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General Raheel Sharif

Outgoing General Sharif became Pakistan’s first army chief in more than 20 years to step down on time. His immediate predecessor obtained a three-year extension while the previous army chief, General Pervez Musharraf, staged a bloodless coup in 1999 and ruled Pakistan until he stepped down in 2008. General Sharif was credited with improving national security and rooting out local and foreign militant networks from their bases in Pakistan’s northwestern semiautonomous tribal regions bordering Afghanistan.

He also ordered forces to undertake a major operation against criminal gangs and militant groups in Karachi, the country’s largest city and commercial hub. The operation won General Sharif nationwide praise for improving the security situation in Karachi, the economic lifeline of Pakistan. The counter-militancy and counterterrorism actions have made General Sharif an immensely popular figure among ordinary Pakistanis.

He is said to be the one of the most successful COASs of the history of Pakistan. This man is doing well on the front lines and also behind the scenes. It seems Pak Army has learned a new style of military democracy. His popularity is not only his own country. He was much acclaimed by the political pundits when he strategically played the role of a mediator between Tehran and Riyadh.

But critics questioned his unannounced control over foreign policy matters, particularly when it came to Pakistan's dealings with Afghanistan and India. Prime Minister Sharif's political opponents, however, blamed his weak governance for allowing the military to assert itself.

Ishaq Dar, the former finance minister and a close aide of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, has claimed that he was “victimised for not giving an extension to the then chief of army staff, General Raheel Sharif”. In a June 2019 interview with Asia Times, Dar said that he and Shehbaz Sharif told General (retd) Sharif that their government will not give him an extension. “Soon after refusing the extension, scandals like the Dawn leaks and the Panama leaks emerged and were tactically used against us,” the former finance minister said.

Former Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif said on 17 October 2017 that it was an honour for him to be the commander of the Islamic Military Alliance. The government of Pakistan issued a No Objection Certificate (NOC) on 21 April 2017 to General (rted.) Raheel Sharif to command the military alliance of Islamic countries. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif approved the NOC for the retired general to take over the command of the military alliance of Muslim countries.