Chief of General Staff (abbreviated as CGS) is the most coveted position within the
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...
after that of the
Chief of the Army Staff (COAS). 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
Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis List of intelligence gathering disciplines, approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist Commanding officer, commanders in decision making pr ...
(MI) and Military Operations (MO) Directorates.
Since 1985, a
three-star rank Lt. Gen. is appointed to the post.
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
Military star ranking is military terminology, used in mainly English speaking countries, to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10.
Star ranking
One-star
A one-star rank is usual ...
army generals, eight officers have served as the CGS. Of the five who hadn't,
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...
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
The 1999 military takeover in Pakistan was a bloodless ''coup d'état'' initiated by the military staff at the Joint Staff HQ working under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Army Staff General Pervez Musharr ...
, which brought General
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...
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
Pervez Musharraf (11 August 1943 – 5 February 2023) was a Pakistani general and politician who served as the tenth president of Pakistan from 2001 to 2008.
Prior to his career in politics, he was a four-star general and appointed as ...
, 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
See also
*
Vice Chief of the Army Staff (Pakistan)
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
External links
Official Pakistan Army website
{{Pakistan Army template
Pakistan Army
Pakistan Army appointments