Amendments in Army Act blocks army chiefs’ extension trend: Khawaja Asif

Defense Minister Khawaja Asif attributed the recent amendment in the Army Act to the efforts to block extension of the chief of army staff and other service chiefs by limiting their tenure to five years.

The minister made this statement during his interview with the VOA, in which he said that similar to the retirement period of judges and other heads of government entities, the tradition of extension of military leaders until the age of 60 years was ended.

“Now the period of retirement of army chief and services chiefs has been fixed to three to five years,” he said, adding, “The contemporary army chief General Asim Munir is set to be retired in 2027, chiefs of air force and navy will complete their period of 5 years,” Asif said.

The defense czar argued that the amendment would help to end the speculations at the time of appointing a new army chief.

“PTI has given an extension to army chief General Asim Bajwa during their government, and now they are opposing amendments regarding fixing the period,” He said. 

Asif stated now it is crystal clear that the opposition supports the extension, but the matter has been formalising and the action from them is “just opposition for the sake of opposition”.

According to the Defense Minister, opposition benches were invited to debate the amendment in the Army Act, but their leader, Omar Ayub and his party did not show interest.

Defense Minister’s statement came after a day of amendment was made in the army act and law regarding the number of judges in the Supreme Court and Islamabad High Court, which has been increased to 34 from 17 and 12 from 9, respectively.

However, the bill has been signed by acting president Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, as president Asif Ali Zardari is on a private visit to Dubai.