Infantry officer Raheel Sharif is new chief of Pakistani army

The government also named Lt Gen Rashad Mahmood,currently Chief of General Staff,as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Both generals superseded Lt Gen Haroon Aslam,currently Chief of Logistics Staff,and the seniormost general after Kayani.

Lt Gen Sharif,57,comes from a family of soldiers. His older brother,Maj Shabbir Sharif,died in the 1971 war with India,and was honoured with the Nishan-e-Haider,Pakistan’s highest military decoration.

Prime Minister Sharif held separate meetings with both Lt Gen Sharif and Lt Gen Mahmood in Islamabad before approving their promotions.

Subsequently,a statement was issued by PM House,saying,“On the advice of the Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and in pursuance of Article 243/4(a) and 243/4(b) of the Constitution of Pakistan,President of Pakistan and Supreme Commander of Armed Forces,Mamnoon Hussain has been pleased to promote and appoint Gen Rashid Mehmood as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Gen Raheel Sharif as Chief of the Army Staff.

Pakistani analysts view Lt Gen Sharif as someone who thinks the militant threat inside Pakistan is just as important as the strategic threat posed by India. He is said to be a key author of the new doctrine under which the infantry,the army’s largest fighting arm and backbone,has been assigned a more diversified counter-insurgency role,nudging it away from a singular focus on countering India.

“He is a good professional. He is a good soldier. I think he will pursue civilian government’s policy on India provided there is reciprocity,” Lt Gen (retd) Talat Masood told PTI.

Speaking to The AP,Masood predicted,“I think the army will continue to stay out of politics,and I think the power of the army will continue to get diluted over time.

“I think there were several factors Prime Minister Sharif had to bear in mind when selecting the chief,” Masood said. “One was that he (the new chief) will distance himself from politics and not be a potential threat to him (Sharif). The most important factor was how professional he was,how acceptable he was in the army.”

Security analyst Hasan Askari Rizvi told Reuters,“Nawaz should know that whether it is Raheel Sharif or someone else as army chief,he won’t do the PM’s bidding — he will be driven by the institution first and last.”

The last army chief Sharif selected,Pervez Musharraf,toppled him in a military coup in 1999. The premier spent years in exile in Saudi Arabia before returning in 2007. Musharraf is currently facing charges of treason filed by the government.

As chief of the Pakistan army,Lt Gen Sharif will have to grapple with the Taliban insurgency and the relationship with India. “Sharif has played a big role in convincing the army that the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and assorted militants inside Pakistan are as big a threat (as India),” an retired officer and one-time boss of Sharif,told Reuters.

Pakistan on Wednesday also named water and power minister Khawja Muhammad Asif as defence minister. The prime minister had held the portfolio since being elected in May.