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Pakistan Lawmakers Pass Bill for Extension in Term to Army Chief

Pakistan’s Supreme Court had, in November 2019, approved army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa’s six-month term extension.

Pakistan Lawmakers Pass Bill for Extension in Term to Army Chief
File photo of Pakistan army soldiers patrol the town of Pattika in the Pakistan-administered state of Kashmir. (Photographer: Muzamill Pasha/Bloomberg News)

(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan’s lawmakers approved a bill granting legal cover to a three-year extension in service to current army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ending an apparent stand-off between the nation’s strong military and the judiciary.

The move, endorsed by a majority vote in the National Assembly, or Parliament’s lower house, came after Pakistan’s Supreme Court in November accepted Bajwa’s six-month extension in term on a condition that the parliament will approve the law in six months. It will become a law once it is approved by the Senate, the upper house, later, according to state-run Pakistan Television.

The two top opposition parties including Pakistan People’s Party, which is co-headed by former president Asif Ali Zardari, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, supported the move by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Pakistan’s Supreme Court in November Bajwa’s six-month extension in term on a condition that the parliament will approve the law in six months.

The military in Pakistan is considered a powerful institution, which has ruled the nation for about half of its 72-year history and that also controls the country’s security and foreign policies.

To contact the reporters on this story: Kamran Haider in Islamabad at khaider2@bloomberg.net;Ismail Dilawar in Karachi at mdilawar@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Khalid Qayum, Unni Krishnan

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.