Gen (retd) Raheel Sharif had asked the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to extend his tenure? PML-N says yes, but the former army chief denies it.
He says he never asked for an extension.
He rejected the PML-N's claim that Nawaz Sharif was targeted for not extending the tenure of the former army chief.
The issue of extension of General Raheel Sharif's tenure came to the fore again when Lieutenant General (retd) Abdul Qadir Baloch said that Nawaz Sharif had told him that Raheel Sharif had repeatedly approached him for extension of his tenure. Was and Nawaz Sharif refused to extend.
The News has been reporting on what was going on these days, but after the departure of their government, some leading PML-N leaders did not extend scandals like Don Lex and Panama Papers to General Raheel Sharif's tenure. In an interview last year, former finance minister Ishaq Dar had said that General Raheel Sharif was targeted for not extending the party, including the PML-N. Accompanied by Shahbaz Sharif, he told General Raheel Sharif that his tenure was not being extended.
Immediately after this denial, when the scandals of Don Lex and Panama Papers Lex came to light, they were used against us in a clever way. When The News contacted General Raheel Sharif through Lieutenant General (retd) Amjad Shoaib to know his position after meeting Nawaz Sharif, he said that when he started leaving after meeting in the Prime Minister's Office, And Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan reached them.
Raheel Sharif told Amjad Shoaib that he did not want to extend his tenure as he had announced several months ago that he did not want any further extension after completing his three-year term.
According to Raheel Sharif, as stated by General Amjad Shoaib, the leaders of the Muslim League insisted that since the country was still fighting against terrorism, General Raheel Sharif restored peace in Karachi, so the government wanted those services. Keep going
According to Amjad Shoaib, when Raheel Sharif again expressed hesitation, he was offered the post of Field Marshal, which he again refused and he did not want any symbolic position of leadership where he could do it. If nothing happens, then it is claimed that the PML-N leaders told General Raheel Sharif that the government was considering empowering the post of Field Marshal.
General Raheel Sharif told Amjad Shoaib that he had never discussed the matter with anyone on his own. On September 11, 2016, The News published a report titled "Pressure on the Prime Minister on the issue of extension" stating that the Prime Minister is under pressure from certain quarters to extend the tenure of the Army Chief.
Citing credible sources, The News wrote that the Prime Minister has no intention of expanding the Army Chief. The source said that this is the decision. Although the army chief himself made it clear that he had no intention of accepting an extension, the prime minister was under pressure to make an offer to General Raheel Sharif.
The source also refuted the speculation that General Raheel Sharif would be made field marshal. When asked who was putting pressure on the Prime Minister, the source said that some influential leaders of the PML-N had repeatedly said yes to extending the tenure of General Raheel Sharif but at the same time some other influential people were also putting pressure. Were putting
The newspaper also reported that Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan were trying to extend the tenure of General Raheel Sharif. According to a well-informed PML-N leader, Shahbaz Sharif and Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also went to London to meet Nawaz Sharif where they had gone for heart surgery to press for extension of Raheel Sharif's tenure. Otherwise, he feared that martial law might be imposed, yet Nawaz Sharif refused to extend his tenure.
Meanwhile, a close aide to Nawaz Sharif told this correspondent that Raheel Sharif wanted to extend his tenure while the then Director General of ISI, Lieutenant General (retd) Rizwan Akhtar, wanted Raheel Sharif to serve for one year. I got an extension.
In that case, he would have become the most senior lieutenant general to be considered for the post of army chief a year later.
