ISLAMABAD: The Senate of Pakistan on Wednesday swiftly approved three separate bills regarding the appointment, reappointment, and tenure of services chiefs, including the country’s powerful chief of army staff.
The bills were tabled by Defense Minister Pervez Khattak in the upper House proposing amendments to Pakistan Army Act 1952, Pakistan Air Force Act 1953 and Pakistan Navy Ordinance 1961.
The new legislation gives the president of the country power to re-appoint or extend the existing tenure of the tri-services chiefs and the chairman of the joint chief of staff committee upon the prime minister’s advice. It also ensures that courts cannot challenge such tenure extensions in the future.
“Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act or any other law, or any order or judgment of any Court, the appointment, reappointment or extension of the Chief of the Army Staff, or the exercise of discretion by the appointing authority in this regard, shall not be called into question before any Court on any ground whatsoever,” the amendment bill reads.
The three bills were proposed after Pakistan’s supreme court’s verdict of November 26 giving the parliament six months to give legal cover to army chief Gen. Bajwa’s three-year tenure extension granted by the prime minister on August 19, 2019.
The apex court had cited procedural irregularities and loopholes in relevant laws thus suspending Gen. Bajwa’s extension on August 26 but later announced that Gen. Bajwa could remain the army chief for another six months during which parliament would legislate on army chief’s extension or reappointment.
On Tuesday, Pakistan’s National Assembly had also approved the said bills with thumbnail majority despite little resistance and objections of some parties.
The major opposition parties – Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) – voted in favor of the bills in both the Houses while members of Jamat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazal and lawmakers from the tribal districts walked out of in protest.
Prime Minister Imran Khan also made a rare appearance in the house on Tuesday and remained seated during the voting process on the bills.
The passage of the Army (Amendment) Act from the parliament will pave the way for a three-year tenure extension in Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s service.
“The retirement age and service limits prescribed for a General (officer), under the rules and regulations made under this act, shall not be applicable to the Chief of the Army Staff, during his tenure of appointment, reappointment, or extension, subject to a maximum age of sixty-four (64) years,” the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act, 2020, reads.
The amendment bill also empowers the president to “reappoint the Chief of the Army Staff for the additional tenure of three years,” or extend his tenure for another three years on the advice of the Prime Minister, “in the national security interest or exigencies, from time to time.”
Islamabad based defense analyst, Lt. Gen. (retired) Talat Masood told Arab News, “It shows that army will continue to play a very significant role in years to come and I think foreign powers are also cognizant of that. The way that US foreign secretary directly spoke to the chief of army staff rather than the foreign minister (on conflict with Iran), shows there is a lot of recognition and respect for the military leadership.”
He said that “the army plays a dominant role in the stability of the country. The military’s opinion does carry a lot of weight and I think this was one of the major considerations that opposition parties realized that it would serve no purpose to block or create hurdles in the passing of the amendments.”