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Home , Pakistan Army, Qamar Javed Bajwa

INDO-PACIFIC : Looking at Bajwa’s Extension as Chief of

OE Watch Commentary: In August 2019, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imram extended the tenure of General as Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff for a period of three years, but as the accompanying excerpted article from Dawn reports, in late November the Supreme Court of Pakistan suspended that decision. As the article discusses, the Supreme Court later announced that General Bajwa “will retain the top military position for another six months” and that the court reached this decision “after being assured by the government that parliament will pass legislation on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months.” While this resolved General Bajwa’s status for the time being, the article examines several important developments that have taken Chinese cargo trucks awaiting Pakistan Customs clearance at Sost. place during General Bajwa’s time as Source: Anthony Maw, Vancouver, via Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sost_Pakistan_Customs_and_Chinese_Trucks_IMG_7494_China_Pakistan_ Karakoram_Highway_KKH.jpg, CC BY SA 3.0 Chief of Army Staff. The article looks at how General Bajwa has been at the head of the army since the launch of Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad in February 2017, which is “aimed at indiscriminately eliminating the “residual/latent threat of terrorism,” consolidating the gains made in other military operations, and further ensuring Pakistan’s border security.” The article mentions that the operation “was progressing satisfactorily” as of May 2019 and points to fences on the Afghan-Pakistan border as “one of the successes” of it. The article also brings up the clashes between and Pakistan earlier this year after the Pulwama incident and how “relations worsened between India and Pakistan after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stripped of the special autonomy they had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order on August 5.” Lastly, the article looks at the role General Bajwa has played in Chinese-Pakistan relations, pointing out the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s comment that Bajwa “was a sincere and old friend of the Chinese government and the army.” This statement of support for General Bajwa comes at a time when there has been a “surge in terrorist activity in Balochistan” that Pakistani officials believe are “linked to the launch of the second phase of CPEC [the -Pakistan Economic Corridor].” Chinese investments for the second phase of CPEC will reportedly involve industrial and agricultural sectors of Pakistan’s economy and infrastructure. Back in August, Prime Minister Khan stated that the security situation in the country required General Bajwa to remain as Chief of Army Staff for another term. While it remains to be seen if General Bajwa gets another three year term or is replaced, each one of the security issues outlined in the article will continue to be significant factors in Pakistan’s security over the next several years. End OE Watch Commentary (Stein)

“The Supreme Court announced on November 28 that General Bajwa will retain the top military position for another six months...”

OE Watch | January 2020 41 INDO-PACIFIC Continued: Pakistan: Looking at General Bajwa’s Extension as Chief of Army Staff

Source: Sana , “‘The Bajwa doctrine’: Highlights from Gen Bajwa’s 2016-19 tenure as COAS,” Dawn, 29 November 2019. https://www. dawn.com/news/1519158

Three years ago General Qamar Javed Bajwa took charge as the country’s chief of army staff. With his retirement due in November 2019, Prime Minister approved an extension in his tenure citing “regional security situation” back in August this year. The matter of his extension, however, took an unanticipated turn on November 26 when the Supreme Court suspended the notification by the government and grilled the attorney general on how the whole matter was handled. Following two days of lengthy court proceedings and back-to-back cabinet meetings — all in an attempt by the government to satisfy the top court on the legal grounds of the move — the Supreme Court announced on November 28 that Gen Bajwa will retain the top military position for another six months. The three-member bench announced the much-anticipated verdict after being assured by the government that parliament will pass legislation on the extension/reappointment of an army chief within six months… …Dawn.com takes a look at some of the key highlights from Gen Bajwa’s three-year tenure as the Chief of Army Staff… During the course of Gen Bajwa’s tenure, the term and the idea of a ‘Bajwa doctrine’ came under much discussion…The ‘doctrine’ came under discussion and was criticised by some sections of the civil society and the media… During Gen Bajwa’s term, the , in February 2017, launched ‘Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad’ (RuF). The operation was announced in the aftermath of a fresh resurgence of terror attacks in the country. At the time the operation was launched, ISPR said Radd-ul-Fasaad — which translates roughly to ‘elimination of discord’ — was aimed at indiscriminately eliminating the “residual/latent threat of terrorism”, consolidating the gains made in other military operations, and further ensuring Pakistan’s border security. In May 2019, Maj Gen Ghafoor said the operation was progressing satisfactorily. Sharing statistics, he said 47 major operations and 100,000 intelligence-based operations had been undertaken, which had resulted in the recovery of over 64,000 weapons and 5.1 million units of ammunition. …One of the major successes under the RuF has been border fencing. In June 2017, fencing along the Pakistan- border commenced in an effort to improve the security situation along the international boundary. Last year, the army announced that work on fencing was going apace and the project would be completed by December 2019. A total of 1,000 kilometres of the border has so far been fenced decreasing chances of unauthorised border crossing… Meanwhile, tensions between Pakistan and India flared in February after a suicide car bombing killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police in occupied . India blamed Pakistan for the attack and attacked Pakistan…The crisis between nuclear-armed Pakistan and India had raised fears of an all-out war after the on February 27 shot down two Indian aircraft for violating Pakistani airspace… Relations worsened between India and Pakistan after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stripped Kashmiris of the special autonomy they had for seven decades through a rushed presidential order on August 5. Later that month, Gen Bajwa said the Pakistan Army was fully prepared to thwart any Indian misadventure and aggression… Alternatively, Pakistan’s relations with China have deepened over the years with projects such as the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Commenting on the extension of Gen Bajwa as chief of army staff, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said: “We believe [that] under the leadership of Gen Bajwa, Pakistan Army will continue to make contributions to upholding Pakistan’s sovereignty and security interests and regional peace and stability.”…The Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said Gen Bajwa was a sincere and old friend of the Chinese government and the army and he had made positive contributions to relations between China and Pakistan. …China and Pakistan have been pursuing the multi-billion dollar project since 2015 that involves connectivity and infrastructure projects. In June, amidst a surge in terrorist activity in Balochistan, the army reaffirmed its commitment to ensure security of CPEC. Security officials believed the sudden intensification of attacks was linked to the launch of the second phase of CPEC, the progress on border fencing and the fluid situation in Afghanistan. The attack on a hotel in Gwadar accentuated concerns about CPEC security…

OE Watch | January 2020 42