Army Chief of Pakistan Gen Bajwa’s extension period is hanging mid-air with the court’s suspension to the Govt’s notification until tomorrow. The Chief Justice of Pakistan, Asif Khosa observed that the summary and approval of army chief’s extension was not correct. Gen Bajwa is due to retire on Nov 29 and his tenure was previously extended by 3 yrs by Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan.

 

 

The court also issued notices to defence ministry, federal Govt. and Gen. Bajwa in connection to this. In a brief notification issued by the PM’s office, Imran Khan had approved an extension in the service period of Gen Bajwa on Aug 19th. This meant he could serve for another 3 years as Chief of Army Staff from the date of completion of his current tenure.

 

 

On Tuesday, the Chief Justice of Pakistan took up a withdrawal application of a petition filed by the Jurists Foundation challenging the extension in Bajwa’s tenure. However, the top judge rejected the application to withdraw the petition and took it up in public interest under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution. The case was converted into a Suo moto notice.

 

 

 

 

CJP declared that only the president of Pakistan can extend the tenure of an army chief and PM Imran had issued a notification in his own capacity. Apparently Gen Bajwa’s extension had only 11 approvals out of 25 cabinet members. The three judge bench while hearing the case noted that no strong reasons for Bajwa’s extensions were debated in the cabinet before it got approval.