Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who hogged headlines during the regime change in the country which saw prime minister Imran Khan being ousted, is not seeking another term in office, the army has said.
Bajwa is neither asking for an extension nor will he accept it, Pakistan news daily Dawn quoted the army as saying. “He will retire on time on November 29, 2022,” Major General Babar Iftikhar, the director general of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the army’s information wing, said.
A four-star general, Bajwa was granted extension in June 2020, five months before he was set to retire. The 61-year-old general was appointed to the top post in 2016 by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The news comes amid Imran Khan’s exit from the top post amid speculations of a fallout between him and the Pakistan Army. Khan had apparently also tried to sack Bajwa as the Pakistan Army chief, but a notification was not issued by the defence ministry.
Sources had earlier told CNN-News18 that Khan wanted to remove Bajwa and appoint former ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed as the new COAS to proclaim Emergency in the country to suspend courts and other important institutions. However, his plans were thwarted when the defence secretary did not issue the notification to sack Bajwa.
Following this, Bajwa and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum met Khan at his residence and asked him to wind up in the next three hours. Shortly, the 69-year-old premier was ousted in a vote of no confidence in the National Assembly.
Khan became the first Pakistani prime minister to lose a no-trust vote, with the combined opposition casting 174 votes – two more than needed in the 342-member House – to remove him from the position.
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