ISLAMABAD: Chief of the Army Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa kept his core team intact as he reshuffled several key positions in the military bringing in new commanders for five of the 11 theater commands on Wednesday.

Another reshuffle is expe­cted in coming days to fill the remaining vacancies.

The move was preceded by promotion of six major generals to the rank of lieutenant general, as six three star generals — Lt Gen Humayun Aziz, Lt Gen Mohammad Naeem Ashraf, Lt Gen Mohammad Afzal, Lt Gen Sher Afgun, Lt Gen Qazi Mohammad Ikram Ahmad and Lt Gen Bilal Akbar — are set to retire next month.

The corps that have been assigned new commanders are Lahore-based Corps IV, Bahawalpur’s Corps XXXI, Multan’s Corps II, Karachi’s Corps V, and Southern Command headquartered in Quetta. Army Strategic Force Command, too, has got a new commander.

Four positions of principal staff officers — Military Secretary, Inspector General Arms, IG Training and Evaluation, and IG Communications and IT — have also been filled, while the positions of chairmen of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Pakistan Ordinance Factories (POF), Wah, and the Command and Staff College, Quetta, have not been filled so far.

According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Lt Gen Abdul Aziz has been named as the new commander for Lahore Corps in place of Lt Gen Majid Ehsan, who has been posted as IG Arms. Gen Aziz was previously serving as Military Secretary (MS). He is being succeeded by Lt Gen Sardar Azhar Hassan Hayat in the office of MS.

Lt Gen Khalid Zia is the new Bahawalpur Corps Commander in place of outgoing Lt Gen Syed Mohammad Adnan, who will now take up the position of IG Training and Evaluation. Gen Zia was earlier IG Arms. The IG (T&E) slot will be falling vacant with the impending retirement of Lt Gen Sher Afgun.

Lt Gen Mohammad Waseem Ashraf will succeed the retiring Lt Gen Mohammad Naeem Ashraf at Multan Corps. Gen Waseem would move to Multan from Southern Command in Quetta, where newly promoted Lt Gen Sarfraz Ali of Azad Kashmir (AK) Regiment would replace him.

Meanwhile, in Karachi Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed Anjum will take over from Lt Gen Humayun Aziz, who is retiring. Gen Anjum was previously commanding Staff College, Quetta.

Lt Gen Mohammad Ali from Artillery has been named as the commander of Army Strategic Force Command on his promotion to the next rank of lieutenant general. His predecessor Lt Gen Qazi Ikram is retiring from service.

Former military spokesman Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor has also been promoted as a lieutenant general and posted as IG Communications and IT in place of Lt Gen Ali Amir Awan.

Three officers waiting to be assigned are Lt Gen Ali Amir Awan and the newly promoted Lt Gen Akhtar Nawaz and Lt Gen Salman Fayyaz Ghani, both of whom are from Frontier Force.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2020