Summary General Zubair Mehmood Hayat has assumed charge as the Chairman of Joint Chiefs Staff Committee
RAWALPINDI (Dunya News) – General Qamar Javed Bajwa is to assume command of Pakistan Army on Tuesday as Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), General Raheel Sharif is retiring tomorrow.
Invitations have been dispatched to ambassadors, civil leaders, military officials among other dignitaries to attend the change of command ceremony that is scheduled for tomorrow in hockey ground adjacent to General Headquarters (GHQ).
On the other hand, General Zubair Mehmood Hayat has assumed charge as the Chairman of Joint Chiefs Staff Committee (CJCSC) today in a ceremony that was held in GHQ earlier in the day.
In the ceremony, contingents of all three armed forces conducted a march-past while the freshly appointed CJCSC reviewed Guard of Honour.
The ceremony was attended by chiefs of all three armed forces including the army chief designate.
Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif designated General Bajwa as the army chief on Saturday after which he convened a one-on-one meeting with him as well as with General Hayat.
The decision came after the premier returned from his two-day Turkmenistan visit following which he convened a meeting with President Mamnoon Hussain and took him in confidence over the decision and fresh appointments.
Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly (NA), Khurshid Shah and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) among other leaders of different political parties welcomed PM Nawaz’s decision and hoped that the new military chief followed the footsteps of his predecessor, General Sharif.
The outgoing chief has been lauded by both national and international bodies for his fruitful actions against extremism in the country. Operation Zarb-e-Azb, a large-scale coercive action against hideouts and thousands of terrorists in Norht Waziristan was launched in June 2014, under his supervision.
General Raheel Sharif chaired a farewell meeting of corps commanders in GHQ today during which he thanked the commanders for cooperation that led to success of Pakistan Army on multiple fronts in past years.
WATCH VIDEO REPORT:
