Pakistan PM Shehbaz Sharif’s fate lies with his new appointed army chief General Asim Munir

Appointment of new chief of staff has been focus of months of politicking between military’s high command – PM’s coalition government – and opposition leader Imran Khan

Analysts have pointed out that no elected PM has completed a full five-year term due to the political machinations of army chiefs they appointed

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Published: 2:36pm, 24 Nov 2022Updated: 3:42pm, 24 Nov 2022

Pakistan’s government has appointed a new army chief, with the knowledge that the nation’s political fate will be determined by General Asim Munir who gets the job rather than the prime minister who appoints him.

While typically a landmark event because of the military’s traditionally dominant role in Pakistani politics, the appointment of a new chief of staff later on Thursday has been the focus of months of Machiavellian politicking between the military’s high command, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government, and opposition leader Imran Khan.

“The army chief is widely perceived to be the de facto ruler of Pakistan, and this perception only deepened” under the outgoing army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, said Asfandyar Mir, a senior South Asia expert at the US Institute of Peace.

“So the political jostling and controversy over who gets appointed is in fact about who and how Pakistan will be ruled,” he said.

Though it is constitutionally a democratic federation, Pakistan is perceived – domestically and internationally – as a nation of 230 million people controlled by generals.