ISLAMABAD, May 11: In the latest military reshuffle, a new corps commander was appointed on Saturday for the Peshawar and Mangla Corps, signalling a renewed focus of the Pakistan Army on countering militancy in the restive Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Maj Gen Omer Bukhari on his promotion as a three-star (lieutenant) general has been appointed as the commander of the Peshawar-based XI Corps.
He will replace Lt-Gen Hassan Azhar Hayat Khan, who will retire later this month.
Chief of Logistics Staff Lt Gen Nauman Zakria was posted as the commander of Mangla Corps, Dawn News reported.
Mangla Corps is based in the Mangla Cantonment, Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s (PoJK) Mirpur district.
Gen Khan had been serving as Peshawar Corps Commander since August 2022 and his tenure was supposed to end in November. However, he will retire on May 16 upon achieving the age of superannuation.
Interestingly, the new posting became public a day after Commander of United States CENTCOM Gen Michael Kurilla visited several locations in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, bordering Afghanistan, to discuss counterterrorism operations in those regions.
The two developments indicate a renewed focus on countering militancy in the province.
Gen Bukhari, the new commander in Peshawar, previously served as vice chief of general staff (alpha) at the General Headquarters.
The appointment of a new corps commander in Peshawar may also lead to changes in the delicate relationship between the PTI-led government in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the military leadership there.
In another significant change, Chief of Logistics Staff Lt Gen Nauman Zakria was a few days back posted as the commander of Mangla Corps.
The position had been vacant since Lt Gen Ayman Bilal Safdar opted for early retirement under unclear circumstances.
During a recent media conference, Maj Gen Ahmad Sharif Chaudhry, director general of ISPR, addressed a question about General Safdar’s early retirement.
He explained, “Self-accountability in the military is a stringent and challenging yet transparent process. It operates automatically and is always active. Whenever there is a breach of regulations, corruption, or a disciplinary issue, the accountability process is triggered. We maintain a robust internal accountability system that functions continuously across various domains.”
Meanwhile, at the CLS secretariat, Gen Zakria was replaced by another newly promoted officer Lt Gen Inayat Hussain. Gen Hussain was a major general serving as vice chief of general staff (bravo).
The army spokesman Maj Gen Ahmad Sharif was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and retained at ISPR for the time being.
Gen Sharif belongs to the Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and very few officers from EME have made it to three-star rank, according to the Dawn newspaper.
