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Farogh Naseem resigns as law minister to represent govt in SC hearing on Bajwa’s extension

It is better to first abreast oneself of the full facts. There was a press conference today by three ministers, railways, education and SAPM on accountability. The topic of the press conference was the action by the SC regarding COAS extension, and in that press conference the minister mentioned that to fight COAS case Farogh Naseem has resigned and he can return to cabinet after the case.

Than information minister should had been present in the press conference as well. Clearly S Rasheed wanted to get the lame light. Info minister could had tweeted as well. Announcement is her domain especially something big like this.
 
اندھی ھوا کے وار چراغوں پہ ھیں مگر
کچی منڈیر بھی نہ کہیں سر پہ آ گرے
 
Than information minister should had been present in the press conference as well. Clearly S Rasheed wanted to get the lame light. Info minister could had tweeted as well. Announcement is her domain especially something big like this.
In an ideal scenario, yes you are correct, but it seemed to be an emergency press conference to clarify government stance and maybe the info minister was not available at such short notice. Also Shiekh Rashid and Shafqat Mahmood are perhaps the two most senior cabinet members and their word holds some weight.
 
I'll try to re-explain. It is the institutes of the Pakistani military apparatus that are looking over those matters. If it's not, and if it is indeed just Gen. Bajwa, then the Pakistani military apparatus and the Pakistani establishment have failed miserably. Gen. Bajwa is the product of the Pakistani Army, not the other way around. He is but one of the cogs in the machine, a cog which came with an expiry date. Best we replace him now.

ps: The Iran-Saudi and the Kashmir issues aren't going anywhere. Should we plan to keep Gen. Bajwa as COAS for the next few decades? Makes no sense.
The extension was political. IK & Bajwa have a good working relationship and for a new government and a party in power for the first time, taking many unpopular decisions, it made sense to give an extension to Bajwa to control all the speculation about a new COAS undermining the PTI government.

There is nothing wrong here. Bajwa isn't being made COAS for life or something. He's getting one extension. The US Army COS has a 4 year term that can also be extended. Even if you look at just the original appointment, the extension gives the COAS 2 years more than the regular term of the US ACOS.
 
The extension was political. IK & Bajwa have a good working relationship and for a new government and a party in power for the first time, taking many unpopular decisions, it made sense to give an extension to Bajwa to control all the speculation about a new COAS undermining the PTI government.

No offence, but you people seem to have dual standards when it comes to IK and other political leaders. Everyone seems to have issue with the likes of NS or Zardari appointing their buddies to government posts, but it "made sense" when IK even politicised the Army for personal gain?

An army chief must not be selected or have his term extended based on politics! The ONLY justifiable reason IMO would be if we were in the middle of a war. This is BS and does nothing but tarnish the Armys image, and further cement the perception that Bajwa is the puppet master behind IK.
 
No offence, but you people seem to have dual standards when it comes to IK and other political leaders. Everyone seems to have issue with the likes of NS or Zardari appointing their buddies to government posts, but it "made sense" when IK even politicised the Army for personal gain?

An army chief must not be selected or have his term extended based on politics! The ONLY justifiable reason IMO would be if we were in the middle of a war. This is BS and does nothing but tarnish the Armys image, and further cement the perception that Bajwa is the puppet master behind IK.
The Army Chief appointment is done by the elected government so it is ‘political’ from the outset. It is the prerogative of the government who it wants to appoint as COAS. If you don’t like the extension then why not criticize the original appointment to begin with? And if you criticize the original appointment, what appointment will satisfy you?
 
The government has issued a new notification in connection with the extension in tenure of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa after Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa suspended the first one earlier on Tuesday.

“The federal cabinet has taken back the first notification of extension in the army chief’s tenure issued with the prime minister’s signatures on August 19,” Education Minister Shafqat Mehmood, flanked by Special Assistant to the PM on Accountability Shehzad Akbar and Railways Minister Sheikh Rashid, said in a news conference in Islamabad.

Summary of the new notification was presented to the cabinet, which after due diligence, approved it, he said, adding that the summary had been sent to President Arif Alvi for the final approval.

The press conference was called following a marathon meeting of the federal cabinet held to deliberate upon the issue at the PM Office.


Shafqat said the cabinet made amendments in rules of Article 255 of Pakistan Army Act 1952. “Word extension in tenure has been added,” he added.

He said the prime minister had the prerogative to recommend appointment of services chiefs to the president under Article 243 of the Constitution.

The education minister said the decision was taken owing to strained relations with India. “The whole world knows about the prevailing tension at the Line of Control (LoC) and extraordinary situation in Indian Occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

The development came after the chief justice took up a withdrawal application of a petition challenging the army chief’s tenure extension earlier in the day. Justice Khosa rejected the application and took up the petition under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution under public interest.

The case was converted into a suo motu.

The apex court also issued notices to the defence ministry, the federal government and Gen Qamar, who is due to retire on November 29. The hearing was adjourned until Wednesday.


The apex court, in a verbal order after today’s hearing, said Prime Minister Imran Khan issued the notification in his own capacity and the mistake was realised after the said notification was issued.

“The prime minister then sent the summary to the president who then approved it on August 19,” it said.

The court in its verbal order further said that dealing with regional security was the job of the army as an institution and is not the sole responsibility of an officer. “If the reasoning [regional security] is accepted, then all officers would want a reappointment.”

The apex court further observed that the attorney general could not provide any legal reasoning for the extension and according to the Army Rules, the retirement of an officer can be temporarily suspended only.

Prime Minister Imran had announced the reappointment of Gen Qamar in August, citing regional security environment. However, in recent weeks there had been speculations in the media with some questioning as to whether a formal notification of extension in tenure had been issued.

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The Army Chief appointment is done by the elected government so it is ‘political’ from the outset. It is the prerogative of the government who it wants to appoint as COAS. If you don’t like the extension then why not criticize the original appointment to begin with? And if you criticize the original appointment, what appointment will satisfy you?

The original appointment is justified. It's an extension of the standard term (against norms) solely for personal gain that I oppose.

IK is free to chose any of the other senior Lt Gens to replace Bajwa. Choose whoever he wants. But dont extend Bajwas term just to protect his own government.
 
The original appointment is justified. It's an extension of the standard term (against norms) solely for personal gain that I oppose.

IK is free to chose any of the other senior Lt Gens to replace Bajwa. Choose whoever he wants. But dont extend Bajwas term just to protect his own government.
It's not just his government that's being protected - stability in the system (perceived or actual) is critical to reforms & attracting investment - those things impact the entire country.

And again, if Bajwa was qualified to be COAS when he was first appointed, he's qualified to be COAS now. If anything, he's more experienced. The reasons for the extension might be political, but it is still an extension based on merit since Bajwa was appointed on merit.
 
Compliances is responsibility if secetaries not ministers. Sometime i feel bureacracy is working against government to malign them

I wrote many time bureaucracy is the mother of all corruption. They are the one who give legal advice to MNA and MPA's.

Generally speaking, bureaucracies world over assume themselves to be the real corridors of power & they would exercise their power or heavily influence the governmental decisions if there are incompetent political masters administrating over them. In fact, they would prefer such administrators over competent ones. If indeed bureaucracy is to be blamed in present circumstance then it means we have a very weak and incapable government in place.
 
No its not. Bureaucracy around the world is to execute whereas planning and direction is to be set by ministers. The issue we are facing is that direction of PTI and corrupt bureaucrats are opposite.
 

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