Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the possibility of holdinggeneral elections prior to the appointment of a new army chief cannot beruled out.
In an interview with BBC Urdu, he said, “It is possible that we holdelections before the [new] army chief’s appointment, before November. Therewill be a caretaker government at that time. It is also possible that thecaretaker government is gone and the new government is [in power] beforeNovember.”
Incumbent Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa will remain inoffice till November 29 this year, after his three-year tenure was extendedin 2019.
In response to a question about whether the PML-N-led coalition governmentcould give the incumbent COAS another extension, Asif said Bajwa hadalready announced that he does not want his tenure to be extended.
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The defence minister said he welcomed the announcement because it had”closed the doors of speculation” and noted that the previous army chief,General (retd) Raheel Sharif, too, had not “directly or indirectly demandedan extension”.
