LHC to hear plea for appointment of army chief on seniority basis

The Lahore High Court (LHC) admitted for hearing a petition seeking the appointment of the next army chief on the basis of seniority, according to a media report on Tuesday.

The petition, the report said, was filed by Advocate Najma Ahmed. The petition claimed that the current procedure of the army chief’s appointment was “unlawful and unconstitutional”. LHC Justice Faisal Zaman Khan will hear the petition on Wednesday (today), the report added.

The petitioner contended that the judges of the superior courts were appointed on the basis of seniority but this rule was ignored in the selection of the chief of army staff. Therefore, the petitioner requested the court to direct the respondents to appoint the senior-most persons as the army chief.

The current army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa is set to retire in the last week of November. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has said that the selection process for the new army chief will begin on Friday, adding that his ministry would forwards five names to the prime minister, who would select one person from the list.