A dozen top Pak Army generals to retire this year

COAS will complete tenure in November, discussions going on for extension in service

By Saeed Minhas

ISLAMABAD: Twelve top generals of the Pakistan Army, including the chief of army staff and the chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, are likely to retire between March and November this year, while eight others will call it a day by September 2011.

This will mark the end of a generation, which not only saw a phenomenal shift from conventional to digitalised war strategies, but also served under two martial laws.

With the stage set for some more extensions in the top brass – depending on current exigencies – some top ranking lieutenant generals might have to hang their boots to see their seniors holding on to the top slots, a Daily Times study revealed.

Out of the 29 serving lieutenant generals and two four-star generals, four lieutenant generals have so far been given one-year extensions in the past few months, including Inter-Services Intelligence Director General Lt Gen Shuja Pasha, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt Gen Masood Aslam, officer on a UN mission Lt Gen Sikander Afzal and Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Mustafa Khan. According to official sources, the Peshawar corps commander is likely to relinquish his charge without completing his extension but the rest may continue.

COAS tenure: A debate has already started on the extension in services of the COAS to not only maintain momentum in the war against terrorism but to also ensure the continuation of certain policies regarding all internal and external elements.

With replacements for the Peshawar corps commander and the air defence commander already finalised by promoting two major generals to lieutenant generals on March 15, some important corps and sensitive posts are likely to fall vacant in the next 12 months. As per traditions and sources, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen Tariq Majeed is likely to make way for Lt Gen Khalid Shameem Wyne. Sources claim that the future COAS – depending on the continuation of the system – might be someone from the next generation of lieutenant generals security analyst commented that an exceptional vacancy is likely to emerge with the retirement of these generals, adding that since the army has a well-defined system of selection/promotions, several new faces would assume the responsibilities of a million active, paramilitary and reserve troops. Following the retirement of the incumbent army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani by 2011, analysts claim that the post is likely to be filled by someone from the post-1971 war batch.

Political expediencies aside, sources say that keeping the core team intact is crucial from the point of view of national strategies. They claim that some of these generals are well entrenched in our national policies, including those on Afghanistan-Pakistan, Pakistan-US, and our internal war on terrorism. This terrorism seems to be backed by Indian elements. Since this team has seen all the developments emerging – rather getting out of control – keeping some of them would help with the continuation of the process.

Meanwhile, analysts opined that extensions to the services of the COAS might not be an internal matter of the Defence Ministry or the army only, and the government would have to make a choice after August. No matter what is written and talked about, they say the government would consider all the pros and cons of the situation to reach a consensus. As for the generals who will be retiring on their current posts after a year because of those in top slots getting extensions, they say the army remains perhaps the only institution where hierarchy matters a lot and the top official is given full allegiance once in power.

The latest available seniority list of army personnel reveals that Lt Gen Tanvir Tahir and Lt Gen Ashraf Saleem would be retiring in March 2010, while Lt Gen Ahsan Azhar Hayat would retire in April 2010. In May 2010, Lt Gen Ijaz Bakhshi, Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed, Lt Gen Sajjad Akram, Lt Gen Masud Aslam, Lt Gen Shahid Iqbal, Lt Gen Zahid Hussein, Lt Gen Muhammad Asghar would have to bid goodbye, while Gen Tariq Majeed, chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, would complete his tenure in October 2010. In November 2010, the incumbent COAS Gen Ashfaq Kayani will be completing his tenure and might or might not get an extension depending on the “exigencies”.

The next phase will start in March 2011 when Lt Gen Khalid Shameem Wyne – who is being dubbed as the next in line for the top slot, provided all his seniors retire on time – will be calling it a day along with Lt Gen Muhammad Yousuf and Lt Gen Absar Hussein. In September 2011, Lt Gen Javed Zia, Lt Gen Shujaat Zameer Dar, Lt Gen Mohsin Kamal, Lt Gen Jamil Haider and Lt Gen Nadeem Taj will also complete their tenures.