THE Chief of the Army Staff, Gen Raheel Sharif, is to retire in November. His retirement for the past nine months has been the talk of the town, mainly for the reasons that the general is a hardcore soldier and thinking general, immensely popular at home and abroad.

The question arises: is the general indispensable for Pakistan?

The logical answer is that no one is indispensable. The ISPR, on behalf of the general, has also clearly stated that he plans to go home on the day of his retirement.

We must keep in mind the threat scenario to our motherland, ongoing Zarb-i-Azb Operation and internal destabilisation and insurgency, especially in Balochistan and Karachi. The general doesn’t want the next incumbent to lose his chance of becoming the army chief.

There is a solution to the problem – elevate the general to the rank of field marshal and appoint him chief of defence staff (CODS) at the Joint Staff Headquarters, Chaklala. The post of chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee can be re-designated as CODS.

This is the most amicable solution to put the guessing game at rest. This will be nothing new as the world has had many field marshals and Gen Raheel certainly deserves it.

Pakistan and the Muslim Ummah can benefit from this battle-hardened and upright soldier. JSHQ is a higher military organisation as per the Constitution.

The federal government, under this arrangement, will have the CODS to deal with all military matters, while the General Headquarters, Air Headquarters, Naval Headquarters, will coordinate with the federal government through the CODS.

Air-Cdre (r) Ishtiaq Ahmad Khan
Challianwala, Mandi Bahauddin

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2016