Islamabad: Pakistan is considering appointing a former general from the powerful military as the country’s new security chief, an official said Monday, a move critics said demonstrated the army’s rising grip on civilian power.
A senior security official told AFP there was a “strong likelihood” that recently retired General Naseer Janjua would be appointed to the post, presently held by the Prime Minister’s adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to media, said the final decision rests with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but gave no other details.
Sharif was Monday traveling to the US for talks with President Barack Obama from October 20-23.
The official said the issue has been under discussion at a “very high level” for some time, and local media has also reported Janjua was being considered for the job.
Some analysts hailed the proposal, saying it would go a long way toward increasing coordination between the civil and military leadership of the country.
“The government and military have realized need for enhanced coordination between civil and security agencies to effectively deal with the security issues,” said security analyst Talat Masood.
However critics said it demonstrated the army’s lack of faith in the government.
“The army does not trust the confused civilian leadership, which lacks confidence,” analyst Imtiaz Gul told AFP.
“There is also a lack of trust in the civilian government’s capability in foreign policy and security issues,” he said.
Pakistan officials have blamed India for stirring up a separatist insurgency in Balochistan province.
Janjua, who served in Balochistan, is considered an expert on the province, and Gul said he could “probably support Pakistan’s claim.”
Sharif, who came to power in May 2013 for the third time, has a history of strained ties with the military.
He was first elected in 1990 but sacked three years later on corruption charges. His second term from 1997 to 1999 ended in a military coup by General Pervez Musharraf.
When he took power for his third term in 2013 he vowed to improve relations with Pakistan’s arch-rival India. After the election of his counterpart Narendra Modi in India a year later, hopes were high that a breakthrough might be possible.
Instead a surge in firing across the de-facto Kashmir border since 2014 has claimed dozens of civilian lives on both sides and brought relations to their lowest level in more than a decade.
Ex-general tipped as new Pakistan security chief
Ex-general tipped as new Pakistan security chief
Ukraine marks four years since Russian invasion
- Tuesday’s anniversary is expected to see the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, in Kyiv to mark the occasion
KYIV, Ukraine: Ukraine was on Tuesday marking the fourth anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion, with a show of solidarity from its staunchest allies and no immediate end in sight to Europe’s bloodiest conflict since World War II.
Tens of thousands of lives have been lost since the Kremlin ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022, confident of a quick victory but not expecting the fierce resistance that followed.
The worldwide fallout of the war has been immense, with many European countries increasing their own defense spending in anticipation of a possible confrontation of their own with Russia.
But diplomatic talks between the two sides, relaunched last year by the United States, have so far failed to halt the fighting, which has devastated Ukraine and left it facing the mammoth task — and bill — of reconstruction.
Tuesday’s anniversary is expected to see the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, in Kyiv to mark the occasion.
Both said they would take part in a “commemoration ceremony” and visit the site of a Ukrainian energy facility damaged by Russian strikes before attending a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
They are also due to take part in a videoconference meeting with Kyiv’s allies — the so-called “Coalition of the Willing” which includes Britain, France and Germany.
- Impasse -
Russia, which currently occupies nearly 20 percent of Ukrainian territory, bombs civilian areas and infrastructure on a daily basis.
The Russian bombardment has sparked the worst energy crisis since the start of the invasion, during a bitter winter.
Kyiv’s Western allies have slapped heavy sanctions on Moscow, forcing it to redirect its key oil exports toward new markets, particularly in Asia.
Despite heavy losses, Russian troops have in recent months advanced slowly on the frontline, particularly in the eastern Donbas region, which has been the epicenter of the bloody fighting and which Moscow wants to annex.
US-brokered talks are ongoing, with Zelensky unwavering in his demands for security guarantees from Washington before any talk of “compromise,” including on territory, with Russia.
Russia, though, has rejected Ukrainian proposals for the deployment of European troops in Ukraine after any ceasefire deal.
President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned that he will pursue his objectives by force if diplomacy fails.
- Reconstruction -
The grinding four-year war has devastated Ukraine, which even before the fighting was one of the poorest countries in Europe.
According to a joint World Bank, European Union and United Nations report with Kyiv, published on Monday, the cost of post-war reconstruction is estimated at around $558 billion over the next decade.
Russia justified sending troops into Ukraine to prevent Ukraine’s ambition to join NATO, arguing that Kyiv’s membership of the transatlantic alliance would threaten its own security.
On Monday, during a medal ceremony to mark “Defenders of the Fatherland Day,” Putin insisted that his soldiers were defending Russia’s “borders” in Ukraine, to ensure “strategic parity” between powers and fight for the country’s “future.”
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, for its part considers the war to be a resurgence of Russian imperialism aimed at subjugating the Ukrainian people.
In an interview with the BBC broadcast on Sunday, Zelensky said he believed Putin had “already started” World War III.
“Russia wants to impose on the world a different way of life and change the lives people have chosen for themselves,” he told the British public broadcaster.
