India's 'Familiar Enemy' Pak Army Chief Gen Sharif Begins Farewell Tour, Hunt For Successor On

Amid various reports of his tenure being extended or him getting a larger role one of the most powerful persons in Pakistan, Army chief General Raheel Sharif has begun, according to the force, "his farewell tour".

The Inter-Services Public Relations, Pakistan army's media wing, said that General Sharif began his farewell tour with a visit to Lahore garrison. He is likely to visit Karachi and Peshawar soon, the cities that saw military action under his command.

#COAS kicks off his farewell visits beginning from Lhr today.Meets,addresses,thanks huge gathering of soldiers of Army&Rangers at Garrison-1

¡ª Gen Asim Bajwa (@AsimBajwaISPR) November 21, 2016

On the second leg of his farewell visits, COAS arrived Gujranwala and addressed officers and troops of Mangla and... https://t.co/6v6j1OCJMO

¡ª ISPR (@ISPR_Official) November 21, 2016

The 'farewell' announcement is likely to put to rest the speculation of him getting a career extension. General Sharif is going out with his legacy besmirched by surgical strikes by India's special forces across the Line of Control in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir.

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Pakistan government is yet to announce the name of the next Army chief, which has to be finalised with consent of the COAS. It is reported that the name would be disclosed just before Gen Sharif 's retirement on November 29.

Four names including current Chief of General Staff Lt-Gen Zubair Mahmood Hayat, who will be be the senior-most general, followed by Corps Commander Multan Lt-Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmed, Corps Commander Bahawlpur Lt-Gen Javed Iqbal Ramday and Inspector General Training and Evaluation Lt-Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa are said to be the leading contenders for the race.

It would be interesting to see who will replace Gen. Sharif as PM Sharif has terrible track record of sorts, when it comes to appointing the Army Chief. In 1998, Sharif famously chose General Pervez Musharraf, who was number three on the seniority list, and who later effected a coup, dethroning Sharif.

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How Gen Sharif perceived India

For India, General Raheel Sharif was a "known bete noire", a familiar adversary. He has never shied away from taking shots at India over Kashmir, terrorism and Balochistan. Time and again he has referred to Kashmir as "Pakistan's jugular vein" much to the displeasure of New Delhi. During the skirmishes along the LoC and recently after the surgical strike in PoK, Sharif had warned India of strong reactions, in some cases even threatening to use nukes against India.

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Relationship with Nawaz sharif

Shareef assumed office in November 2013, as the hand-picked candidate of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, replacing Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani. Throughout his tenure he had a love-hate relationship with the political leadership in Islamabad.

While he will go down as one of the few Army chiefs in the country's history who kept away from taking political control. But during his term Gen Sharif was able to consolidate the power of the army further, with gaining judicial control in the form of military courts which were setup to try terror cases.

During his term at the helm of affairs, Pakistan army launched Operation Zarb-e-Azb, one of the most decisive military action the country has taken against terror groups operating in its soil. The massive operation which is still on, has eliminated thousands of Pakistani Taliban terrorists, while recapturing their territory in Waziristan.

Pakistan army has also suffered massively from terrorism under his watch, the most notable being the 2014 Peshawar Army school attack which killed 142 people.

He also had his fair share of run-ins with the government at least a couple of times, be it during the 'Azaid March' by cricketer turned politician Imran Khan and recently during a reported face-off between the Army and government over lack of action against terrorists which may lead to international isolation.

If he retires on schedule, Sharif would be the first COAS in last two decades to retire on time. His predecessors, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and General Pervez Musharraf got extensions, while General Jehangir Karamat was sent home prematurely when Nawaz Sharif was the PM for the second time in the 1990s.