Islamabad

Pakistan Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Jawed Bajwa’s name was included by Forbes magazine list as one of the 75 most powerful people in the world.

The army chief is among 17 newcomers in the list along with Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Forbes magazine placed Chinese President Xi Jinping at the top of the list this year, while Russia’s Vladimir Putin was the second most powerful man. US President Donald Trump was ranked third most important personality, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel was ranked fourth. She was the most powerful woman in the world.

General Qamar Bajwa, who was honoured with the Nishan-e-Imtiaz, Hilal-e-Imtiaz, was ranked 68th among a list of 75 people.

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff was the only Pakistani in the Forbes’ annual ranking for 2018.

The New York-based bi-weekly magazine noted that Gen. Qamar Bajwa had a “difficult task” on his hands of maintaining peace in Pakistan, where militant groups are present “while managing a complex relationship with India.”

According to the observations made by the Forbes magazine “Two years into his tenure as the head of the world’s sixth largest army, Bajwa has established himself as a mediator and proponent of democracy.”

Forbes’ yearly ranking of The World’s Most Powerful People identifies one person out of every 100 million “whose actions mean the most”.

Profile

Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa was appointed as the 10th Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan by the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in December 2016.

He was commissioned on 24 October 1980 in 16 Baloch Regiment, which has produced three out of the sixteen army chiefs in the past — General Yahya, General Aslam Baig and General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani.

Gen. Bajwa is a graduate of Canadian Forces Command and Staff College, (Toronto) Canada, Naval Post Graduate University, Monterey (California) USA and National Defence University, Islamabad, and had served as an instructor at School of Infantry and Tactics, Quetta, Command and Staff College, Quetta and NDU, Islamabad.

Gen. Bajwa also served as a Brigade Major of an Infantry Brigade and Chief of Staff of Rawalpindi-based X Corps and commanded 16 Baloch Regiment, an Infantry Brigade and has commanded Infantry Division in Northern Areas (Commander FCNA).

He also has commanded Rawalpindi Corps, and was serving as Inspector General Training and Evaluation at GHQ when he was appointed as Chief of Staff.