Second Senior-Most General In Pakistan Army Kept Under House Arrest For Opposing Extension Of General Bajwa’s Tenure

Pakistan’s second most-senior General Sarfaraz Sattar, successor to incumbent Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa, was kept in house arrest along with his family for weeks because of his vocal opposition to the extension of Bajwa’s tenure, reports Asian News International (ANI).

Trashing General Sattar's prospects of succeeding General Bajwa as the Army chief, Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan Niazi and the president of the nation approved Bajwa's tenure extension.

It has also been reported that General Sattar and six other unhappy senior officers of the Pakistan Army joined hands with the nation's Supreme Court's Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa to block General Bajwa's extension.

The Pakistani Supreme Court had reduced Bajwa’s three-year extension to just six months. Following this, Sattar and his family had to bear the brunt of being a dissident. He and his family members have been under the house arrest since Pakistani apex court’s order.

After the decision of the court to reduce Bajwa’s extension period to six months, the Pakistani Parliament’s upper house earlier this month passed a bill allowing extension of the tenure of the country’s Army chief.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that by the time General Bajwa's extended tenure would now come to an end, as many as 24 serving Lieutenant (Lt) Generals would have retired despite having been eligible candidates to take over as the successive Chief of Army.