ISLAMABAD - The Army Promotion and Selection Board has approved the promotion of four two-star major generals to the rank of lieutenant general in the military’s second major administrative review in the ongoing year.
Chaired by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the selection board’s meeting is to be held some time next week but the decision to promote the four army officers had been issued through an internal announcement on Thursday, a day prior to Eid, according to military insiders.
The Additional Secretary-I at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Major General (r) Arif Nazir Raja would notify the promotions of the newly made lieutenant generals after Eid holidays next week, following which, they would resume their respective charges, the insiders said.
The newly promoted officers are Maj-Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad, Director General Military Operations, Maj Gen Zamir-Ul-Hassan Shah, Commander Army Air Defence Command, Maj. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa, Commandant School of Infantry and Tactics  (Quetta) and Maj-Gen Javed Iqbal, Chief Instructor B-Division at the National Defence University Islamabad.
The said officers have been given promotions reportedly considering the retirements of the military’s top generals in the coming times.
On this month’s 13th, Lt-Gen Khalid Nawaz Corps Commander Rawalpindi (X Corps) would be reaching the age of superannuation. The MoD has already notified his scheduled retirement. In October this year, General Khalid Shameem Wyne, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Lt-Gen Alam Khattak Corps Commander Quetta would retire. General Kayani, the COAS, would be seeing the completion of his extended three-year COAS-ship term on November 28.
The military sources believe, Maj-Gen Ishfaq Nadeem is a potential candidate for the corps commander Rawalpindi slot. As DG MO, he has supervised several large-scale operations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Presently, he deals with the security situation at the Line of Control (LoC) that has deteriorated following violent skirmishes between the Indian and Pakistani militaries. He would continue with his present responsibilities till being notified as four-star general after Eid, reportedly 
Moreover, as head of Air Defence Command, Maj-Gen Zamir-ul-Hassan has played key role in the security arrangement taken against the backdrop of serious terror threats at Pakistan’s sensitive installations, prisons and airports in Ramzan. He is reported to have directly supervised the aerial surveillance operations extended across the country to avert any untoward incident in the Islamic month.
The promotion of Maj-Gen Javed Iqbal created a confusion in the military circles with some having believed that Maj-General Javaid Iqbal Nasar, DG National Guard was the one having been promoted. Later, it appeared that the top man at the military training institution in Quetta had got promotion.
In January this year, four Maj. Generals were promoted to the next rank. They were Maj-Gen Maqsood Ahmed, Maj- Gen Zubair Mahmood Hayat, Maj- Gen Syed Wajid Hussain and Maj-General Najibullah Khan. Presently, Maqsood Ahmed is Corps Commander Lahore. Zubair Mahmood is Corps Commander Bhawalpur. Wajid Hussain is Chairman Heavy Industries Taxila whereas Najibullah Khan is the military’s Engineer-in-Chief.
In March this year, 29 brigadiers of the total 190 considered, were promoted to the maj-gen rank.