The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court Tuesday dismissed a petition against the extension of the tenure of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Asim Munir, APP reported.

The Senate and the National Assembly (NA) passed legislation earlier this month to increase the number of justices on the Supreme Court and extend the terms of military service chiefs.

NA, Senate pass bills seeking increase in services chiefs’ tenure, SC judges’ strength

Defence Minister Khawaja Asif presented a bill in the NA to extend the tenure of the Chief of the Army Staff, Chief of the Naval Staff, and Chief of the Air Staff from three to five years.

The bills pertaining to the extension of service chiefs have been rejected by the opposition party PTI. The National Assembly’s opposition leader, Omar Ayub Khan, denounced the ruling coalition for extending the army chief’s term, claiming that “it has ruined the careers of many brilliant army officers.”

Omar assails extension of army chief’s tenure

The Supreme Court dismissed the case today as petitioner Mahmood Akhtar Naqvi failed to appear to argue his case despite multiple summons.

The new law that set the terms of all three service heads also made it possible to dismiss the petition.

The Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court, which was chaired over by Justice Amin ud Din Khan, was composed of Justices Jamal Mandokhail, Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Ayesha Malik, Hasan Azher Rizvi, Musarrat Hilali, and Naeem Akhtar Afghan.

Hearings on more than 2000 cases have been planned for this week by the Supreme Court’s constitutional bench.