*ISLAMABAD – **Who will become new Army Chief if General Qamar Bajwaretires today, Retired Lieutenant General Amjad Shoaib has revealed. *
*The senior most corps commander will assume charge as the acting chief ofthe army if General Qamar Javed Bajwa retires on Thursday and a new armychief is not appointed, Lt General (retired) Amjad Shoaib said Wednesday.*
“For example, if a verdict doesn’t come out tomorrow then he [GeneralBajwa] will retire tomorrow,” the former military official told SAMAA TVanchorperson Ali Haider. “Appointment [of the new army chief] will taketime after the retirement so the senior most corps commander will have totake over.”
“He will become the acting army chief,” Shoaib said. “I think LieutenantGeneral Sarfaraz Sattar is the senior most [corps commander],” he added.
The Supreme Court of Pakistan had suspended on Tuesday the notificationthat extended the tenure of General Bajwa as the army chief for anotherthree years.
The apex court said that the attorney general was asked under what law canan army chief’s tenure be extended or he can be re-appointed. But thecountry’s top lawyer failed to do so.
According to sources within the PM house, the government has drafted a newsummary of extension in General Bajwa’s tenure as the army chief.