Despite pleas to stay on, Pakistan’s army chief to step aside in rare peaceful exchange of power
The news came in a brief, bland-sounding tweet from the army public relations office this past week, noting that General Raheel Sharif, Pakistan’s popular army chief, was beginning a round of “farewell” visits to military units across the country.
Some of the hyper-nationalists, some television anchors and retired [military] mafia wanted him to stay, but he disappointed them
But the subtext of the message was monumental. It meant that for the first time in 20 years, the most powerful official in Pakistan – a US cold war and anti-terrorism ally in which generals have often interfered in civilian rule – was keeping his pledge to retire on time and turn over his job to a successor chosen by the prime minister.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced that he had named General Qamar Javed Bajwa, a career infantry officer, to replace General Sharif, ending weeks of intense speculation over which of the four shortlisted generals he would pick to run the army for the next three years.
The prime minister passed over three more senior generals in appointing Bajwa, who serves as an inspector general at army headquarters. Analysts said Bajwa has strong pro-democracy views and might be more open to civilian involvement in foreign and security policy than past army chiefs. The appointment was quickly welcomed by numerous civilian leaders.
But in many ways, the fact that General Sharif was bowing out on time – and will pass his bamboo swagger stick to Bajwa in a formal military ceremony on Wednesday – mattered even more.
Despite Sharif’s reputation as a professional with no political ambitions, his departure after a three-year term had not been a foregone conclusion. In recent months, as opposition protests erupted, tensions with next-door India escalated and Prime Minister Sharif (no relation) battled charges of hiding money overseas, some influential figures urged the army chief to stay on and keep things from spinning out of control.
It was a familiar temptation that has repeatedly kept Pakistan from evolving as a democracy in the name of safeguarding its stability. The fact that General Sharif resisted, analysts said, matters far more than the recent frenzy of drawing-room and barracks speculation over who will replace him.