‘Lieutenant generals Asim Munir and Muhammad Amir have emerged as top contenders for the COAS slot.’
Journalist Asad Toor made the claim in his YouTube show Asad Toor Uncensored. Toor said said Munir and Amir were favourites to replace outgoing COAS Qamar Javed Bajwa. He termed Lieutenant General Nauman Raja a dark horse of the race.
Munir, the senior-most of the six lieutenant generals set to feature in a summary set to be sent to the prime minister for the military top post, is currently serving as Quarter Master General at the GHQ. He was originally slated to retire in September, 2022. He will, however, now retire in November, 2022 on account of being on leave for some time following his promotion as lieutenant general.
Amir served as military secretary to then President Asif Ali Zardari. He is currently serving as Gujranwala corps commander. He too has a decent chance at being named army chief, according to Toor.
‘Dark horse’ Raja currently heads the NDU. He has also served as corps commander Peshawar. He is experienced in conducting anti-insurgency operations. At a time when the TTP is said to be regrouping in Pakistan, he could very well emerge as the next COAS.
Toor said the PML-N was set to appoint either the senior or junior-most of the army men against the slot. This had left PTI chairman Imran Khan perturbed. This also explained why he had been aspiring to make the appointment of the next COAS controversial, Toor said.
Rather commenting on who will be COAS we ought to discuss roles of 4 star generals so that the institution can develop unity of purpose as well as disengagement from political engineering that had resulted in severe controversy and strife.
Chief as supreme commander should be above internal issues of the state and focusing on defence and long term strategy while CJCSC ought to provide support to the executive in internal issues of the state.
Debate this in media and Parliament. Then it won’t matter who does what as our longer term interest will be secure as one nation. Asad Durrani has written a very logical analysis of this fault line in our policies,