Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee CJCSC
Incumbent General Rashad Mahmood since November 29, 2013
Ministry of Defence
Member of	Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
Reports to	President Minister of Defense
Seat	Joint Staff Headquarters (Pakistan), Rawalpindi, Pakistan
Appointer	The President with Prime Minister advice and consent
Term length	3 years Renewable
Precursor	Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy
Formation	March 1, 1976
First holder	General Muhammad Shariff

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of Pakistan is, in principle, the highest-ranking military officer in the Pakistan Defense Forces, and the principal military advisor to the Prime minister of Pakistan, Parliament of Pakistan, Ministry of Defence, and the National Security Council.

However, even as the Principal Staff Officer, the Chairman does not have any authority over the combatant forces. The individual service chiefs are solely responsible for the coordination of the Armed and Combatant forces. Despite not being the highest-ranking officer, in Pakistan, the Chief of Army Staff is considered a powerful officer as can be seen by the number of times the Army Chief of Staff has overthrown the government and declared himself the ruler of the country. The Chairman outranks all respective heads of each service branch but does not have operational command authority over them or their service branches. General Pervez Musharraf is the only military officer, who as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (note that he was also Chief of Army Staff at the same time), overthrew the democratic government of Prime minister Nawaz Sharif on October 12, 1999 (See 1999 Pakistani coup d'état),

The Chairman leads the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), comprising the Chairman, the Chiefs of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff. In Pakistan, the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee is an important and highly prestigious staff assignment in Pakistan Armed Forces, but the chairman does not have any command authority over combatant forces. While, the chiefs do have authority over personnel assignments and oversight over resources and personnel allocated to the combatant commands within their respective services.

Car used by Chairman Joint Chiefs with the flag and star plate

The Chairman may also transmit communications to the combatant commanders from the Prime minister and President as well as allocate additional funding to the combatant commanders if necessary. The Chairman is nominated by the President, on the advice of the Prime minister. 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. Though, 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, all 4-star officers are required to have vast experience in joint uniformed services of Pakistan during their 40-year-long military careers.

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 Rashad Mahmood who is recently promoted to a 4 star rank.

List of Chairman Joint Chiefs

No.	Image	Name	Term of Appointment	Arms of Commission	Decorations
1		General Muhammad Shariff	1 March 1976 – 1978	Pakistan Army - Punjab Regiment
2		Admiral Mohammad Shariff	1978 – 13 April 1980	Pakistan Navy - Naval Communications Branch	HJ, SJ, NI(M)
3		General Muhammad Iqbal Khan	13 April 1980 – 22 March 1984	Pakistan Army - Frontier Force Regiment	NI(M), SBt
4	90px	General Rahimuddin Khan	22 March 1984 – 29 March 1987	Pakistan Army - Baloch Regiment	NI(M), SBt
5		General Akhtar Abdur Rahman	29 March 1987 – 17 August 1988	Pakistan Army - Punjab Regiment	NI(M), SBt
6		Admiral Iftikhar Ahmed Sirohey	10 November 1988 – 17 August 1991	Pakistan Navy - Naval Operations Branch	NI(M), SBt
7		General Shamim Alam Khan	17 August 1991 – 9 November 1994	Pakistan Army - Armoured Corps	NI(M), SJ, SBt
8		Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan	10 November 1994 – 9 November 1997	Pakistan Air Force - No. 14 Squadron Tail choppers	NI(M), SBt
9		General Jehangir Karamat	9 November 1997 – 7 October 1998	Pakistan Army - Armoured Corps	NI(M), TBt
10		General Pervez Musharraf	8 October 1998 – 7 October 2001	Pakistan Army - Artillery	NI(M), TBt
11	90px	General Muhammad Aziz Khan	7 October 2001 – 6 October 2004	Pakistan Army - Punjab Regiment	NI(M), SBt
12	90px	General Ehsan ul Haq	7 October 2004 – 7 October 2007	Pakistan Army - Air Defence	NI(M)
13		General Tariq Majid	8 October 2007 – 7 October 2010	Pakistan Army - Baloch Regiment	NI(M)
14		General Khalid Shameem Wynne	8 October 2010 – 8 October 2013	Pakistan Army - Punjab Regiment	NI(M)
15		General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani	8 October 2013 – 27 November 2013	Pakistan Army - Baloch Regiment
16		General Rashad Mahmood	29 November 2013 – Present	Pakistan Army - Baloch Regiment	HI(M)

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by Branch of Service

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

See also

• Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
• Chief of Army Staff (Pakistan)
• Chief of Air Staff (Pakistan)
• Chief of Naval Staff (Pakistan)
• Chief of General Staff (Pakistan)

External links

• Inter-Services Public Relations