His family hails from my neck of the woods. My high school was next door to their old family home which I think they sold long ago. Recently, there was a college built that is named after Shabbir Sharif.
As far as seniority is concerned, I don't think there is a hard rule that the senior most general be chosen. I think the PM can choose from the top 3 or something. This is a flaw in the system. Either the army or the civilians should come up with succession rules to get rid of some of the arbitrariness and the drama that ensues every single time.
Choosing a CnC is the discretion of the PM. It is his right to make the decision. The problem is not with this authority but how this decision is made. I think there should be a board for this decision headed by the PM that choose the CnC based on his credentials and professional capability. Zia was chosen perhaps because of how simple and down to the earth and submissive (see the picture below) he seems. Then the same “shareef looking Zia” took him to the gallows.
Every institution should have their own constitution & (merit-based) system in place whereby the senior most General and Judge automatically gets promoted to the top position if & when it becomes vacant and the PM should just approve their respective nominations. We must free these two important institutions (judiciary and military) of any government or political influence and interference. The government should only appoint AG. Parliament can easily pass a bill in this regard. Indeed it may be necessary to bypass the senior most lieutenant general sometimes esp. if they have extremist leanings etc. But how can one justify appointing someone so junior (Zia and Musharraf were not even the second or third senior most at the time) as COAS and the consequences are there for everyone to see. That was blatant abuse of their position by ZAB and NS. Yes the PM has discretionary powers under the constitution but he should not abuse his privileged position
Same btw should apply to every institution incl. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Chairman should not be hand picked by PM
I am getting tired of this BS. I don't know much about the new COAS but what has seniority to do with being chief of an institution? Really?
The longer you work for an organisation, more capable you are to lead it? What kind of logic is this? You could say there were more capable choices, but seniority?
Is seniority a part of the basis of the selection of army chiefs? I mean look at america where Obama pretty much 'demoted' Petreaus from CENTCOMM chief to leading the war in afghanistan before he retired to head the CIA.
We are looking forward to working with the new Pakistani Chief of Army Staff, whomever steps in after General Kiyani’s retirement. We support the Pakistani Security Forces and its leadership in reaching our common goal of establishing peace and stability in a region torn by the plague of terrorism. The military and civilian leadership of both our countries well understand the importance of working together to build mutual trust, overcome differences and improve cooperation among our nations.
Why didn't NS appoint senior-most person as army chief?
The answer is simple. NS needs to make a statement about the supremacy of civilian power over military power. Publically overruling the obviously preferred candidate of the military is a clear way to do this. Picking the brother of a war hero is a smart way of doing this, trying to cash in on the dead brother's legend.
Three years in to this, Nawaz Made a great decision. LEsson for arm chair experts here that perhaps let the person who was VOTED in to do what he thinks is right and vote him out if dont like.
I hate to bring up old comments by people to show them how wrong they were… but sometimes gotta do it. Look at this thread and most people making fun of Nawaz and here three years down, they want Raheel to stay or throw out Nawaz when Nawaz will again make a decision that they will hate
From the info given about the other general ( aslam haroon ) , it seems he may have not waited for the APS peshawar incident to take place to go full throttle against the kharjees. Hence we lost some time to start the operation.
