President Arif Alvi promulgates Army Act Amendment Bill

ISLAMABAD: President Arif Alvi has approved all the amendments made to the Army Act which covers all three military forces – Army, Navy and Air Force – of Pakistan.

All three amendments have officially become law after the president’s signature. All phases of the Armed Forces legislation have been completed now.

According to Dunya News sources, the federal government will soon submit a report on the legislation to the Supreme Court.

After receiving green signal from National Assembly and Senate, the amendment bills pertaining to the extension in the tenure of services chiefs on Thursday was forwarded to President Arif Alvi for final approval.

According to details, all three amendment bills – the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill 2020, the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill 2020 and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill 2020 – were sent to the president after getting signed by both upper and lower houses of the Parliament.

On January 8, Defence Minister Pervez Khattak tabled the bills in Senate which were unanimously passed by the members. The session was then adjourned till Friday, 10:30 AM.

On January 6, the NA had approved the amendment bills despite being opposed by religious parties Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) and Jamaat-i-Islami (JI). Both parties didn’t participate in the voting process and walked out of the NA declaring it as “fake”.

As per amendments, the hiring of the services chiefs and chairman of the joint chief of staff committee would be the right of the prime minister and his decision to appoint, reappoint or extend the tenures of chiefs and the chairman cannot be challenged in any court.

The age limit for the appointment has been fixed at 64 years in the case of reappointment and extension, otherwise, the officer will retire at the age of 60 years.

Earlier, National Assembly and Senate Standing Committees on Defence had unanimously approved the three bills concerning tenures of the services chiefs and the chairman of joint chief of staff committee.

The NA session was chaired by Chairman Standing Committee on Defence Amjad Khan and other government representatives were also present.

“The amendments were passed unanimously by the body. I congratulate the entire country and the opposition parties,” Defence Minister Pervez Khattak said.

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