ISLAMABAD: General elections may be held in Pakistan before the appointment of a new army chief this November, Pakistani defense minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif said in an interview to international media broadcast on Wednesday.
Pakistan’s current Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa is scheduled to retire in November this year. The military’s spokesperson Major General Asim Iftikhar announced last month the chief would neither seek an extension nor accept one if offered by the government.
Former prime minister Imran Khan, ousted in April in a no-confidence vote, has demanded new elections be announced immediately, though the election commission has repeatedly said it cannot hold polls until at least October.
“We may have to hold elections before the appointment of the army chief, before November,” Asif told the BBC. “Then there will be a caretaker government. It is also possible that the caretaker government will leave before November and a new government will come.”
When asked whether the prime minister would extend Bajwa’s tenure, Asif said the army chief had himself announced he would not be seeking an extension.
“I welcome this announcement as it closes the doors of speculation,” he said.
When asked about the possibility of the government appointing former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief and current Peshawar Corps Commander Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed, who is considered to be close to former PM Khan, as Pakistan’s next army chief, Asif replied:
“If the defense minister provides five officers’ names to the prime minister and if the army also includes Lt Gen Faiz Hameed’s name, then I don’t think the Ministry of Defense or the prime minister can ask for three or eight names, instead of five.”
He said if Hameed’s name was included in the seniority list, “it would be considered.”
Asif also called for the process of the army chief’s appointment to be “institutionalized.”
“This process should be institutionalized like it is done in the judiciary and hence, there is no room for speculation,” he said. “I know who is going to be [appointed] as the chief justice in 2028.”
