Saturday, 12 November, 2022 I 16 Rabi us Sani, 1444 I Rs 15.00 | Vol XIII No 133 I 12 Pages I Islamabad Edition
Major parties developing consensus on Merit in next coas appointMent g
nawaz, shehbaz 4th Meeting reMains inconclusive
ISLAMABAD
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Mian abrar
hree major political parties of the country – pti, pMln and ppp – are building their political narratives around the appointment of the next chief of army staff and the leaders of both the parties are accusing each other of violating the merit policy. chief of army staff (coas) general Qamar Javed bajwa is set to retire on november 29 and the pMl-n — the major stakeholder in the ruling coali-
tion — has been mulling options to appoint the new officer as gen bajwa’s successor. it is, however, interesting to note that all the three parties had supported a law in January, 2020, to award extension in tenure of the chiefs of the armed forces, enabling general Qamar Javed bajwa get another full term in office. under the move, both houses of the parliament had voted to pass three bills that set a higher retirement age for the chiefs of the pakistani army, navy and air force, allowing the prime minister to extend their
terms at his discretion. while pMl-n’s supremo nawaz sharif held another quiet meeting with prime Minister shehbaz sharif in london to discuss the appointment of next army chief, the pti, pMl-n and ppp leaders accused each other for violating the merit policy in this regard. it was pti chief imran Khan who on friday accused the pMln supremo nawaz sharif of violating the merit-policy in appointment of the next army chief. “the next army chief should be appointed on merit …. but the incumbent coalition government would violate merit as the [pMl-n supremo] nawaz sharif would not let it happen because he wants to control the institutions to save his looted wealth,” said Khan in his speech made to the participants of the long march broadcast through a video link in gujrat. the pMl-n responded to Khan’s allegations the same evening. planning Minister ahsan iqbal criticised pti chairman imran Khan for being the only politician in the country’s history to play politics on the army chief’s appointment. appearing in talk show, iqbal said it was ‘regrettable’ that someone for the first time in the country’s history was trying to play politics on the issue. “prime Minister shehbaz sharif will announce the army chief’s appointment in time on merit and professional basis,” he said and added that the next army chief will be announced before november 29. “when the prime minister returns to the country, he will make the announcement in the next few days or two,” he said and added that the prime minister had his ‘eyes’ on the issue and the announcement would be done at the “appropriate time”. planning Minister ahsan iqbal has said that prime Minister shehbaz sharif will only have one criterion for the army chief’s appointment: maintaining pakistan’s impenetrable defence and taking the military’s professionalism to a higher standard. “we have to do the army chief’s appointment on a professional, instead of political, basis”. iqbal said the issue was a “routine appointment” and speculation should be avoided on the matter.
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UK court rejects PM’s adjournment plea in Daily Mail case g
MarriyuM claiMs newspaper failed to prove allegations ISLAMABAD agencies
the london high court of Justice has rejected prime Minister shehbaz sharif’s plea for an indefinite adjournment in the defamation case against british newspaper daily Mail. according to a copy of court order shared by daily Mail reporter david rose, Justice nicklin conducted the hearing on the case on november 9, 2022. the pM’s counsels reportedly sought more time for their client to submit response in the case, saying that the prime minister of pakistan was fully occupied with legal duties. “the prime minister and common man are equal in this court,” media reports quoted the uK judge as saying in response to the pM’s request. if pM shehbaz amended reply is deemed not to comply with the requirements set down by law next month, his action will be “struck out”, according to journalist rose. “if that happened, he would have to pay all our [legal] costs since he brought
the case. the same would be true if he and ali imran withdrew,” he added. in a statement, information Minister Marriyum aurangzeb said that the british newspaper delayed the defamation case for one and a half years on different pretexts. “we have won this case to the extent of stating our position,” she claimed. the information minister said the next hearing of the case has been fixed for december 13 in which she said a detailed response to the allegations will be submitted to the court. pM shahbaz’s brief response in the case has already been submitted while the daily Mail has not been able to prove its allegations in the court yet, she claimed. “now it [daily Mail] will have to face the law.” in 2020, shehbaz had filed a case in the london high court against the british daily and its reporter david rose for publishing a “fabricated and defamatory” report against him in July 2019.
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