ISLAMABAD: General Qamar Javed Bajwa– a four-star rank army general – currently to be serving as the 16th Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Pakistan Army, appointed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on November 26.
Bajwa previously worked as the Principal Staff Officer to the former army chief Raheel Sharif as the Inspector General (IG) of the ‘Training and Evaluation’ at the General Headquarters.
He served in the X Corps (Rawalpindi Corps) as lieutenant colonel – where he was the general staff officer. As a brigadier, Bajwa served as Chief of Staff at X Corps and has also commanded formation division in Northern Areas as formation commander. As a brigade commander, Bajwa commanded a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Congo.
His military colleagues say he is not an attention-seeking person and remains well-connected with his troops.
“He is extremely professional but very easy-going and full of compassion,” said an officer – who served under him. He went on to say that Bajwa was not protocol-minded either.
He was promoted to the rank of major general in May 2009 and served as the ‘Force Commander’ of Gilgit-Baltistan and held the title of the General Officer Commanding.
In August 2011, he was awarded the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) for his commendable services. He was Commandant of an Infantry School in Quetta before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant general in August 2013. Bajwa became the Corps Commander X Corps shortly after.
He was Grade-I officer during his tenure as Corps Commander X Corps and in September 2015, he was appointed as the Inspector General of the Training and Evaluation at the GHQ– where he is a Principal Staff Officer to the former army chief Raheel Sharif.
Bajwa was posted in the X Corps thrice and has a good experience of handling Kashmir’s affairs.
He belongs to the infantry’s Baloch Regiment and is from the 62nd MPA Long Course – which has given three officers to the post of army chief: General Yahya Khan, General Aslam Beg and General Kayani.
He is the ninth on the seniority list is currently serving at GHQ as Inspector General of Training and Evaluation – a position former army chief held before becoming the COAS.
Bajwa’s X Corps’ was responsible for mostly the sensitive areas of the country – a position that plays a pivotal role as almost the entire active border areas with India come under its jurisdiction.
The entire defence installations including the GHQ, the air headquarters (AHQ) and the navel headquarters (NHQ), the prime minister’s Secretariat and top government official’s security are also under the responsibility of the X Corps’ Commander.
Since the military remains heavily engaged in counter-terrorism operations and with the situation on the border with India remaining tense a candidate with a strong profile in dealing with such matters would be the best choice.
However, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif likely kept his past experiences with individual military generals as well as his own personal likes and dislikes in mind before he made his final decision.