Pakistan Court Delays Ruling on Army Chief’s Retirement

Pakistan’s Supreme Court is giving government lawyers an extra day to argue their case in favor of extending the powerful army chief’s term, VOA news reports.

Wednesday’s decision adjourns the case until the following day.

The government will use that time to fix what the court says are procedural mistakes made this summer, when Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa was reappointed for another three years.

Khan had hoped to keep Bajwa on for another three years, but his law minister, who resigned on Tuesday, appears to have fumbled the application by not submitting it to the president.

The supreme court temporarily suspended Bajwa’s term extension on Tuesday, just two days before his scheduled retirement.

He will be forced to step down if the court overturns the government’s extension order.