Army chief appointment will be as per Constitution and on merit: Fazl

Staff Reporter
PDM chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman on Tuesday said the future army chief would be appointed by the person empowered by the Constitution to do so — the prime minister — whose pick would be “on merit”. Incumbent Chief of Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is set to retire in the last week of November. The matter of the new chief’s selection has for some time caused a stir in political circles with the PTI and government coming to verbal blows on the matter. “The one who is responsible [for appointing the army chief] as per the Constitution will fulfil this task on the basis of merit. Who is he (Imran Khan) to tell the government about who has to do this,” the JUI-F chief said during a press conference in Larkana. He said the PTI chief could not be allowed to “interfere in any way” in the next army chief’s appointment. “You can cry and scream all you want,” he said. Rehman’s comments come a day after Imran delivered a fiery speech in which he castigated Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif for allegedly discussing the matter with PML-N supremo Nawaz Sharif in London.