PROMOTION OF MAJOR GENERALS IN PAK ARMY 2023

 

Military has always played a pivotal role in making & breaking political governments in Pakistan. They have influence in every aspect of government ranging from development projects to economy, agriculture sector to industrial sector and internal affairs to foreign affairs. They affect not only Pakistan's domestic politics and security challenges but also have concrete impact on foreign policy direction. Due to this unprecedented influence of military establishment, news regarding postings/transfers and promotions of senior military officers always get high coverage both in conventional media and social media.

I am writing this piece on the pretext that six senior most Lieutenant Generals are going to retire within next two months and it will be first time for COAS General Asim Munir to promote Major Generals to Lieutenant Generals in a bulk. These promotions will have special impact on the internal politics of both the army and the country. General Qamar Bajwa promoted 12 Major generals just a month before his retirement and hence giving almost no room to the succeeding Army Chief to pick a team of his own by promoting like-minded major generals. This act by the outgoing COAS had severe repercussions for General Asim as he had to make his team from the Lt.Generals who were close to General Bajwa which made it really difficult for incumbent Army Chief to detach army from the policies of General Bajwa.

The six senior most lieutenant generals who are retiring are Lt. General Muhammad Aamir, Corps Commander Gujranwala, Lt. General Muhammad Chirag Haider Inspector General Training & Evaluation, Lt. General Nadeem Anjum, current DG ISI, Lt. General Khalid Zia, Military Secretary GHQ, Lt. General Ali Amir Awan Chairman POF Wah and Lt. Gen. Muhammad Saeed Chief of General Staff. With the extension of Lt. General Nadeem Anjum as DG ISI for one year the vacant slots for promotion of Major Generals has reduced to five.

The Major Generals who will be considered for promotion are Irfan Ahmed Malik, Raza Ali Khan, Mumtaz Hussain, Khurram Sarfaraz Khan, Nayyar Naseer, Tahir Hameed Shah, Zahid Sarwar Malik, Amer Ahsan Nawaz, Kamran Khursheed, Muhammad Ahmad Malik, Kashif Zafar, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Amir Naveed Warraich, Muhammad Ahsan Khattak, Muhammad Aamir Majeed, Mohammad Ejaz Mirza, Shakir ullah Khattak, Muhammad Aqeel, Syed Imdad Hussain, Zafar Iqbal Marwat and Avais Dastgir. (The list may not be complete)

Among the senior most Major Generals, two names are quite terrifying for the Pakistan Muslim League (Noon). First one is Major General Irfan Ahmed Malik who belongs to Artillery Regiment of Pak Amy and passed out with 82^nd batch of PMA Kakul. Currently holds the post of General Officer Commanding (GOC) Strategic Force North Sargodha. Earlier he was posted to the coveted post of Director General Counter Intelligence (DG C) in ISI. As DG(C) he threatened Maryam Nawaz Sharif of dire consequences if she remained defiant of military establishment. His chances for promotion are rather bleak due to his closeness with ex DG ISI Lt. Gen ® Faiz Hameed.

The other General to look out for PMLN is Major General Kamran Khursheed who belongs to Corps of Military Intelligence and is batch mate of Major General Irfan Ahmed Malik from PMA.  Currently he holds the post of Deputy Quarter Master General at GHQ. He was part of the Joint Investigation Team as a representative of Military Intelligence (MI), whose investigation led to the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif. Kamran Khursheed who was Brigadier at that time was nominated for the JIT by Maj General Asim Munir, current COAS, who was DG MI at that time. Maj General Kamran Khursheed has worked very closely with the present Army Chief General Asim Munir. Kamran has worked under Asim Munir in MI as brigadier, in ISI as his DG (B) and later on as Deputy Quarter Master General when General Asim was QMG himself. The only main obstacle for his promotion would that he has not commanded any division while serving as Major General.  

Apart from Kamran Khursheed, other Major Generals who are favorites for promotion as per my analysis are Mumtaz Hussain, Tahir Hameed Shah, Amer Ahsan Nawaz, Muhammad Ahsan Khattak and Avais Dastgir.

Maj Gen Mumtaz Hussain who currently holds the post of Director General Personnel (DG P) at Pakistan Ordinance Factory Wah has served as General Officer Commanding (GOC) of SSG. As GOC SSG he organized various important military exercises which include Al Badr IV Pak Bahrain exercises, Samsam 7 Pakistan Saudi Arabia joint military exercise and joint military exercise with Russia-Egypt-Jordan. He belongs to Punjab Regiment of Infantry.

Major General Tahir Hameed Shah currently holds the post of DG Weapons & Equipments AG Branch GHQ. He has served as GOC of 16 Division stationed at Pano Aqil. He belongs to Missile Regiment of Artillery.

Major General Amer Ahsan Nawaz currently holds the post of Commandant Command & Staff College Quetta. He has served as GOC of 12 div stationed at Murree. He belongs to Baloch Regiment of Infantry. It is pertinent to mention here that GOC 12 Div is an important post and most of the Major Generals who serve in this post are promoted to Lieutenant General.

Major General Muhammad Ahsan Khattak currently holds the post of GOC of 9^th Division Kohat. Before that he served in Ministry of Defense as Additional Secretary on secondment basis. He belongs to Frontier Force regiment of Infantry.

Major General Avais Dastgir currently holds the post of Director General Military Operations (DG MO) which is one of the most important post within the Army. The officer who served in this post gets a definite promotion to the next level. Avais Dastgir has also commanded a brigade in Mingora.

With the retirement of Lieutenant Generals holding important positions will pave way for transfer/postings in some key positions. In my view the following transfers may happen:

        Lt Gen Ahsan Gulrez to be transferred as Corps Commander Gujranwala, Akhtar Nawaz to be transferred as Chief of General Staff, Muhammad Munir Afsar to be transferred as Corps Commander Multan and Kashif Nazir to be transferred as DG ISI (However chances are Lt Gen Nadeem Anjum may be given extension of one year as DG ISI).

With the replacement of six Lieutenant Generals and promotion of new Major Generals, the COAS Asim Munir will be in a more commanding position to define and execute his doctrine to take Pakistan out of the current political and economic mess.

Important Note: The scenarios of promotions and transfer/postings of military high command mentioned above are based on my personal thoughts and not based on any solid information.

MBN