'Partnership' may break if PML-N's desired COAS not picked: Rashid

If the situation worsens, politics and politicians both may get into trouble, says AML chief

Awami Muslim League chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that if Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's (PML-N) desired army chief is not appointed, the "partnership" it is having will break, in an apparent reference to the establishment.

"The law will bring Nawaz Sharif to Pakistan or drive away more criminals, we need to wait for it. With NAB's amendment, thieves have been given free hand and justice has been given the death penalty," he wrote on his Twitter handle.

قانون نوازشریف کوپاکستان لائےگایامزیدمجرموں کوبھگائے گا،انتظار کریں۔ن لیگ کی خواہش کی تعیناتی نہ ہونےپراسکی پارٹنرشپ ٹوٹ سکتی ہےنیب کی ترمیم سےچوروں کوکھلی چھٹی اورانصاف کوسزائےموت ہوگئی ہےموڈیزنےپانچ اوربنکوں کی ریٹنگ کم کردی۔حالات خراب ہوئےتوسیاست اورسیاست دان نرغےمیں آسکتےہیں

— Sheikh Rashid Ahmed (@ShkhRasheed) October 12, 2022

Rashid said that Moody's has cut the rating of five more banks, adding that if the situation worsens, politics and politicians both may get into trouble.

The statement comes as a debate rages in national media and political circles on possible successors to incumbent Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, who is scheduled to retire in November.

Read more: No objection to appointment of any new army chief: Fawad

The constitution allows the prime minister to pick the military head from a list of generals submitted by the outgoing chief. However, the matter saw intense tensions when last month the army reacted strongly to some “defamatory” statements made by Imran Khan on the appointment of the new military chief.

Addressing a rally in Faisalabad in Punjab last month, Imran had accused the government of trying to appoint a “favourite” as the next army chief, stirring political controversy with Imran's arch-rivals demanding action against him for "maligning" state institutions.

However, during a media talk in Islamabad earlier this month, PTI leader Fawad Chaudhry rubbished the allegations that his party had objections to the appointment of any new army chief but clarified that it had only reservations about those at the helm of the process of picking a new military head.

Fawad said all the generals are picked through a thorough meticulous process and the PTI does not object to any new army chief being appointed.