Pakistan's prime
minister on Saturday picked Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa to replace
outgoing army chief Raheel Sharif, the popular military leader credited with
improving security and driving back Islamist militant groups.
The army chief is
arguably the most influential person in Pakistan, with the military having
ruled the country for about half of its 69-year history since independence from
Britain and enjoying extensive powers even under civilian administrations.
General Bajwa will
likely take charge of the world's sixth-largest army by troop numbers in a
formal handover on Tuesday, when General Sharif, who is no relation to prime
minister Nawaz Sharif, formally retires.
The appointment of
Bajwa is expected to help reset fraught relations between the military and the
civilian government in a nuclear-armed nation of 190 million people.
Lieutenant General
Zubair Hayat has been appointed chairman of the joint chiefs of staff
committee.
"On the advice
of Pakistani Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, President Mamnoon Hussain
has approved the promotion of Lieutenant General Zubair Mehmood Hayat and
Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa," the prime minister's office said.
As well as
controlling security, the army operates a vast business empire in the country
and often dictates key areas of Pakistan's foreign policy, including relations
with historic foe India and its war-torn western neighbor Afghanistan.
General Sharif, 60,
becomes the first army chief in more than 20 years to step down on time.
Several previous military leaders had obtained extensions to their three-year
terms.
Though security
across Pakistan has vastly improved under General Sharif, with number of
reported "terrorist" attacks down, Bajwa will face vast challenges at
home and abroad.
Islamic State (IS)
is trying to make inroads into the country and militant groups such as the
Pakistani Taliban continue to stage large-scale bomb and gun attacks.
Since August, 184
people have been killed in three major attacks in the restive Baluchistan
region alone.
There are fears that
if violence in Baluchistan escalates it could disrupt work on the road, rail
and energy projects central to the $54 billion China-funded economic corridor
which aims to link Western China to the Arabian Sea at Pakistan's deepwater port
of Gwadar in Baluchistan.
Abroad, Pakistan's
relations with the United States, a long-time ally, as well as nuclear-armed
rival India, have worsened over the past year.
Both countries
accuse Pakistan of harbouring Islamist militant groups, with Afghanistan
incensed by the presence of Afghan Taliban leaders inside Pakistan. Islamabad
denies all such charges.
LOW-KEY STYLE
Little is publicly
known about Bajwa, who has been heading the army's Training and Evaluation
Wing. It is also not clear how he would approach sensitive issues such as
military-civilian relations or his ideological stance toward India.
The military, in a
statement, only sent out a brief army history of Bajwa, who was commissioned in
1980 and was partly educated abroad, including staff college training in Canada
and naval post-graduate studies in the United States.
Bajwa had also
served abroad, commanding the Pakistan Contingent in Congo, and had spent time
commanding infantry divisions.
One cabinet minister
told Reuters that Prime Minister Sharif picked Bajwa because of his low-key
style, and felt the incoming general would be more willing to cede control of
key areas to the civilian government.
"He is
essentially a very low-profile person and after our last experience (with
General Sharif) this is just a very important consideration; someone who
doesn’t want the limelight at all," said the minister, asking not to be
named because of the sensitivity of the issue.
"FINEST
MILITARY LEADER"
When Prime Minister
Sharif chose his namesake as army chief in 2013, it was because the general was
the most apolitical figure among the candidates, sources close to the premier
said at the time.
But once appointed,
General Sharif maintained the army's strong influence within Pakistani
politics. Though he did not overtly meddle and rarely made public political
statements, he was seen as a key player in behind-the-scene decision making.
Analysts say the
political tussle is likely to occur again with the new chief, saying that all
military leaders have ended up challenging the prime minister's authority in
some way once they began to represent the interests of the army.
General Sharif, who
hails from a military family, built a huge following among ordinary Pakistanis
who saw him as a protector against Islamists, corruption and foreign
aggression.
His popularity came
on the back of the military operation Zarb-i-Azb, which drove back Pakistani
Taliban militants from their tribal strongholds and improved security.
An army-led
crackdown in Karachi also drastically reduced crime in the country's biggest
city.
But General Sharif's
popularity, enhanced by the army's slick media unit, also unnerved members of
the ruling PML-N party who were suspicious of efforts to glorify the army
chief.
After their final
official dinner together on Thursday, Prime Minister Sharif praised the
departing general.
"He proved
beyond a shadow of doubt that he is one of the finest military leaders of his
generation," the prime minister said. "Pakistan today is much safer
and stronger than in 2013."
Reuters
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