Qamar Javed Bajwa

Qamar Javed Bajwa (Urdu: قمر جاوید باجوہ; born 11 November 1960), NI(M), is a four-star rank army general in the Pakistan Army and is current Chief of Army Staff, appointed to this post by then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in November 2016. Born in Karachi, Bajwa was educated at the F. G. Sir Syed College, and Gordon College in Rawalpindi.

Bajwa was commissioned in 1980 in the 16th Battalion of the Baloch Regiment. Prior to his appointment as the Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army, he served at the Army GHQ as the Inspector General of the Training and Evaluation from 2015 to 2016 and as field Corps commander of the X Corps from 2013 to 2015 which is responsible for the area along the Line of Control at Kashmir. In addition, he served as a Brigadier in the UN mission in Congo and as a brigade commander in 2007.

Early life and education
Bajwa was born on 11 November 1960 in Karachi. Sindh to a Punjabi Jat family belonging to Ghakhar Mandi, Punjab. His father Lieutenant Colonel Muhammad Iqbal Bajwa was an officer of Pakistan Army who died while in service in 1967 in Quetta, Balochistan, Pakistan. His mother died in September 2013. Bajwa's father-in-law Ijaz Amjad was also an Pakistan Army officer who retired as a Major General. Bajwa is the youngest of five siblings.

Bajwa completed his secondary and intermediate education at F. G. Sir Syed College and Gordon College in Rawalpindi before joining Pakistan Military Academy, Kakul in 62nd Long Course. Bajwa is a graduate of Canadian Army Command and Staff College in Canada, Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, United States and National Defence University, Pakistan.

Bajwa is married to Ayesha. The couple have two sons, Saad and Ali.

Military career
Bajwa enrolled in the Pakistan Military Academy in 1978 and was commissioned on 24 October 1980 in the 16 Baloch Regiment at Sialkot Cantonment, the same unit that his father commanded, where he was commissioned as 2/Lt. He briefly served in the 5th Northern Light Infantry Regiment in Kashmir in 1992 as major. As Lieutenant Colonel, he served in the X Corps which is stationed in Rawalpindi, where he was general staff officer. As a brigadier, Bajwa served as Chief of Staff at X Corps and also commanded a division in the Northern Areas as formation commander. Bajwa has also commanded a brigade in United Nations peacekeeping mission in the Congo in 2007. He served in the Congo as a brigade commander in 2007 under former Chief of Army Staff of the Indian Army Bikram Singh, who was serving there as a division commander. Gen Singh later termed Bajwa's performance there as "professional and outstanding."

In May 2009, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. As a Major General, Bajwa served as the Force Commander of Gilgit-Baltistan  and held the title of the General Officer Commanding. In August 2011, he was awarded Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military). Bajwa was an instructor at School of Infantry and Tactics in Quetta, at Command and Staff College in Quetta and at National Defence University, Pakistan.

He was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in August 2013 and was installed as Corps Commander X Corps shortly after. He was Grade-I officer during his tenure as Corps Commander X Corps. In 2014, Bajwa was installed as Colonel Commandant of Baloch Regiment. In September 2015, he was appointed as the Inspector General of the Training and Evaluation at the GHQ where he was a Principal Staff Officer to then Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif.

Since Bajwa has been posted in X Corps thrice, which is the army's important and largest corps, he has experience of Kashmir.

He belongs to the infantry's 16 Baloch Regiment and 62nd Pakistan Military Academy Long Course. Bajwa is known to have a sound understanding of Indian strategic ambitions in the region and experience of armed conflict on LoC in Kashmir. In December 2016, he was awarded Nishan-e-Imtiaz.

In November 2016, Bajwa was promoted to the rank of four star general and was appointed as the 16th Chief of the Army Staff of the Pakistan Army by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, succeeding Raheel Sharif. His pro-democracy track record and views influenced his appointment as COAS. Reuters reported that Prime Minister Sharif picked Bajwa because of his low-key style. He was the fourth oldest Chief of the Army Staff of Pakistan.

Operation Radd-ul-Fasaad and Operation Khyber 4 were launched under the command of Bajwa, in February 2017 and July 2017, respectively. Bajwa was criticised by Islamabad High Court for his role during 2017 Tehreek-e-Labaik protest in which Bajwa refused to follow the orders of Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to deploy troops in Islamabad in order to end the protest, and instead became a mediator and proposed Prime Minister to negotiate with the protesters which led to resignation of Minister for Law and Justice Zahid Hamid.

Awards
In 2017, he was awarded a Turkish Legion of Merit for promotion of defence ties between Pakistan and Turkey.

Public image
Bajwa is an avid reader and has keen interest in History of Europe and India.

He enjoys cricket and was himself a good sportsman who used to play cricket as wicket-keeper.

Reportedly, Bajwa doesn't have a “hatred” towards India contrary to an assumption that every top Pakistani military officer has some sort of a hostility for India and he considers religious extremism to be a bigger threat to national security in Pakistan rather than India.

He is reported to be a genuine military man with no interest in politics and the one who remains well-connected with the junior officers and troops, and does not seek attention and protocol.