Security situation: Nawaz to visit GHQ tomorrow

Visit in wake of TTP appointing new chief.

ISLAMABAD: After the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan vowed to avenge the death of their chief Hakimullah Mehsud in a drone strike last week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is scheduled to visit the Army’s central offices, the General Headquarters (GHQ), on Tuesday.

It will be Nawaz’s first visit to the GHQ since he assumed charge of his office after the May elections.

The prime minister is expected to lay a floral wreath at the memorial of martyrs, and meet with Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

It is believed that Nawaz will be briefed about the professional matters, the internal and external challenges the country was facing.

Late last week, the TTP appointed Mullah Fazlullah as the successor to Mehsud. Fazlullah, known as Mullah Radio for using illicit radio stations in the Swat valley at the height of a brutal insurgency to denounce the government. Fazlullah is also believed to have ordered the hit on the teenage education activist Malala Yousufzai.

Nawaz’s visit also comes in the backdrop of a fast approaching retirement date of the Army chief. Incumbent chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani is expected to complete his extended tenure later in November.

The government has yet to announce a successor for the army chief and for the tri-services chief, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The previous JCSC chief General Shamim Wayne had retired last month and the post has been vacant since.