I am appalled at some of the issues discussed here.
If the promotion to a 3-star rank is based largely on merit, we should accept that all the 5 nominees were equally capable of leading the army. Therefore, regardless of the pros & cons of the discretionary choice of the PM; the new appointee would be equal to the task.
In my book, religion, sect or ethnicity makes little difference to his qualities of leadership. So what if one was a Rajput and the second one is a Jat? There must be hundreds of thousands of Rajputs & Jats in Pakistan. Most are just average like Gujjars, Syeds, Arians, Awaans & the Sheikhs. The criterion should not be the accident of birth but the ‘Merit’ alone.
Qadianis are also citizens of Pakistan and as patriotic as anyone else. It is correct that Bhutto's amendment made Qadianis non-Muslims, but ‘Love’ sees no barriers. Having a Qadiani wife does not make a person less capable or less patriotic. Remember, our first Foreign Minister Sir Zafarullah Khan was a Qadiani. Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry as well as Vice Admiral H.H Ahmad, Chief of Naval Staff were Qadianis. Pakistan’s atomic programme owes a lot to the efforts of the Nobel Laureate Prof Abdus Salaam, who also happened to be a Qadiani.