ISLAMABAD : In continuity of the military’s ongoing top-level administrative reshuffle, another three-star general has been assigned an important command assignment, in the insurgency-plagued province of Balochistan. Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has appointed Lieutenant General Nasir Janjua as Corps Commander Quetta (Southern Command) with immediate effect, military sources said on Monday.
He has replaced Lt-Gen Alam Khattak who would be reaching the age of superannuation next month. Khattak has not been immediately assigned any positing. The retiring general is not likely to get a new assignment, military insiders believe.
Before holding the reins of military command in Quetta, Janjua was the President at the National Defence University (NDU), the military’s one of the major educational facilities cum ‘think tanks.’ Janjua was appointed president NDU in July last year. He has been replaced by the newly promoted Lt-Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday who got promotion along with the three other major generals earlier this month.
Few days back, the COAS had appointed another newly promoted army officer Lt-Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as the Corps Commander Rawalpindi on account of the retirement of Lt-Gen Khalid Nawaz Khan on August 13.
The four Maj-Gens: Qamar Javed Bajwa, Zamirul Hassan Shah, Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad and Javed Iqbal - were promoted before Eid. While Zamirul Hassan heads Army Air Defence Command, Ishfaq Nadeem is the only one left in the newly promoted lot to get a positing. Military circles believe, he would get an important command assignment soon.
Moreover, the recently replaced spymaster Naushad Kayani is another general-ranked army officer who is awaiting a posting and is expected to be assigned an important command responsibility. Maj-Gen Naushad Kayani has recently been replaced with Maj-Gen Sarfraz Sattar as Director General Military Intelligence (MI).
Another important reshuffle this month involved the appointment of Major-General Amir Riaz as DG Military Operations to replace Ishfaq Nadeem following his promotion to the next rank. Major-General Shahid Baig Mirza has been appointed as General Officer Commanding (GOC) Lahore in place of Amir Riaz.
Apart from Alam Khattak, General Khalid Shameem Wyne, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, would be another top military man to call it a day this year. He would be retiring in October to be followed by General Ashfaq Kayani’s retirement in November.