Islamabad - Before his appointment as COAS in November 2016, General Qamar Javed Bajwa was Commander of an important Rawalpindi Corps and was employed as Inspector General Training and Evaluation at the General Headquarters, a position his predecessor General Raheel Sharif held before becoming the army chief.
Normally, commanding a corps carries huge weight before being considered for promotion to the four-star general. He had commanded 10 Corps or the Rawalpindi Corps, which is responsible for the most sensitive areas of the country and a position that plays a pivotal role as almost the entire border with India comes under its jurisdiction.
The entire defence installations, including army, navy and air headquarters, PM Secretariat had also been under the responsibility of a Commander of 10 Corps.
General Bajwa had also commanded a brigade headquarter as a brigade major, commanded infantry unit as Lt. Colonel, he was Grade-I officer in 10 Corps headquarters and has also commanded a brigade in an operation area. As a brigadier, he held position of Chief of Staff at 10 Corps and also commanded formation division in Northern Areas as formation commander. Besides this, he commanded infantry school and as Lt Gen, he commanded 10 Corps. Gen Bajwa was in 10 Corps thrice and has an extensive experience of handling affairs in Kashmir and the Northern Areas – one reason why his extension was considered seriously.
Born in Gakhar Mandi, Gujranwala, General Bajwa was commissioned on Oct 24, 1980 in the 16 Baloch Regiment, the battle-hardened force that in the past has given three army chiefs, including Gen Yahya, Gen Aslam Beg and Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.
Bajwa is a graduate of Canadian Forces Command and Staff College-Toronto, Naval Post Graduate University-Monterey, California and NDU Islamabad. He has been an instructor at the School of Infantry and Tactics, Quetta, Command and Staff College, Quetta and the NDU. Bajwa has also been Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade and Chief of Staff of Rawalpindi Corps. He has commanded the 16 Baloch Regiment, an Infantry Brigade as well as Infantry Division in Northern Areas.
He had also commanded Pakistan Contingent in Congo, where he worked alongside the former Indian army chief General Bikram Singh, who described Bajwa as an ‘outstanding and professional soldier.’