Pakistan on Saturday appointed General Qamar Javed Bajwa as the country's powerful new chief of army staff, the prime minister's office said. 

"President Mamnoon Hussain, on the advice of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, promoted Lieutenant General Qamar Javed Bajwa to the rank of full general and appointed him as the chief of the army staff," a Prime Minister's office spokesman said in response to a query by AFP.