Asim Bajwa

Lieutenant General (Retired) Asim Saleem Bajwa (Urdu/Punjabi: عاصم سلیم باجوہ) is a retired Pakistanithree-star general who is serving as the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting since 28 April 2020 and as the Chairman of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority since November 2019.

On 11 December 2016, Bajwa was appointed Inspector General Arms at GHQ, where he served until his appointment to the key position of Commander Southern Command & XII Corps (Pakistan) in September 2017. Previously, he also served as Director General of the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), from 2012 to 2016 preceding Major Gen. Asif Ghafoor.

Lt. Gen. (R) Asim Saleem Bajwa was commissioned in the 34th Punjab Regiment in 1984 after being passed out from the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) in Kakul. He graduated from the Command and Staff College in Quetta, as well as the National Defence University (NDU) in Islamabad, followed by the Staff College, Camberley. He holds master's degrees in war studies from National Defence University, Islamabad and defence studies from King's College London.

Lt. Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa holds a vast experience of various command, staff and instructional appointments.

During his military career, Asim Bajwa has served on multiple Instructional and Command-Level posts, such as leading an Anti-Tank Battalion, the 111th Infantry Brigade and an infantry division in erstwhile Tribal Areas where he played a key role in stabilization efforts during various operations.

He was a Brigade Major of an infantry brigade and served as Chief of Staff of a Strike Corps.

He instructed courses at PMA Kakul and the Command and Staff College, Quetta. General Bajwa has served as the Deputy Military Secretary to the President of Pakistan. Bajwa assisted General Pervez Musharraf in compiling his book In the Line of Fire.

In December 2010, he was promoted to the rank of a Major General. On 4 June 2012, Bajwa was appointed as the Director General of the ISPR.

On 22 September 2015, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General.

Lt. Gen. Asim Salim Bajwa, was appointed Inspector General Arms (IG Arms) at GHQ on 11 December 2016 until 28 September 2017. Then he was appointed Commander Southern Command of the Pakistan Army where he served from 2017 until 2019. He was instrumental in kick starting and fast tracking of numerous development initiatives in Balochistan.

He is recipient of Hilal-e-Imtiaz (Military) and Tamgha-e-Basalat.

As a Special Assistant to Prime Minister Imran Khan's government, Bajwa's asset declarations were made public on the Cabinet Division website. He came under scrutiny for the valuations quoted and was top Twitter trending in Pakistan on July 19th, 2020. Some of the dubious figures included 65 acre land for just Rs. 105000; and Toyota ZX 2016 valued at Rs. 3 million.

A member of the Bajwa clan, Asim Bajwa is married and has three children. His hobbies include reading and playing golf.

His son, Eusha S. Bajwa, from Youngstown, Ohio, was arrested at 2:07 p.m. March 4, 2017, for possession of marijuana and second-degree aggravated unlicensed operation of vehicle.

Asim Bajwa's brother Nadeem Bajwa is a successful business man and is the Chief Executive Officer of BajCo Group LLC. BajCo owns several Papa John's outlets as well as Dairy Queen. It is however, unknown whether Asim Bajwa has any stakes in the company or not.

He was appointed Chairman CPEC Authority in November 2019. Establishment Division notified Bajwa as Chairman of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor Authority for a tenure of four years.

On 27 April 2020, He has been given honorary appointment as the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting in additional capacity.

Bajwa has been decorated with the Tamgha-i-Basalat and Hilal-i-Imtiaz for his military services.