Good luck to Great Zardari, President of Pakistan. I am sure he has some loyal Generals in mind that he can promote? Who would he replace as the COAS in 2010?
The Asian Age - Enjoy the difference
**Pak Prez starts game of generals **
March 10: Pakistan President Asif Zardari plans to bring his choice of generals to top of the Pakistan Army to strengthen his grip on power, official sources said. “President Zardari wants his own men as top generals to strengthen his hold on power,” a highly placed official told this newspaper.
The development, according to sources, follows Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani asking President Zardari to resolve persistent political crises “within days”.
The ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) are currently engaged in wrangling that could well see another intervention by the Army, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 61 years as an independent nation.
According to a consensus of informed analysts and insiders who know Mr Zardari, the targets for the President are “Gen. Kayani, Nawaz Sharif and free and independent sections of the media (which he thinks have acquired out-of-proportion influence)”.
Insiders say quiet efforts have already begun to push Mr Zardari’s choice of generals to the top. The buzz in the Presidency is that Mr Zardari is in a hurry and is already privately meeting some generals who will retire soon. According to one source, at least three uniformed officers have been seen visiting the Presidency at odd hours, like 3 am, and General Headquarters (GHQ) has already been alerted.
“One of these three (generals) has been military secretary to three previous Prime Ministers (including Benazir Bhutto), and this link is said to be the key,” said the official. “So, if President Zardari is even thinking of any such idea, after all his victories, political, moral and not so moral, this will be the big freight train that will hit everybody in weeks,” he added.
According to sources, President Zardari arrived at this decision after facing a refusal from the Army on two occasions. The first was when the government decided to put Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) under the interior ministry but the Army rejected the move and the government had to take back its decision. The second was when the government decided to send the ISI chief to India on the demand of the Indian government, but the Army reacted strongly and the government had to withdraw.
The source added that the Army devised a strategy to counter the President’s move as soon as it learnt of it.
Information available in Pakistan and being discussed quietly in important drawing rooms brings us back to what role the Pakistan Army would play and whether Mr Zardari will be allowed to achieve his goals if the situation is seen from his perspective.
If Mr Zardari stays on for his full term in office till 2013, all the current 33 lieutenant-generals in the Pakistan Army would have been replaced, the last one, Lt. Gen. Nadeem Khalid Lodhi, retiring on February 17, 2013.
If Mr Zardari stays for the next 20 months, he would get the opportunity to replace the 13 seniormost generals out of 33 with the last of them, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, retiring on November 28, 2010.
Before him the other retirements would occur in this order: Gen. Tariq Majeed (October 8, 2010), Lt. Gen. Ahsan Azhar Hayat, Lt. Gen. Sajjad Akram, Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmad, Lt. Gen. Muhammad Zaki, Lt. Gen. Sikandar Afzal and Lt. Gen. Ijaz Ahmed Bakhshi (April 11, 2010), Lt. Gen. Raza Muhammad Khan, Lt. Gen. Muhammad Masood Aslam, Lt. Gen. Shafaat Ullah Shah and Lt. Gen. Mohammad Hamid Khan (September 23, 2009), and Lt. Gen. Syed Sabahat Hussain (May 5, 2009).
In the next six-and-a-half months, five lieutenant-generals will retire and new ones will have to be promoted by Gen. Kayani. The first upcoming retirement is in about eight weeks when Lt. Gen. Syed Sabahat Hussain Naqvi retires on May 5, 2009.
If Mr Zardari wants to get a grip on the top echelons of the Pakistan Army, he would not get an opportunity to push his favourite generals, if any, until November 2010, when Gen. Kayani retires.
Someone forgot cleaning up of army people who were “bearded” by none other than Benazir Bhutto 