Lahore: Pakistan army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa will be on a visit to Maldives later this week. He will be the first high-rank official to visit the archipelago since President Abdulla Yameen had announced a 45-day state of emergency that ended on March 22.
The Wire quoted diplomatic sources that said Bajwa will reach Malé on March 31, though there has not been any official announcement by the government of island nation. When Maldives ambassador to India, Ahmed Mohamad, was contacted by The Wire to get a confirmation, he said: “I am not aware.”
This will be the first visit by Bajwa to Maldives since his appointment as the army chief of Pakistan in November 2016. The last visit by a Pakistani service chief to the island was made by the Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandila in October 2013.
According to The Wire’s sources, President Abdulla Yameen was “keen on a visit” from the Pakistani army chief, despite the news of his visit has raised a few eyebrows.