Islamabad: The General Headquarters (GHQ) Wednesday confirmed that it had forwarded the summary to the federal government containing the names of the six senior-most Lt. Generals for the selection of the next Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) and Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

The military’s media wing — the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) — tweeted: ” [The] GHQ has forwarded the summary for [the] Selection of CJCSC and COAS, containing names of 6 senior most Lt Gens to MoD [Ministry of Defence]”.

Although the statement from the ISPR did not mention which six names have been forwarded, it did, however, mention that it includes names of the six senior-most Lt. Generals. According to the seniority list of the Pakistan Army, Lt. Gen Asim Munir is the senior-most officer, followed by Lt. Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Lt. Gen Azhar Abbas, Lt. Gen Nauman Mehmood, Lt. Gen Faiz Hameed, and Lt. Gen Muhammad Amir.

The federal government spent yesterday denying the impression that the summary had been received by the PM Office. Just a couple of hours before the confirmation came by the DG ISPR, Federal Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said: “The summary regarding the appointment of the Army Chief has not yet been received by the Prime Minister House.”

However, after the tweet from the ISPR, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif confirmed the news, saying that the government has received the summary from the military.

The development came in line with the statements made by the government minister last week, who had claimed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had completed the “consultation process” over the appointment of the new COAS and that the appointment would be made before November 26.

The senior leadership of the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) — ruling alliance — has already thrown their weight behind PM Shehbaz, saying he should appoint the new army chief per the set procedure.

The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has also claimed that it neither has any favourite nor objection to the appointment of any person as the army chief, adding that President Arif Alvi will not stop the summary for the appointment of the new COAS.