AFTER six long years and a strengthening transition to democracy, the country has a new army chief — and separately, a new Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, the more senior but less powerful military post. Both appointments tell a tale of their own. In selecting yet another CJCSC from the army, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif appears to have yielded to the army’s argument that the CJCSC slot, because of its role in overseeing the country’s military nuclear programme, must remain with the more powerful and much larger army, instead of rotating between the three services. The navy and the air force will likely not be very pleased about the solidifying of a prerogative the army has long claimed for itself, but, in the final analysis, the numerically smaller services probably did not have the necessary clout to win the argument in their favour.

For patently obvious reasons, however, the focus will be on Mr Sharif’s other choice: Gen Raheel Sharif as the new COAS. In selecting the third-most senior general to lead the army, the prime minister has hewed to what is the accepted convention: selecting an army chief on the basis of seniority. In many ways, Mr Sharif’s appointment of Gen Sharif appears to be a canny move: while the other three or four potential candidates were endlessly dissected in the media and appeared to have various groups lobbying for one or the other candidate, Gen Sharif was seemingly no one’s favourite or preferred candidate. A low-key general with impeccable military credentials — perhaps the prime minister has gambled that his choice will more likely play out over the next three years as Team Sharif instead of Sharif vs Sharif.

For the sake of the country, Team Sharif has to work well together, specifically in crafting a meaningful, coherent strategy to defeat militancy and bring stability to the region. Thus far, the prime minister could perhaps have argued that a six-year incumbent as army chief precluded the possibility of serious policy overhaul by a new civilian government. But starting today, that is no longer the case. Now Mr Sharif’s handpicked appointee sits atop the most powerful institution in the country. Will the prime minister demonstrate the kind of leadership he promised before the election but that he has failed to provide since taking office in June? Will Gen Sharif do more to disengage the security establishment from shadowy games and nudge the army to embrace zero-tolerance policy against militancy? On the shoulders of those two men rests a heavy burden and a nation’s hope.