When General Raheel Sharif retired as the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan to allow General Qamar Javed Bajwa to take over the reins in October last year, many eyebrows were raised among top diplomats and strategic experts as General Bajwa is known to be a highly professional soldier who is not influenced by state politics. Perhaps the choice of Bajwa is also prompted by the fact that Pakistan is now ridden with internal strife and an adversarial positioning vis-à-vis India, a stance which apart from the military establishment is unpopular with the people of Pakistan. Bajwa is known to be a true soldier, yet compassionate and not driven by a compulsive anti-India stance because he is pragmatic enough to understand the diminishing returns of fuelling extremism which is much more harmful for Pakistan than India.
It is a fact the former army generals have allowed the politics of the day to dictate policies. Besides, the army has been running a parallel power centre in Pakistan. Gen Bajwa belongs to a more progressive generation of army generals, not weighed down by the baggage of feudalism which has impeded the Pakistani army for decades. This has raised the expectations of the people of Pakistan that the country will now enter an era where relationship between the civilian government and the military will be based on clear demarcation of duties. Kashmir, has, however, been at the top of the agenda of the present general too but perhaps he has a more innovative way of finding a solution to the thorny problem. General Bajwa’s intent finds resonance with the Pakistan Tehreek-s-Insaf (PTI) chairperson Imran Khan who supported the general’s stance towards extremists. It will be worth watching as to how Pakistan steers the ship under a modern, progressive army general.