Pakistan’s new army chief can ensure a compromise agreement, setting a date for holding national elections.
Marvin Weinbaum, a senior US scholar who has written several books on Pakistan and Afghanistan, said.
“Under a new army chief, military will be able to broker a compromise agreement,” says Mr Weinbaum in an article he wrote for the Middle East Institute (MEI), Washington.
Mr Weinbaum notes that while the current Pakistani government would prefer to name a new chief , the prime minister is hemmed in by a military establishment anxious for the selection to be seen as based solely on seniority and merit”.
Another US scholar of Pakistani origin, Shuja Nawaz says that elevating one of the candidates before Nov 27 to deal with the retirement issue “may provoke legal challenges as we cannot have two chiefs simultaneously”.
Shuja Nawaz’s books on Pakistan Army are taught at universities in the US and Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Prof Hassan Abbas of the US National Defence University said the most likely scenario would be selection of “two senior most generals” as the chief and the chairman joint chiefs of staff.”
I am an experienced writer, analyst, and author. My exposure in English journalism spans more than 28 years. In the past, I have been working with daily The Muslim (Lahore Bureau), daily Business Recorder (Lahore/Islamabad Bureaus), Daily Times, Islamabad, daily The Nation (Lahore and Karachi). With daily The Nation, I have served as Resident Editor, Karachi. Since 2009, I have been working as a Freelance Writer/Editor for American organizations.
