Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa

Islamabad, November 26

Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who has extensive experience in handling Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, was today appointed Pakistan’s new army chief to succeed Gen Raheel Sharif. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appointed Bajwa as the chief of army staff (COAS) by elevating him to the rank of a four-star general, officials said.Bajwa will take charge of the world’s sixth-largest army by troop numbers in a formal handover on Tuesday, when General Sharif retires. General Sharif in January had declared he would not seek extension. There was speculation that the PML-N government would give him extension at the eleventh hour, citing reasons that he was needed by the country to lead war on terror. The post of army chief is the most powerful in Pakistan.Defence minister Khawaja Asif confirmed that Bajwa had been appointed as COAS and Zubair Hayat as chairman, joint chief of staff committee (CJCSC). Bajwa, currently serving as Inspector General of the Training and Evaluation, had commanded 10 Corps, responsible for the area along the Line of Control (LoC).As a major general, he led the Force Command Northern Areas. He also served in the 10 Corps as lieutenant colonel. He also served with a UN mission in Congo as a brigade commander alongside former Indian Army chief General Bikram Singh, who was also there as a division commander. Previously, he remained the commandant of the Infantry School in Quetta. The new army chief has wide experience of LoC affairs due to his extensive involvement with PoK and northern areas, reports said here. His military colleagues say he is not attention-seeking and remains well-connected with his troops. Lt Gen Bajwa is from infantry’s Baloch Regiment, which besides him has produced three army chiefs — Gen Yahya Khan, Gen Aslam Beg and Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. — PTI

Handled LoC affairs

• Because of his involvement with PoK and northern areas, Lt Gen Bajwa has wide experience in handling LoC affairs
• He had commanded 10 Corps, responsible for the area along the LoC, and led the Force Command Northern Areas

About Bajwa clan, here and in Pak

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, November 26

The appointment of Lt Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa as the next Pakistan army chief to replace Gen Raheel Sharif has kicked up social media traffic, with speculation in some quarters that his family may have old ties with the Sikh Bajwa families in India.While many Indians bearing the Bajwa surname and those who are members of “Bajwa” groups on the social media have been receiving congratulatory messages, some of them have clarified that people bearing the Bajwa surname on both sides of the border originally come from the same clan, from the Sialkot-Narowal belt. All were originally Hindus before they conversion to Sikhism or Islam began a few hundred years ago. Some Pakistani Bajwa families also claim that they converted from Sikhism. In fact, majority of the Sikh Bajwa families migrated to India after Partition and some of them who chose to stay back in Pakistan are said to have converted to Islam later. There are several surnames common to Sikhs and Muslims.Though little is publicly known about the ancestry of Gen Bajwa, he is said to be a Jat belonging to the Punjabi Muslim stock. This also has a coincidence with the Indian Army Chief, Gen DS Suhag, who also happens to be a Jat.Though there may no longer be any direct blood relationship between the present generations of Sikh Bajwas and Muslim Bajwas, social interaction between the two continues.