Pak Army undergoes rejig

Five Lieutenant Generals in the Pakistan Army were reshuffled on Tuesday.

In an official statement, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed was appointed Adjutant General of Pakistan Army at the General Headquarters (GHQ), while Lieutenant General Azhar Abbas was appointed Director General of Joint Staff.

Lieutenant General Nauman Mahmood was appointed Inspector General, Communications and IT (IG-C & IT), while Lieutenant General Adnan was named Commander, Bahawalpur Corps, the statement mentioned.

It also said Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza will continue as Vice Chief of General Staff.

Last week, ISPR had announced that Lieutenant General Javed Mahmood Bukhari, a three-star officer of the Pakistan Army, was appointed Commander Bahawalpur Corps.

It was stated that General Bukhari was previously posted as Quarter Master General at the General Headquarters. He had replaced Lieutenant General Sher Afgun in Bahawalpur Corps, as the latter was posted as Inspector General Arms at GHQ.

The post of IG arms has been vacant since the transfer of Lieutenant General Asim Bajwa as Commander, Southern Command.

The XXXI Corps is a corps of the Pakistan Army, commonly referred to as 31 Corps. It forms a major part of the Pakistan Army, with its headquarters located in Bahawalpur, Punjab province.

As per ISPR's statement, the corps was raised in the end of 1980s and took over the assets of the former II Corps, which is presently based in Multan. It has more than three full-sized divisions and is responsible for the southern Punjab desert zone.

In 1988, when the C-130 Hercules plane of President General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq crashed near Bahawalpur, he was visiting XXXI Corps along with senior military aides.