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Kayani replaces Musharraf as COAS tomorrow

By admin | November 27, 2007

ISLAMABAD: Vice Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani will assume command of the Pakistan Army as Chief of Army Staff on Wednesday (November 28) after President General Pervez Musharraf doffs his uniform.

President General Musharraf, who took command of the Pakistan Army on October 7, 1998 after removal of the then COAS General Jehangir Karamat by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, will finally hand over the most powerful office in Pakistan to his successor General Kayani.

President General Musharraf will start his farewell visits to all military headquarters from Tuesday (Nov 27) before he chairs a corps commanders’ conference on Wednesday, a day before he takes oath as civilian President.

“Yes, Genernal Kayani will assume the command of Pakistan Army on Wednesday, and farewell visits of President General Musharraf will start from Tuesday,” Maj Gen (Retd.) Rashid Qureshi, media advisor to the President, confirmed to ‘The News’.

By doffing his uniform a day before he takes oath as civilian president General Musharraf fulfills the pledge he made to the Supreme Court of Pakistan. The apex court has declared him a valid, lawful candidate following which the Election Commission has issued a notification of his success in the presidential election held on October 6. President Musharraf had won the presidential election but the Supreme Court headed by the deposed Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry withheld the result till the final outcome of the petitions filed against his nomination as presidential candidate.

From Tuesday, the President in his capacity as COAS would start visiting Joint Staff Headquarters, Naval, Air Force and General Headquarters on “farewell visits.” The first indication of the doffing of uniform by General Musharraf came when he appointed the then Director-General Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt. Gen. Kayani as VCOAS and promoted him to the rank of four-star general. In the same order, he also announced that General Kayani would assume the command of Pakistan Army as COAS on vacation of the office of the COAS by him. This scribe broke this all-important story on Geo Network on October 2.

The change of command in the Pakistan Army would come after more than nine years, as after seizing power and overthrowing the government of Nawaz Sharif on October 12, 1999 COAS General Musharraf assumed the office of Chief Executive and succeeded President Rafiq Tarar in June 2001.

President Musharraf, however, held three offices with him - COAS, Chairman JCSC and the Chief Executive. He became elected president after holding a referendum and securing a confidence vote. He, however, kept the office of COAS with him as an essential element to be the most powerful president in the history of Pakistan.

When General Kayani takes over from General Musharraf as COAS, it would set a new precedent in national history as no sitting President had handed over the office of COAS to his successor.

As COAS, General Musharraf took a number of important steps including his decision of joining the international war on terror after 9/11, holding polls in 2002, introducing a new local government system and sending the Sharif family into exile. But his most controversial decision was that of removing Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry after sending a reference on March 9 to the Supreme Judicial Council. A full bench of the Supreme Court later restored the Chief Justice. Musharraf survived the crisis and was later elected president with the full backing of the PML-Q and allies. At that time he promised to doff his uniform, which he would be doing on Wednesday.

His decisions of imposing emergency and promulgation of PCO were also validated by the Supreme Court, following which the Election Commission announced elections on January 8, 2008.

It is learnt that after chairing the meeting of Corps Commanders in his capacity as COAS on Wednesday, he would relinquish the charge of the Army Chief and hand over this psot to General Kayani.

On the following day, President Musharraf will take oath as civilian president for a five-year term. He will continue to be the supreme commander of Pakistan’s armed forces as enshrined in the constitution. AFP adds: President Gen Pervez Musharraf will take oath of office as a civilian president on Thursday after quitting as Army chief, his spokesman said, giving the first official schedule for the end of military rule. “My information is that he will take the oath as a civilian president on Thursday,” Attorney General Malik Muhammad Qayyum told AFP.

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