New Delhi: The politician had planned his coup with military precision, but one vital detail had been forgotten. Even as then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif began the ceremony in October 1999 to administer the oath of office to his new army chief — having sacked the old one, Pervez Musharraf, while the general was mid-air, and then ordered air traffic control not to let the plane land — the staff discovered there was no brass star for him to pin on Lieutenant General Khwaja Zia-ud-Din Butt’s shoulder, to add to the three already there.
Following weeks of speculation, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday made his first selection for chief of the Pakistan Army — a position widely considered the most powerful in the country. Lt Gen. Asim Munir’s appointment was made reportedly after extended consultations involving the PM’s exiled brother, Nawaz Sharif, in London.
The appointment, the prime minister and his brother hope, will consolidate the position of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz, battered by a growing economic crisis, and by-election results suggesting former prime minister Imran Khan is resurgent.
Last year, “the military decided they will not interfere in any political matter”, outgoing Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa said in a speech Wednesday. He, however, cautioned politicians against direct attacks on the army, warning that there “are limits” to the institution’s patience.
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Intrigue inside the army
Early Monday, sources said, the army sent a list of five potential candidates to the Prime Minister’s Office. The so-called summary of choices excluded the name of Lt Gen. Asim, on the ground that he was to retire on 27 November, two days before General Bajwa’s tenure ends. Following resistance from the prime minister, a fresh list of six candidates — with Lieutenant-General Asim’s name included — was then sent Tuesday.
The decision to select Lt Gen. Asim, two senior politicians familiar with the discussions told ThePrint, was made in the face of pushback from the ougoing army chief. General Bajwa, the sources said, argued that Lieutenant-General Asim’s perceived hostility to Imran Khan would drag the army into national politics.
Imran’s aggressive polemic against the army had led to an unprecedented press conference by Lieutenant-General Nadeem Anjum on 27 October, where he attacked the former prime minister for making remarks that were “defamatory and uncalled for”.
Earlier this month, the sources said, defence minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and other senior PML-N politicians conveyed messages from Bajwa to Nawaz, pushing the appointment of Lt Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza, chief of general staff Lt Gen. Azhar Abbas, or Gujranwala Corps commander Lt Gen. Muhammad Aamer.
Lt Gen. Sahir has now been appointed chairman of the joint chiefs of staff committee.
Facing tough political challenges from a resurgent Imran, however, Nawaz insisted on a supportive army chief heading into a future election campaign, the sources said. General Bajwa’s position was also weakened by revelations that surfaced earlier this week, suggesting that his family fortune grew dramatically through his six years in office.
Lt General Munir
Low-profile and soft-spoken, Lt Gen. Munir has a record of distinguished service. Earlier, he served as a Brigadier in Force Command Northern Areas, then in Military Intelligence (MI), and as commander of the Gujranwala Corps. His most recent appointment was as quartermaster general at the General Headquarters (GHQ).
Known to be pious — he memorised the Quran during a tenure in Saudi Arabia while a lieutenant-colonel — the general was appointed to lead the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Directorate in October 2018, soon after Imran took office.
The appointment, however, is believed to have run into trouble because of an ongoing surveillance operation targeting the business magnate Malik Riaz, who has faced long-running allegations of corruption.
Lt Gen. Munir handed over a dossier to Imran in 2019, alleging that the prime minister’s wife, Bushra Maneka, had received a diamond necklace from Riaz. Farhat Shehzadi, a close friend of Khan, was also claimed to be brokering bureaucratic appointments for a fee, and engaging in dubious property deals.
Farhat — also known as Farah Gogi — is believed to have made a living dancing at parties after the death of her father, Muhammad Hussain Khan, plunged the family into poverty. The Lahore resident’s fortunes turned, however, after she met property magnate Ahsan Jameel Gujjar, the son of eight-time Punjab legislator Chaudhry Muhammad Iqbal Gujjar.
The dossier led to Imran forcing Lt Gen. Asim out of office in June 2019 — the shortest tenure of an incumbent ISI chief since Pakistan’s independence. Lt Gen. Faiz Hameed, accused of helping Imran’s election campaign in 2018, took office in his place.
Together with her husband, Farhat is reported to have moved into the prime minister’s home in Bani Gali, operating as a kind of informal liaison to businesspeople and power brokers.
Efforts by Imran to ensure Lt Gen. Faiz succeeded Bajwa as army chief, however, sparked off a crisis which led to the former prime minister’s downfall.
Nawaz’s military problems
The problem of the missing star Nawaz wanted to pin on to the shoulder of Lt Gen. Zia-ud-Din was resolved: The prime minister’s military secretary, Brigadier Javed Malik, took one off his own uniform and handed it over to his newly-appointed chief. Lt Gen. Ziauddin was arrested and relieved of his newfound rank within hours, though. Both General Ziauddin and Brigadier Malik were later sacked, while Nawaz ended up in jail, and then exile.
Each of the four other men Nawaz hand-picked to lead the army before General Asim also ended up turning on the prime minister. The record suggests that in a politically fraught Pakistan, Nawaz cannot take the support of the army for granted.
General Asif Nawaz Janjua, appointed in 1991, clashed with Nawaz over the military’s support for the Pakistan People’s Party in Sindh. General Wahid Kakkar, who succeeded Janjua in 1993, was picked, superseding lieutenants-general Rehm-Dil Bhatti, Mohammad Ashraf, Farrakh Khan and Arif Bangash. This army chief, though, forced Nawaz to resign from office.
Then, in 1998, Sharif sacked General Jehangir Karamat for demanding the creation of a National Security Council to adjudicate civil-military relations. General Musharraf was hand-picked over his seniors lieutenants-general Ali Kuli Khan and Khalid Nawaz Khan, but he fell out with the prime minister over the Kargil War.
General Raheel Sharif, the third Nawaz pick to lead the army, was chosen after superseding Lt Gen. General Haroon Aslam. Later, though, General Raheel was alleged to have authorised the 2016 terrorist attack on an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, undermining efforts by Nawaz to make peace with India.
Finally, Nawaz publicly accused General Bajwa — who he had appointed — of plotting to bring down his government, together with Lt Gen. Faiz.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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