Pak President contemplatinmg to replace Army Chief

LAHORE: Amidst rising tension between Pakistan’s civilian government and the country’s military tops brass over some controversial provisions of the Kerry-Lugar Bill, there are reports that President Asif Zardari has been contemplating to replace Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani for his persistent opposition to the USD 7.5 billion American financial assistance programme.

The Pakistani military leadership has already made public its opposition to the Kerry-Lugar Bill by issuing a formal press release following the October 7, 2009 corps commanders’ conference which evoked immediate panic at the presidency and in government corridors. The statement issued by the military spokesman expressed serious concern over some of the provisions of the legislative bill and warned that these could affect ‘national security’. Unlike previous no-strings US aid packages, Kerry-Lugar non-military financial assistance bill makes support conditional on Pakistan’s military being subordinated to its elected government, and taking action against militants sheltering on its soil. The Pakistani military leadership’s ire is focused on the Kerry-Lugar Bill’s specific requirements that the US Secretary of State certify, at six-month intervals, that the Pakistani military remains under civilian oversight, even specifying such details as the need for the government to control senior command promotions.

Kerry-Lugar also requires that the Pakistani military act against militant networks on its soil, specifying those based in Quetta and Muridke. However, the Presidency has dismissed the concerns of the military leadership, with President Zardari forging ahead with his unwavering support for the bill. The presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar, while commenting on the press release issued by the military after the corps commanders’ conference, has said that there are established channels for the Pakistan Army to express its views and these should have been followed instead of making public the issue. These developments, especially after the corps commanders meeting in Rawalpindi to discuss the Kerry-Lugar Bill, even caused rumours about President Zardari’s possible sacking of the Army Chief General Kayani.

Amidst all these developments, the Pakistani ministry of defense has informed the presidency in a recent communiqué that seven senior generals of Pakistan Army including Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) General Tariq Majid, and three senior corps commanders are due to retire by November 28, 2010. Well informed sources in the ministry of defense say the presidency has been provided with the most up-to-date seniority list of the 30-plus serving generals and lieutenant generals of Pakistan Army, in the backdrop of the October 7 corps commanders’ conference in Rawalpindi, which expressed serious concerns on certain clauses of the Kerry-Lugar Bill, maintaining that they were bound to affect national security.

The seniority list, which is now carefully being scanned by the presidency, seems to have been updated till October 4, 2009 when four major generals of the Army were promoted by COAS General Ashfaq Kayani to the rank of lieutenant generals, including Maj-Gen Shafqat Ahmed, Maj-Gen Khalid Nawaz, Maj-Gen Alam Khattak, and Maj-Gen Sardar Mehmood. These promotions were made following the September 23, 2009 retirements of four three-star generals including Lt-Gen Muhammad Masood Aslam, Corps Commander Peshawar, Lt-Gen Hamid Khan, President of the National Defence University, Islamabad, Lt-Gen General Raza Mohammad Khan, Director General Joint Staff and Lt-Gen. Shafaat Ullah Shah, Chief of Logistics Staff, GHQ.

However, approached for comments, the presidential spokesman Farhatullah Babar strongly refuted media reports that President Zardari wanted to remove General Ashfaq Kayani for making public the concerns of the corps commander to the Kerry-Lugar Bill. He said such reports were in fact a deliberate attempt to undermine President Asif Zardari. He said the issue was being politicized by vested interests despite the fact that the Kerry-Lugar Bill has nothing against the national interests and sovereignty of the country. “Let me make it clear that no one in Pakistan would want the security apparatus or for that anyone to subvert Pakistan’s political judicial institutions and processes. The hype about adverse conditions attached to the Kerry-Lugar Bill is simply unfounded and part of the attempt to delegitimize President Asif Zardari”, Farhatullah Babar concluded.

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