740 army majors made lieutenant colonels

ISLAMABAD: Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has approved the promotions of close to 740 army majors to the rank of lieutenant colonel. The newly-promoted batch of army officers will wear their new badges on August 14.

Informed military sources said that the army chief had accorded approval to these promotions during a meeting of the army Selection Board III this month at the General Headquarters.

During the meeting of Selection Board III, the recommendations sent by regional boards were reviewed in detail following which the names were approved for promotion.

Prior to this final selection, corps headquarters had held meetings of regional promotion boards, starting from Quetta in June and culminating in the final such meeting at the GHQ on July 15. The boards met in Mangla, Multan, Lahore, Karachi, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Quetta, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and finally at GHQ.

The names of 1,675 officers were considered for promotion from the post of major to lieutenant colonel, of which 744 won the go-ahead from the regional boards.

Of the promoted officers, 211 belong to infantry, 115 to artillery, 65 to medical corps, 67 to engineering corps, 46 to the armoured corps, 52 to signals, 34 to military intelligence, 34 to electric and mechanical engineers, one to air defence, 24 to army service corps, 11 to ordnance, 24 to army aviation, 3 information and communication technology officers, 24 to nursing, eight to education corps, and five to remount and veterinary corps.

The Mangla regional board approved 33 names, Multan cleared 19 officers, Lahore 26, Karachi 58, Rawalpindi 75, Peshawar 115, Quetta 40, Gujranwala two, Bahawalpur regional board 36 and GHQ  320 officers.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2010.