Chief of the General Staff (Pakistan)

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Chief of General Staff
چیف آف جنرل اسٹاف
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg
Flag of the Pakistan Army
Flag of the Pakistani Army.svg  Pakistan Army
TypePrincipal Staff Officer
AbbreviationCGS
Reports to C-in-C (1947-72)
Flag of the Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan).svg COAS (since 1972)
Seat GHQ (Pakistan Army)
Appointer Flag of the Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan).svg COAS
Formation1947;78 years ago (1947)
First holder Major General Reginald Antony Hutton

Chief of General Staff (abbreviated as CGS) is the most coveted position within the Pakistan Army after that of the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS). [1] Although the COAS is the head of the land forces, the CGS is "the organizational lead on both intelligence and operations", hence being in charge of the Military Intelligence (MI) and Military Operations (MO) Directorates. [2] Since 1985, a three-star rank Lt. Gen. is appointed to the post.

Contents

History

The criteria for the positions of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) have a preference that the officer should have served as the Chief of General Staff. Of the last 13 four-star rank army generals, eight officers have served as the CGS. Of the five who hadn't, Pervez Musharraf and Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had served as Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), while Ehsan ul Haq had served as Director General of Military Intelligence (DGMI), all two-star postings under the CGS.

Historically, the Chief of General Staff, in addition to Commander X Corps have political significance when the army chief wanted to overthrow political leadership. The 1999 Pakistani coup d'état, which brought General Pervez Musharraf to power had active involvement of Lt Gen Aziz Khan, then CGS and Lt Gen Mahmud Ahmed, commander of the X Corps.

Therefore, the army chief essentially appoints his most trusted aides for these two postings before making a routine reshuffle. General Ziauddin Butt, who was nominated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after retiring Pervez Musharraf, passed his first orders to appoint Lt Gen Muhammad Akram as CGS and Lt Gen Salim Haider as commander X Corps. But before this order could be conveyed to the rest of the army, Aziz and Mahmud took steps to reverse the order by overthrowing the government and thus essentially starting the 1999 coup.

List of Chiefs of General Staff

#PortraitNameStart of termEnd of termUnit of Commission
1 Major General

Reginald Antony Hutton

194719512nd Gurkha Rifles [3]
2 Major General

Akbar Khan
DSO

19511951 6/13 Frontier Force Rifles (1 FF)
3 Major General

Mohammad Yusuf Khan

26 March 1951 [4] 1953
4 Major General M. Hayaud-Din.jpg Major General

Mian Hayaud Din
HJ MBE MC

19531955 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment (6FF)
5 Sher Ali Khan Pataudi.jpg

Major General

Sher Ali Khan Pataudi
HJ

1955December 1956 7th Light Cavalry
6 CGS Habibullah Khan Khattak.jpg

Major General

Habibullah Khan Khattak
SPk LOM

24 January 1957 [5] July 1957 12 Baluch Regiment
7 Major General

Yahya Khan

25 July 1957 [6] 23 December 1962 3rd Battalion (Queen Mary's Own, 10th Baluch Regiment (10 Baluch)
8 Major General

Malik Sher Bahadur

24 December 1962 [7] 1966 4th Battalion (Duke of Connaught's Own) The Baluch Regiment (11 Baluch)
9 Sahabzada Yaqub Khan.jpg Major General

Sahabzada Yaqub Khan
SPk

196619 December 1968 18th King Edward's Own Cavalry
10 Gul Hassan Khan.png Major General

Gul Hassan Khan
SQA SPk

20 December 1968 [8] 19 December 1971 5th Horse (Probyn's Horse)
11 Major General

M. Rahim Khan

19721974
12 Major General

Iqbal Khan
NI(M) SI(M) SBt

July 1974March 1976 5th Battalion (Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides) 12 Frontier Force Regiment (2 FF)
13 Major General

Abdullah Malik

March 1976March 1978
14 Major General

F. S. Lodhi

March 1978June 1980 East Bengal Regiment
15 Major General

Mirza Aslam Beg
NI(M) SI(M) SBt

June 1980October 1985 16 Baloch Regiment
16 Lieutenant General

Muhammad Safdar

October 1987January 1988 Punjab Regiment
17 Lieutenant General

Mian Muhammad Afzaal
HI(M) SI(M) SBt

January 1988August 1988 6 Lancers
18 General Shamim Alam Khan.jpg Lieutenant General

Shamim Alam Khan , NI(M) SBt SJ

May 1989April 1991 20 Lancers
19 Asif Nawaz Janjua.png Lieutenant General

Asif Nawaz Janjua
NI(M) HI(M) SBt

April 1991August 1991 5 Punjab Regiment
20 Leiutenant General Farrakh Khan.jpg Lieutenant General

Farrakh Khan

August 1991July 1994 15th Lancers
21 Jehangir Karamata.png Lieutenant General

Jehangir Karamat
NI(M) SBt

July 1994January 1996 13 Lancers
22 Lieutenant General

Iftikhar Ali Khan
HI(M) SBt

January 1996May 1997 11 Baluch Regiment
23 Lieutenant General

Ali Kuli Khan Khattak
HI(M)

May 1997October 1998 12 Baloch Regiment
24 General Aziz Khan (cropped).jpg Lieutenant General

Muhammad Aziz Khan
NI(M) HI(M) SBt TBt

October 1998August 2000 12 Punjab Regiment
25 Lieutenant General

Muhammad Yusaf Khan

August 2000October 2001 The Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force)
26 At Fort Leavonworth, Kansas.jpg Lieutenant General

Shahid Aziz

October 2001December 2003 10th Baloch Regiment
27 Lieutenant General

Tariq Majid
NI(M)

December 2003October 2006 28 Baloch Regiment
28 Lieutenant General

Salahuddin Satti

October 2006October 2008 40 Punjab Regiment
29 Lieutenant General

Muhammad Mustafa Khan

October 2008April 2010
30 Khalid Wynne (close-up).jpg Lieutenant General

Khalid Shameem Wynne
NI(M) HI(M)

April 2010October 2010 20 Punjab Regiment
31 Lieutenant General

Waheed Arshad
HI(M) TBt

October 2010January 2013 16 Horse
32 Lieutenant General

Rashad Mahmood
NI(M) HI(M)

January 2013November 2013 7 Baluch Regiment
33 Lieutenant General

Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad
HI(M)

November 2013April 2015 34 Azad Kashmir Regiment
34 General Zubair.jpg Lieutenant General

Zubair Mahmood Hayat
NI(M)

April 2015November 2016 3 (Self Propelled) Medium Regiment Artillery
35 Lieutenant General

Bilal Akbar

December 2016August 2018 Corps of Artillery
36 CJCSC Gen.Nadeem Raza.jpg Lieutenant General

Nadeem Raza
NI(M) HI(M)

August 2018November 2019 10 Sind Regiment
37 General-sahir-shamshad-mirza.jpg Lieutenant General

Sahir Shamshad Mirza

November 2019September 2021 8 Sind Regiment
38 Lieutenant General

Azhar Abbas

8 September 2021December 2022 41 Baluch Regiment
39 Lieutenant General

Muhammad Saeed

December 202225 November 2023 10 Sind Regiment
40 1402420-gen-avais-dastgir.webp Lieutenant General

Avais Dastgir

25 November 202324 January 202558 Cavalry
41 Lieutenant General

Syed Aamer Raza

24 January 2025Incumbent6 Lancers

See also

Notes

1. ^ Later promoted to lieutenant general in-office.

2. ^ Later promoted to the post of a general.

3. ^ Later promoted to Chairman Joint Chief of Staff Committee.

References

  1. "Five Chiefs of General Staff served as head of Pakistan Army in 64 years". The News International .
  2. Syed, Baqir Sajjad (Aug 14, 2016). "Who will be the next army chief?". DAWN.COM. Retrieved Aug 3, 2020.
  3. Who's who. Vol. 114. 1962. p. 1550.
  4. The Army List. H.M. Stationery Office. 1952. p. 112.
  5. "New Chief Of General Staff". The Civil and Military Gazette (Lahore). 25 January 1957.
  6. The Army List. H.M. Stationery Office. 1960. p. 123.
  7. The Army List. H.M. Stationery Office. 1964. p. 85.
  8. The Army List. H.M. Stationery Office. 1969. p. 99.