Haq and Ayub Khan, they had themselves been extending their tenures for many years for being the chief executives of Pakistan for having imposed martial law. They had mostly been giving themselves one-year extensions.

Army chiefs Abdul Waheed Kakar and Mirza Aslam Beg had retired after serving three-year tenure each. Gen Jehangir Karamat had to go prematurely while Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua’s term was terminated by his sudden death.

Raheel Sharif was nominated as the army chief on Nov 27, 2013, just two days before he took the command.

The then Prime Minister, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, had announced the three-year extension of the tenure of Gen Kayani on July 22, 2010, four months and seven days before the end of his first term. He had stated that generals can’t be changed in the middle of wars.

Gen Asif Nawaz Janjua was also appointed a few months before the retirement of Gen Mirza Aslam Beg.

By giving extension to Gen Bajwa, Prime Minister Imran Khan has taken the first major decision as the chief executive of Pakistan, two days after he completed his first year in government.