The 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). 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. 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 army generals, eight officers have served as the CGS. Of the five who had not, 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 Commission1Major General Reginald Antony Hutton194719512nd Gurkha Rifles2Major General Akbar Khan195119516/13 Frontier Force Rifles (1 FF)3Major General Mohammad Yusuf Khan26 March 195119534Major General Mian Hayaud DinHJ 195319554/12 Frontier Force Regiment (6FF)5Major General
Sher Ali Khan PataudiHJ1955December 19567th Light Cavalry 6Major General
Habibullah Khan KhattakSPk LOM24 January 1957July 195712 Baluch Regiment 7Major General Yahya Khan25 July 195723 December 19623rd Battalion (Queen Mary's Own, 10th Baluch Regiment (10 Baluch)8Major General Malik Sher Bahadur24 December 196217 April 19664th Battalion (Duke of Connaught's Own) The Baluch Regiment (11 Baluch)9Major General Sahabzada Yaqub KhanSPk18 April 1966 19 December 196818th King Edward's Own Cavalry10Major General Gul Hassan KhanSQA SPk20 December 196819 December 19715th Horse (Probyn's Horse)11Major General M. Rahim Khan1972197412Major General Iqbal KhanJuly 1974March 19765th Battalion (Queen Victoria's Own Corps of Guides) 12 Frontier Force Regiment (2 FF)13Major General Abdullah MalikMarch 1976March 19784 Punjab Regiment14Major General F. S. LodhiMarch 1978June 1980East Bengal Regiment15Major General Mirza Aslam BegJune 1980October 198516 Baloch Regiment16Lieutenant General Muhammad SafdarOctober 1987January 19887 Punjab Regiment17 Lieutenant General Mian Muhammad Afzaal January 1988August 19886 Lancers 18Lieutenant General Shamim Alam Khan, May 1989April 199120 Lancers19Lieutenant General Asif Nawaz JanjuaApril 1991August 19915 Punjab Regiment20Lieutenant General Farrakh KhanAugust 1991July 199415th Lancers21Lieutenant General Jehangir KaramatJuly 1994 January 199613 Lancers 22Lieutenant General Iftikhar Ali KhanJanuary 1996May 199711 Baluch Regiment23Lieutenant General Ali Kuli Khan KhattakMay 1997October 199812 Baloch Regiment 24Lieutenant General Muhammad Aziz KhanOctober 1998August 200012 Punjab Regiment25Lieutenant General Muhammad Yusaf KhanAugust 2000October 2001The Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force)26Lieutenant General Shahid AzizOctober 2001 December 200310th Baloch Regiment27Lieutenant General Tariq MajidDecember 2003 October 200628 Baloch Regiment28Lieutenant General Salahuddin SattiOctober 2006October 200840 Punjab Regiment29Lieutenant General Muhammad Mustafa KhanOctober 2008April 201038 Cavalry30Lieutenant General Khalid Shameem WynneApril 2010October 201020 Punjab Regiment31 Lieutenant General
Waheed ArshadOctober 2010January 201316 Horse32Lieutenant General Rashad MahmoodJanuary 2013November 20137 Baluch Regiment33Lieutenant General
Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad29 November 2013 8 April 201534 Azad Kashmir Regiment 34Lieutenant General
Zubair Mahmood HayatApril 2015November 20163 (Self Propelled) Medium Regiment Artillery35Lieutenant General
Bilal AkbarDecember 2016August 2018Corps of Artillery36Lieutenant General
Nadeem RazaAugust 2018November 201910 Sind Regiment37Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad MirzaNovember 2019September 20218 Sind Regiment38 Lieutenant General
Azhar Abbas8 September 2021December 202241 Baluch Regiment39 Lieutenant General Muhammad SaeedDecember 202225 November 202310 Sind Regiment40Lieutenant General Avais Dastgir25 November 202324 January 2025 58 Cavalry41 Lieutenant General Syed Aamer Raza24 January 202524 July 20266 Lancers
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