ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: In view of the ‘regional security environment’, Prime Minister Imran Khan has granted a three-year extension to the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa till November 2022, the Dispatch News Desk (DND) news agency reported.
“General Qamar Javed Bajwa is appointed Chief of Army Staff for another term of three years from the date of completion of current tenure. The decision has been taken in view of the regional security environment,” said a notification issued on Monday by the Prime Minister Secretariat in Islamabad in this regard.
General Qamar Javed Bajwa assumed the Office as Pakistan’s 10th Chief of Army Staff on November 29, 2016.
His appointment was made by the former President Mamnoon Hussain on the advice of then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
I welcome the extension of General Bajwa for another term. His leadership, integrity and patriotism is critical at this crucial juncture when Pakistan is facing a grave crisis in Kashmir. The whole nation can feel comfortable that leadership of our armed forces is in good hands.
— Naeem ul Haque (@naeemul_haque) August 19, 2019
While appreciating the three-year extension granted to General Bajwa, the Chief Editor DND Agha Iqrar Haroon said that the regional situation needed such an impressive decision.
Agha Iqrar said that with his extension, the continuity of civil and military leadership in the Country has been ensured.
Prior to being promoted to the rank of four-star generals, General Qamar Javed Bajwa was the Inspector General Training and Evaluation at the Pakistan army’s General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.
While being in service as the COAS, General Qamar Javed Bajwa was conferred with Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military) in December 2016 along with the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Zubair Mahmood Hayat.
It is worth noting that Bajwa’s predecessor General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani also received a three-year extension in Pakistan People’s Party’s (PPP) tenure; however, General Raheel Sharif declined to accept an extension in his service as the Army Chief. Later General (retd) Raheel Sharif was granted an no-objection certificate (NOC) by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to head the Saudi-led 39-nation military alliance of Muslim States.
