(Bloomberg) -- Pakistan's lawmakers approved a bill granting legal cover to a three-year extension in service to current army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ending an apparent stand-off between the nation's strong military and the judiciary.
The move, endorsed by a majority vote in the National Assembly, or Parliament's lower house, came after Pakistan's Supreme Court in November accepted Bajwa's six-month extension in term on a condition that the parliament will approve the law in six months. It will become a law once it is approved by the Senate, the upper house, later, according to state-run Pakistan Television.
The two top opposition parties including Pakistan People's Party, which is co-headed by former president Asif Ali Zardari, and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of ex-premier Nawaz Sharif, supported the move by the government of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Pakistan's Supreme Court in November Bajwa's six-month extension in term on a condition that the parliament will approve the law in six months.
The military in Pakistan is considered a powerful institution, which has ruled the nation for about half of its 72-year history and that also controls the country's security and foreign policies.
To contact the reporters on this story: Kamran Haider in Islamabad at khaider2@bloomberg.net;Ismail Dilawar in Karachi at mdilawar@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Khalid Qayum, Unni Krishnan
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