World News | No Consultation with Nawaz Sharif over Pak's Army Chief's Appointment: Def Min Asif

Islamabad, Nov 14 (PTI) Pakistan Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday rejected reports about consultation with former premier Nawaz Sharif over the Army chief's appointment, underlining that the decision was "strictly" Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's prerogative.

Talking to reporters outside the Parliament and later on, appearing in a talk show on Geo News TV, the minister said that it was the prerogative of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif to make the high-profile appointment.

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“Consultations have not yet taken place on the Army chief's appointment. These are just newspaper reports,” he told the reporters. Later he reiterated the same stance in the TV interview, clarifying that the name of the new Army chief had not been yet decided.

“The prime minister has discretion regarding the Army chief's appointment. Therefore, the prime minister will make a decision on the appointment,” he said. “It is strictly Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's prerogative.”

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The incumbent Army chief, General Qamar Javed Bajwa is set to retire on Nov 29 and an intense speculation game has been going about the appointment of his successor, which got winds by the recent visit of prime minister Shehbaz to London where he met his elder brother Nawaz Sharif and his influential daughter Maryam Nawaz.

It promoted another former premier Imran Khan to make it a public issue by blaming Shehbaz was consulting an absconder over the key appointment.

Nawaz was in jail serving a term for conviction in a corruption case when he was allowed by the court to leave the country for London in 2019 for medical treatment.

He never came back but when his younger brother became prime minister in April this year after the toppling of Khan's government, reportedly Nawaz being the top leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, influences his key policy-making decisions.

However, the defence minister rejected the criticism by Khan regarding consultation over the appointment of the Army chief.

Asif last month said that the process of appointment would officially begin around Nov 18 and by Nov 29 the country will have a new Army chief.

However, Khan lambasted the current government by saying that “important decisions are taken abroad by those who have plundered the state wealth for the past 30 years”.

“This is a violation of the Official Secrets Act. We will consult our lawyers […] How can he [Shehbaz] consult with an absconder and a convict regarding such an important decision,” the PTI chief said.

Asif not only rejected what Khan said, he also in a TV interview accused him of trying to make the Army chief's appointment “controversial”.

The appointment of the Army chief may be a routine affair for other countries but in Pakistan, it generates a lot of heat due to the power wielded by the person heading the Army.

Generals directly controlled the power for almost half of the history of Pakistan. When not in power, some of them pull the strings from behind in a typical game of thrones.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)