AGENCY
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday picked Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa to replace outgoing army chief Raheel Sharif.
General Bajwa will likely take charge of the world’s sixth-largest army by troop numbers in a formal handover on Tuesday, when General Sharif formally retires.
Besides serving as commander of X Corps, Bajwa also added to his expertise on Kashmir affairs by leading the Force Command Northern Areas as a major general. Lt Gen Hayat is serving as chief of general staff (CGS) and was the senior-most of the four contenders for the army chief’s post. He also served as director general of the Strategic Plans Division (SPD), which oversees the country’s nuclear weapons.
His expertise in the SPD made him a good fit for the post of chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee, which exercises jurisdiction over the strategic nuclear forces.
