Shehbaz govt has no right to appoint new army chief’, Fawad Chaudhry

Former federal Law Minister Fawad Chaudhry has said that the constitution gives the right to the elected Prime Minister to appoint the Army Chief. He said that such important appointments will create anarchy in the country if done by an imported government, which is just temporary and not permanent. “The present government has no right to make such important appointments.”

Fawad’s tweet came after Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in a meeting with journalists said that appointment of Army chief will be done constitutionally at the right time.

PPP Senator Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar while responding to Fawad’s tweet wrote, “Making the appointment of a new Army Chief controversial is an irresponsible attempt by your party to push this country towards anarchy. This statement of yours in the lust for power is a conspiracy to create divisions in the army.”

Khokhar added: “We have the examples of Iraq and Libya in front of us. Disagree with the military, of course, but it is a national institution.”

General Qamar Javed Bajwa is due to retire as Chief of Army Staff on November 29, 2022 after a three-year extension. He was appointed as the army chief by the then prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, in 2016.