Shock to PAK Army Chief General Bajwa, SC stops term extension
New Delhi , Nov 26 (HS): Pakistani Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa has suffered a major setback. The Supreme Court on Tuesday suspended the notification of extension of tenure of General Bajwa till tomorrow. Along with this, the Supreme Court has also issued a notice to all the parties including General Bajwa.
General Bajwa is retiring on 29 November. Now the hearing of this case has been postponed till Wednesday. The government notification was suspended by a 3-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (JCP) Asif Saeed Khosa, questioning the process done by the government regarding the extension of tenure of Pakistan Army Chief Javed Bajwa. Also, the court issued a notice to all the parties including the army chief and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.
The court questioned the Prime Minister’s authority to approve the 3-year term extension of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), stating that only the President of Pakistan can issue notification.
During August 2019, Prime Minister Imran Khan approved it and sent the notification to the President, which was given his assent by President Dr. Arif Alvi. The court questioned that any notification on any extension of tenure can be issued only after the completion of the current term of COAS, which ends on 28 November 2019.
On behalf of the Attorney General of Pakistan, it was said that the extension of tenure was done in view of the current security situation of the country. However, the court suspended the government’s notification and adjourned the hearing of the case till 27 November 2019, issuing a notification to all the parties including Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
