To start with, this was no simple extension for a man appointed to Pakistan’s most powerful position. That would suggest Bajwa’s term of office had been increased by a limited period. In fact, general Bajwa was given a full second term. The official notification from the prime minister’s office makes this clear:
“Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa is appointed Chief of Army Staff for another term of three years from the date of completion of current tenure”.
Yet in 2010, when one of general Bajwa’s predecessors, general Kayani, was given a similar ‘extension’ Imran Khan strongly and publicly criticised the decision. This is what he said at the time to Pakistan’s Express News Channel:
“No general or judge should get an extension because it will weaken the respective organisation…even during the time of the First and Second World Wars, nobody was given any extension.
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