Pakistan's parliament extends army chief's term amid opposition outcry

 

FILE – People watch a TV news broadcast about the nomination of Pakistan's army chief, General Asim Munir, at a market in Karachi, Pakistan, Nov. 24, 2022. Parliament on Nov. 4, 2024, extended the terms of the heads of the armed forces from three years to five years.

Islamabad —

Pakistan’s ruling coalition lawmakers approved a series of bills Monday that extend the terms of the heads of the armed forces, including the military, from three years to five years, despite noisy opposition protests.

The legislative action ensures that Army Chief General Asim Munir, who has been in office for two years, will continue to lead the country’s powerful military at least until November 2027.

The parliamentary proceedings, telecast live, witnessed disruptive protests from lawmakers of the opposition Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by the imprisoned former Prime Minister Imran Khan, with some of them tearing up copies of the bills and throwing them at the house speaker.

PTI members argued that the government hastily approved key constitutional amendments without allowing for proper debate, calling the move detrimental to an already fragile democracy in Pakistan. They reiterated their complaints about the ongoing government crackdown on party workers and demanded Khan\’s release, asserting that he is being jailed on false charges.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s coalition government dismissed PTI’s claims as politically motivated.

“Pakistan’s parliament has pushed through a bill extending the army chief’s tenure from 3 to 5 years, and with little debate,” Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at Washington’s Wilson Center, said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The most powerful post in Pakistan is poised to become even more powerful. When a legislature is reduced to a rubber stamp, democracy is never a winner,” Kugelman wrote.

Sharif took power after general elections in February, which Khan and his party allege were rigged by the military leadership to keep them out of power. Election officials and the army reject the allegations.

Khan, cricket star-turned-prime minister, was removed from office through a parliamentary vote of no-confidence in 2022.

The 72-year-old deposed leader was jailed in August 2023 over controversial allegations of corruption and inciting violence against the military, among dozens of other charges.

Khan rejects all the lawsuits as fabrications by the military, accusing Munir’s predecessor, former army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, of orchestrating the downfall of his government. The former prime minister has led a defiant campaign against the military while his party continues to protest in parliament and on the streets, demanding the return of their “stolen mandate."

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Last month, more than 60 Democratic lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Joe Biden, urging him to secure the release of Khan and all other political prisoners in Pakistan.

The American lawmakers expressed concern about what they denounced as the "ongoing widespread human rights violations" in the South Asian nation. Without naming Sharif’s coalition government, the letter stated that “Pakistan\’s current system amounts to \’military rule with civilian facade.’”

Islamabad hit back at the letter, saying it is based on “an incorrect understanding of the political situation in Pakistan.”

Pakistan’s military and its intelligence agencies are frequently accused of influencing the rise or fall of elected governments through election rigging and pro-army political parties.

Army generals have staged three coups against elected governments and ruled the South Asian nation for over three decades since it gained independence in 1947. Pakistani politicians, including Khan and several of his predecessors, have publicly stated that military generals influence policy-making even when they are not in power.

 

By：VOA