NEW DELHI: In a democracy, the appointment of army chief would at best be described as procedural but in Pakistan, a country that has seen army rule for over three decades and where the army calls the shots even when it is not in government, picking the next chief seems as important as a general election. The incumbent, Gen. Qamar Bajwa, is scheduled to retire on November 29 and the government has indicated that his successor would be named this week. The most senior among the probable successors is Lt Gen. Asim Munir. He has the rare distinction of heading the military intelligence as well as the ISI, Pakistan’s spy agency. So will he get a promotion? There are a lot of ifs with regard to Bajwa’s successor given the pulls and pressures involved but it could be Lt Gen Munir, who is scheduled to retire two days before Bajwa hangs up his boots, Ramanathan Kumar, former Special Secretary in the Research & Analysis Wing, India’s external intelligence agency, told StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale on ‘The Gist’. Tune in for more.
