Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

The Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) (Urdu: صدرنشین مجلسِ مشترکہَ رؤسائے افواجِ پاکستان‎) is, in principle, the highest-ranking and senior most uniformed military officer, typically at four-star rank, in the Pakistan Armed Forces who serves as a Principal Staff Officer and a chief military adviser to the civilian government led by elected Prime minister of Pakistan and his/her National Security Council.^:153–154 The role of advisement is also extended to the elected members in the bicameral Parliament and the Ministry of Defence.^:42 The Chairman leads the meetings and coordinates the combined efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), comprising the Chairman, the Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff, Commandant of Marines, DG Strategic Plans Division, and commanders of the service branches in the paramilitary command.^:145–146

Even as the Principal Staff Officer (PSO), the Chairman does not have any authority over the command of the combatant forces.^:145 The individual service chiefs are solely responsible for the coordination and logistics of the armed and combatant forces. Due to this constraint, the chiefs of army, navy and air force are much in command and control of their respected commands.^:146–147

The Chairman’s mandate is to transmit strategic communications to the combatant commanders from the Prime minister and President as well as allocate additional funding to the combatant commanders if necessary.^:146–147 The Chairman is nominated and appointed by the Prime Minister; and is finally confirmed by the President.^:1147 Unlike United States’s Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the appointment of Chairman does not need confirmation via majority vote by the Parliament. Although, the appointment needs confirmation from the Prime minister. By statute, the Chairman is appointed as a four-star general, four-star air chief marshal and/or four star admiral. By law required, all four-star officers are required to have vast experience in joint uniformed services of Pakistan during their 40-year-long military careers.^:148

The post of CJCSC was created by former Prime minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in March 1976, and the first Chairman was four star rank officer, General Muhammad Shariff. The current holder of the office is General Nadeem Raza appointed in 2019. Graduated from Cantt Public School (F G Cantt Public School) Malir Cantt Karachi in 1976.

Appointment preferences

Despite the post of the chairmanship is bound constitutionally for the rotation, the army generals are strongly preferred for such post, despite coming short of their qualifications, by the civilian prime ministers in a view of stabilizing the civil military relations.^{:229:426–427}

Unlike the American system where the balance is made between the branches of the U.S. military, the majority of the chairmen are appointed from the department of the army, superseding the officers in the navy, marines, and the air force.

In 1999, Prime Minister Sharif notably refused to appoint the senior most officer, Admiral Fasih Bokhari, to such post in favor of appointing junior-most officer, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. This action of Prime Minister Sharif led towards Adm. Bokhar revolting against this decision in public in 1999, creating strain in the relation between the civilian government and the military.

The four-star admirals in the Pakistan Navy have been notably superseded by the junior army officers, in instances took place in 2005 when Adm. Karim was superseded by junior-most Lt-Gen. Ehsan ul Haq and, in 2011 when Adm. Numan was bypassed in favor of Lt-Gen. Wynne. In 2014, the practice continued by the civil government when Adm. Asif Sandila was bypassed and overlooked when the junior most officer, Lt-Gen. Rashad Mahmood was eventually appointed as Chairman joint chiefs.

Due to such preferential treatments given to army department, the retired admirals have given a strong criticism of such criterion, expressing their dissatisfaction towards the appointment processes.

List of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

No.	Portrait	Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Defence branch	Prime Minister
1		General Muhammad Shariff NI(M), SI(M) (1921–1999)	1 March 1976	22 January 1977	327 days	Pakistan Army	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
2		Admiral Mohammad Sharif NI(M), HI(M), SI(M), HJ, SJ, SK (1920–2015)	22 January 1977	13 April 1980	3 years, 82 days	Pakistan Navy	Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
3		General Iqbal Khan NI(M), SBt	13 April 1980	22 March 1984	3 years, 344 days	Pakistan Army	None 1977 – 1985
4		General Rahimuddin Khan NI(M), SBt (born 1924)	22 March 1984	29 March 1987	3 years, 38 days	Pakistan Army	Mohammad Khan Junejo
5		General Akhtar Abdur Rahman NI(M), SBt (1924–1988)	29 March 1987	17 August 1988 †	1 year, 110 days	Pakistan Army	Mohammad Khan Junejo
6		Admiral Iftikhar Ahmed Sirohey NI(M), HI(M), SI(M), SBt (born 1934)	10 November 1988	17 August 1991	2 years, 280 days	Pakistan Navy	Benazir Bhutto
7		General Shamim Allam NI(M), SJ, SBt (born 1937)	17 August 1991	9 November 1994	3 years, 84 days	Pakistan Army	Nawaz Sharif
8		Air Chief Marshal Feroz Khan NI(M), SBt (born 1939)	10 November 1994	9 November 1997	2 years, 364 days	Pakistan Air Force	Benazir Bhutto
9		General Jehangir Karamat NI(M), SBt (born 1941)	9 November 1997	7 October 1998	332 days	Pakistan Army	Nawaz Sharif
10		General Pervez Musharraf NI(M), TBt (born 1943)	7 October 1998	7 October 2001	3 years, 0 days	Pakistan Army	Nawaz Sharif
11		General Aziz Khan NI(M), SBt (born 1947)	7 October 2001	7 October 2004	3 years, 0 days	Pakistan Army	Zafarullah Khan Jamali
12		General Ehsan ul Haq NI(M) (born 1949)	7 October 2004	7 October 2007	3 years, 0 days	Pakistan Army	Shaukat Aziz
13		General Tariq Majid NI(M), HI(M) (born 1950)	7 October 2007	7 October 2010	3 years, 0 days	Pakistan Army	Muhammad Mian Soomro Yousaf Raza Gillani
14		General Khalid Shameem Wynne NI(M) (1953–2017)	8 October 2010	8 October 2013	3 years, 0 days	Pakistan Army	Yousaf Raza Gillani Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Mir Hazar Khan Khoso
–		General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani NI(M), HI(M) (born 1952) Acting	8 October 2013	27 November 2013	50 days	Pakistan Army	Nawaz Sharif
15		General Rashad Mahmood NI(M) (born 1953)	27 November 2013	28 November 2016	3 years, 1 day	Pakistan Army	Nawaz Sharif
16		General Zubair Hayat NI(M) (born 1960)	28 November 2016	27 November 2019	3 years, 30 days	Pakistan Army	Nawaz Sharif Shahid Khaqan Abbasi Imran Khan
17		General Nadeem Raza HI(M)	27 November 2019	Incumbent	1 year, 176 days	Pakistan Army	Imran Khan

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by Branch of Service

• Army – 13
• Navy – 2
• Air Force – 1