Defense Minister Khawaja Asif on Sunday said that the notification regarding the Chief of Defence Forces’ (CDF) appointment will be issued once Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif returned to the country.
“There is unnecessary and irresponsible speculation about CDF notification. Please be informed that the process has been initiated,” Asf said on social media platform X.
“PM is returning shortly. Notification will be issued in due course of time. No room for any conjecturing. Period!” he added.
The CDF position, created under the 27th Constitutional Amendment, replaced the now-abolished office of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, which formally ended on Nov 27.
Officials and observers had expected the new notification to coincide with the abolition of the CJCSC post, but November 29 was seen as a critical marker being the date on which the original three-year tenure of the incumbent Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Field Marshal Asim Munir, was set to expire.
Asif’s statement came as the November 29 expired without any notification being issued to formally appoint the country’s first CDF.
More to follow
