Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa gets 3 more years in office due to 'regional security environment'

Faced with an aggressive India, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday extended the tenure of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for another three years. According to the Pakistani Prime Minister's office, General Bajwa's extension has been approved due to the "regional security environment". General Bajwa, the 10th Pakistani Army Chief, was appointed to the post in November 2016 by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

"General Qamar Javed Bajwa is appointed Chief of Army Staff for another term of three years from the date of completion of current tenure. The decision has been taken in view of the regional security environment," the notification issued by Imran Khan's office reads.

The decision to extend General Bajwa's tenure comes just a day after Imran Khan bizarre appeal to the international community to secure India's nuclear weapons. Pakistan has been completely isolated after it tried to internationalise the abrogation of Article 370 and Article 35A by the Narendra Modi government, a move which ended Jammu and Kashmir's special status and brought it at par with other Indian states. All the major world powers have backed India on Jammu and Kashmir, where Pakistan has been actively sponsoring and supporting terror groups, terming it as an internal matter of the country.

On the other hand, India has made it clear that any talks on the Union Territory will revolve only around the areas illegally occupied by Pakistan, known as Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh have warned Pakistan to not indulge in any misadventure after the scrapping of Article 370.

On August 14, when Pakistan celebrated its independence day, Imran Khan had also admitted that the Indian Air Force (IAF) carried out airstrikes on a Jaish-e-Mohammad terror camp in Balakot on February 26, 2019, following the dastardly suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama in which at least 40 security personnel were killed.

Soon after India scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's special status, Pakistan went on an overdrive to spread false propaganda using all available avenues including social media where it created several fake Twitter handles. General Bajwa also met all his Corps Commanders on August 6, 2019, where Jammu and Kashmir dominated the proceedings.