Head of the Army GHQ staff in the Pakistan Army
Chief of the General Staff (abbreviated as CGS ) is the most coveted position within the Pakistan Army after that of the Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) . Although four-star Chief of the Army Staff is the head of the land forces, CGS is "the organisational lead on both intelligence and operations" hence being in charge of the MI (Military Intelligence) and MO (Military Operations) Directorates.[1] Since 1985 a three-star lieutenant general is appointed to the post of CGS.
History [ edit ] The selection for Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) and Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) have a preference for the officer candidate having served as the Chief of General Staff. Of the last 13 four-star army generals, eight officers had served a tenure 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 Muhammad 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. Gen 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 [ edit ] # Portrait Name Start of term End of term Unit of Commission 1 Major General Ross Cairns McCay [2] DSO
1948 1951 6th Rajputana Rifles 1 Major General Akbar Khan , DSO
1951 1951 6/13 Frontier Force Rifles (1 FF) 2 Major General Mohammad Yusuf Khan
26 March 1951[3] 1953 3 Major General Mian Hayaud Din , HJ MBE MC
1953 1955 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment (6FF) 4 Major General
Sher Ali Khan Pataudi , HJ
1955 1957 7th Light Cavalry 5 Major General [1] [2] Aga Muhammad Yahya Khan
25 July 1957[4] 23 December 1962 4th Battalion (Duke of Connaught's Own) The Baluch Regiment (11 Baluch) 6 Major General Malik Sher Bahadur
24 December 1962[5] 1966 4th Battalion (Duke of Connaught's Own) The Baluch Regiment (11 Baluch) 7 Major General [3] Yaqub Ali Khan , SPk
1966 19 December 1968 18th King Edward's Own Cavalry 8 Major General [4] Gul Hassan Khan , SQA SPk
20 December 1968[6] 19 December 1971 5 Horse(Probyn's Horse) 9 Major General M. Rahim Khan
1972 1974 10 Major General [5] Muhammad Iqbal Khan , NI(M) SI(M) SBt
July 1974 March 1976 5th Battalion (Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides) 12 Frontier Force Regiment (2 FF) 11 Major General Abdullah Malik
March 1976 March 1978 12 Major General [6] Farooq Shaukat Khan Lodi
March 1978 June 1980 East Bengal Regiment 13 Major General Mirza Aslam Beg , NI(M) SI(M) SBt
June 1980 October 1985 16 Baloch Regiment 14 Lieutenant General Muhammad Safdar
October 1987 January 1988 Punjab Regiment 15 Lieutenant General Mian Muhammad Afzaal , HI(M) SI(M) SBt
January 1988 August 1988 6 Lancers 16 Lieutenant General [7] [8] Shamim Alam Khan , NI(M) SBt SJ
May 1989 April 1991 20th Lancers 17 Lieutenant General Asif Nawaz Janjua , NI(M) HI(M) SBt
April 1991 August 1991 5 Punjab Regiment 18 Lieutenant General Farrakh Khan
August 1991 July 1994 15th Lancers 19 Lieutenant General [9] [10] Jehangir Karamat , NI(M) SBt
July 1994 January 1996 13th Lancers 20 Lieutenant General Iftikhar Ali Khan , HI(M) SBt
January 1996 May 1997 11 Baloch Regiment 21 Lieutenant General Ali Kuli Khan Khattak , HI(M)
May 1997 October 1998 12 Baloch Regiment 22 Lieutenant General [11] [12] Muhammad Aziz Khan , NI(M) HI(M) SBt TBt
October 1998 August 2000 12 Punjab Regiment 23 Lieutenant General [13] Muhammad Yusaf Khan
August 2000 October 2001 The Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force) 24 Lieutenant General Shahid Aziz
October 2001 December 2003 10th Baloch Regiment 25 Lieutenant General [14] [15] Tariq Majid , NI(M)
December 2003 October 2006 28 Baloch Regiment 26 Lieutenant General Salahuddin Satti
October 2006 October 2008 40 Punjab Regiment 27 Lieutenant General Muhammad Mustafa Khan
October 2008 April 2010 28 Lieutenant General [16] [17] Khalid Shameem Wynne , NI(M) HI(M)
April 2010 October 2010 20 Punjab Regiment 29 Lieutenant General Waheed Arshad , HI(M) TBt
October 2010 January 2013 16 Horse 30 Lieutenant General [18] [19] Rashad Mahmood , NI(M) HI(M)
January 2013 November 2013 7 Baloch Regiment 31 Lieutenant General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad , HI(M)
November 2013 April 2015 34 Azad Kashmir Regiment 32 Lieutenant General [20] [21] Zubair Mahmood Hayat , NI(M)
April 2015 November 2016 3 (Self Propelled) Medium Regiment Artillery 33 Lieutenant General Bilal Akbar
December 2016 August 2018 Corps of Artillery 34 Lieutenant General [22] [23] Nadeem Raza , NI(M) HI(M)
August 2018 November 2019 10 Sind Regiment 35 Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza
November 2019 September 2021 8 Sind Regiment 36 Lieutenant General Azhar Abbas
8 September 2021 December 2022 41 Baloch Regiment 37 Lieutenant General Muhammad Saeed
December 2022 November 2023 10 Sind Regiment 38 Lieutenant General Avais Dastgir
November 2023 Incumbent
See also [ edit ] 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 [ edit ] External links [ edit ]
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