16 facts about Pakistan's 16th Army Chief-General Qamar Javed Bajwa

Islamabad: General Qamar Javed Bajwa today took over as Pakistan's new army chief, succeeding Gen Raheel Sharif at a ceremony held in Rawalpindi. Image Courtesy: AFP

1. Bajwa, who takes over as Pakistan's 16th army chief, is currently serving at the GHQ as Inspector General of the Training and Evaluation.
2. The post of Inspector General of the Training and Evaluation is the same position held by Gen Raheel Sharif before becoming army chief.
3. General Bajwa is the fourth officer from the infantry's Baloch Regiment to become the Army Chief.
4. Lt General Bajwa has also commanded the 10 Corps, the Pakistan army's largest, which is responsible for the area along the Line of Control (LoC).
5. Bajwa has extensive experience of handling affairs in Kashmir and the northern areas of the country.
6. As a major general, he led the Force Command Northern Areas.
7. Despite his extensive involvement with Kashmir and northern areas, he is said to consider extremism a bigger threat for the country than India.
8. Bajwa has served with a UN mission in Congo as a brigade commander alongside former Indian army chief Gen Bikram Singh, who was also there as a division commander. Image Courtesy: AFP
9. He has previously also remained the commandant of the Infantry School in Quetta.
10. His military colleagues say he is not attention-seeking and remains well connected with his troops.
11. Lt Gen Bajwa is also said to be an apolitical person without any biases.
12. He is from the infantry's Baloch Regiment, which has given three officers to the post of army chief - Gen Yahya Khan, Gen Aslam Beg and Gen Kayani.
13. Pakistans army chief-designate Lt. Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa has "zero presence" on social media and any accounts under his name are fake, the army's media wing has clarified on Monday.
14. Bajwa  will be promoted to the rank of four-star general  and will take up his new post from November 29, the day the current Army Chief Raheel Sharif retires.
15. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Saturday appointed Bajwa as army chief by elevating him to the rank of four-star general.
16. Gen Raheel handed over the command of the army to Chief  of Army Staff (COAS) Bajwa at a ceremony held in the Army Hockey Stadium, close to the General Headquarters (GHQ).

Notably, this decision comes after the Nagrota terror attack this morning that left 2 armymen killed and 2 BSF jawans injured. Raheel in January had declared he would not seek extension. "I will retire on the due date," he had said. There were speculation that the PML-N government would give him extension at the eleventh hour citing reasons that he was needed by the country to lead war on terror. The post of Army chief is the most powerful in Pakistan.