ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister, under the amendment in Army Act approved by federal cabinet in its emergency meeting, was given power to extend the tenure of all the services chiefs.
The amendment approved by the cabinet will be put before the National Assembly tomorrow (Friday) for a final nod. The government will seek cooperation of the opposition for the adoption of the bill from the two houses which are in session these days. Defence Minister Pervaiz Khattak will lead the talks with the opposition.
The amendment has been prepared according to the guidelines enumerated in the verdict of the Supreme Court last month in a case about extension in tenure of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Officially, no word was given about the draft of the bill to be tabled in the parliament’s ongoing session, but The News claimed attributing its sources that it was approved with the consensus by the cabinet.
The meeting of the federal cabinet was convened early afternoon and it was chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan to define the service period and process of extension of an army chief. Reportedly, the Army Act’s amendment will also be applicable to the chairman of joint chiefs and all the services’ chiefs. Interestingly, it was the federal cabinet’s second sitting in less than 24 hours. According to a private TV channel, Pervaiz Khattak has said the cabinet approved amendments in Section 172 of the Army Act.
The amendment bill also includes a suggestion to extend the tenure of all the three services chiefs, Khattak was quoted as saying. The amendment will authorise the prime minister to extend the tenure of the army chief. A day earlier, President Dr Arif Alvi convened a session of both the upper and lower house of parliament on a 24-hour notice.
The move was unexpected since the Upper House of the legislature had not met for 124 days, apart from a requisitioned session. On December 27, 2019, the apex court had accepted the government’s review petition for hearing in the case and allotted a number for the initial hearing. The petition would be heard as per the directives of Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Gulzar Ahmed. The review petition filed on December 26, 2019, has sought formation of a larger bench to nullify the judgement delivered in the case over “legal and constitutional flaws”. The petitioners had requested the court for a larger bench and sought in-camera hearing of the case as well.
Firdous Ashiq Awan, Special Assistant to PM had said on the day of filing the petition that the government’s legal team had reviewed all aspects of the court’s decision thoroughly and concluded that there were several “legal gaps in the verdict”. “There are flaws in the verdict, and legal and constitutional faults surfaced in the decision. With due respect to the judiciary, the government wants rectification of the faults and has thus decided to file the review petition. The review petition is being filed ultimately in the higher public interest,” she had stated. Awan had also said that despite the review petition, the option to legislate on the matter through the Parliament would remain intact. She had further said that the media would be briefed on the matter extensively by Law Minister Farogh Naseemm reported The News.
In an unprecedented move, the apex court, last month, had suspended the notification of a three-year extension in the tenure of COAS Bajwa on the account of the summary being “not correct”. The three-member SC bench, headed by the then chief justice Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, had directed the Parliament to legislate on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months, after noting that there were no clear laws or rules on the matter. The court, after grilling the attorney general for three days over the matter, had decided that General Bajwa would remain COAS during the six-month period in which the Parliament would draft laws regarding the extension and appointment of an army chief.
Read more: Cabinet nods amendment in Army Act: sources
