Suspense continues: Raheel Sharif's farewell meetings not scheduled yet
Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee's last week begins, next week will be for farewell meetings
KARACHI: (Dunya News) – Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee General Rashad Mahmood will begin his farewell meetings next week and the meetings have already been scheduled but Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif’s farewell meetings’ schedule has not yet been made public as yet, reported Dunya News.
General Rashad Mahmood will visit General Head-Quarters (GHQ), Pak Air Force headquarters and Naval headquarters from November 20. He will also visit Strategic Planning Division as well for his farewell meetings. Moreover, he will also visit Baloch regiment center in Abbotabad. It is also important to note that the farewell meetings’ schedule has been prepared already while no such schedule has yet been prepared for General Raheel Sharif, who is also going to retire along with Rashad Mahmood on November 28.
The major reason behind the schedule not being released, according to Kamran Khan, is that that situation at Line of Control (LOC) is quite tense, and COAS does not want to lose focus on this occasion. The sources in GHQ said that farewell meetings could be held even after 23rd of November but the matters at hand are more important than the farewell meetings.
However, it is also pertinent to mention here that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has not yet revealed the names of the successors of both the retiring generals. Kamran Khan said that PM had already made the decision but hadn’t yet revealed it. “Even the last time when General Raheel Sharif was appointed, PM Nawaz had announced his name only two days prior to the date of former COAS General Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani’s retirement date”, he said.
General Raheel Sharif was the third most senior general at the time of his appointment as COAS while General Rashad Mahmood was the most senior. Rashad Mahmood was appointed as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
Currently, the senior most general is General Zubair Mahmood Hayat. There are two more senior generals but they are not supposed to be made the COAS due to various reasons. Senior generals other than General Zubair Mahmood are General Ashfaq Nadeem Ahmad, Lt. Gen. Javed Iqbal Ramday and Lt. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa. However, the suspense is still very much there.
