The Senate of Pakistan on Wednesday approved all three amendment bills – the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2020, the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill 2020 and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill 2020 – concerning the tenures of services chiefs and chairman of joint chiefs of the staff committee.
Senate Chairman Muhammad Sadiq Sanjrani chaired the session as Defence Minister Pervez Khattak tabled the bills. The National Assembly (NA) had approved the amendment bills on Tuesday.
As per amendments, the hiring of the services chiefs and chairman of the joint chief of staff committee would be the right of the prime minister and his decision to appoint, reappoint or extend the tenures of chiefs and the chairman cannot be challenged in any court.
The age limit for the appointment has been fixed at 64 years in the case of reappointment and extension, otherwise, the officer will retire at the age of 60 years.
Earlier, National Assembly and Senate Standing Committees on Defence had unanimously approved the three bills concerning tenures of the services chiefs and the chairman of joint chief of staff committee.
The NA session was chaired by Chairman Standing Committee on Defence Amjad Khan and other government representatives were also present.
"The amendments were passed unanimously by the body. I congratulate the entire country and the opposition parties," Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said.
The Supreme Court had allowed extension/reappointment of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa for another six months and asked the government to determine the tenure, terms and conditions of the service of the army chief through legislation within the period.
