Extension for Pakistan Army chief can wait: PM Imran Khan

Imran Khan. File pic/AFP

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan has said he has not yet thought about an extension to Chief of Army Staff Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa's tenure as there is still time for his term to end, according to a media report on Friday.

Talking about the contentious issue of the extension in Bajwa's tenure, Prime Minister Khan said that he enjoyed an unprecedented relationship with the military leadership, the Dawn newspaper reported. "The current year has just started and November is far away. Then why there is worry about extension in the tenure of the army chief," the prime minister was quoted as saying. Khan said that he had so far not thought about extension in the tenure of COAS Bajwa. The 61-year-old will serve the post of Army chief till November 28, 2022.

Bajwa, a close confidant of Khan, was to retire on November 29, 2019 at the end of his three-year original term but PM Khan gave him another extension of same length. However, the Supreme Court on November 28 suspended the government order, observing that there is no law to give extension to the Army chief's tenure. But it granted a six-month extension to Gen Bajwa after being assured by the government that Parliament will pass a legislation on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months.

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