Asif terms speculation on CDF notification 'irresponsible'

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Sunday declared that the notification regarding the appointment of Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir as the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) would be issued “in due course of time,” the process for which had started.

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“Please be informed that the process has been initiated. PM (Shahbaz Sharif) is returning shortly. Notification will be issued in due course of time. No room for any conjecturing. Period!,” Asif said in a post on social media platform X.

The defence minister's tweet was meant to clarify the situation created by a story appearing in a leading English language daily.

The story said as the crucial Nov.29 deadline expired, questions grew over the government's failure to notify the appointment of Pakistan's first CDF, a dual-hatted position combined with the office of the army chief.

The CDF position, created under the 27th Constitutional Amendment, replaced the now-abolished office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), which formally ended on Nov.27.

Officials and observers had expected the new notification to coincide with the abolition of the CJCSC post, but Nov.29 was seen as a critical marker being the date on which the original three-year tenure of the incumbent Army Chief, Field Marshal Munir, was set to expire.