General Asim Munir's retirement frozen by federal govt

ISLAMABAD: Federal cabinet on Thursday has frozen the retirement of newly nominated Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, ARY News reported. 

This was announced by Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, while exclusively talking to ARY News. He said as per Army Act, the government has the authority to freeze the retirement of any officer.

The senior most officer of the Pakistan Army was set to retire on November 27.

Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif decided to appoint Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Lieutenant General Syed Asim Munir as the Chief of Army Staff using constitutional authority.

He said today, the cabinet meeting decided today to freeze the retirement of Asim Munir and then promoted him to a four-star general rank.

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Later, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif nominated General Asim Munir as the new COAS, as General Qamar Javed Bajwa is due to retire on November 29.

Replying to a question, Rana Sanaullah said President Arif Alvi has no other option rather than to sign the summary.

Earlier, it emerged that the federal cabinet has frozen the retirement of General Asim Munir after allowing amendments in the rule of business.

 General Asim Munir’s profile

Lieutenant General Syed Asim Munir is the senior most officer after outgoing Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa and is currently serving as Quartermaster General in the Pakistan Army.

Lt-Gen Munir entered the service via the Officers Training School (OTS) programme in Mangla and was commissioned into the 23rd Battalion of the Frontier Force Regiment.

He was appointed DG of the Military Intelligence in early 2017 and then ISI Director General in October 2018.

He was posted as Gujranwala Corps commander, a position he held for two years, before being moved to the General Headquarters as the quartermaster general.

Lt-Gen Munir is the recipient of the Sword of Honour from the 17th course of the Officers Training School in Mangla. Also, he is the recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz.