Chief of General Staff (Pakistan)
Encyclopedia
Chief of General Staff, shortly abbreviated as CGS, is the most coveted position within the Pakistan Army
Pakistan Army
The Pakistan Army is the branch of the Pakistani Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. The Pakistan Army came into existence after the Partition of India and the resulting independence of Pakistan in 1947. It is currently headed by General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. The Pakistan...

. Although four-star Chief of Army Staff (COAS) is the nominal head of the land forces, CGS is the operational and intelligence lead of the institution. It is headed by a three-star lieutenant general.

Traditionally, the selection for COAS or Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) has a preference for Chief of General Staff posting. The last 13 four-star army generals had eight officers who did a tenure as CGS. Out of five who didn't, Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...

 and Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
Ashfaq Parvez Kayani
General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, NI, HI is a four-star general in the Pakistan Army, and the current Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army. He replaced General Pervez Musharraf as the Chief of Army Staff and the commandant of the army on November 29, 2007...

 stayed as DGMO and Ehsan ul Haq
Ehsan ul Haq
General Ehsan ul Haq , is a retired four-star general in the Pakistan Army who served as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Military until October 8, 2007...

 stayed as DGMI, all two-star postings under the CGS.

The current Chief of General Staff is Lt Gen Waheed Arshad
Waheed Arshad
Lieutenant General Waheed Arshad, HI, TBt, afwc, fsc, psc, is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army who is currently serving as the Chief of General Staff at the General Headquarters. His previous appointments at the GHQ include; IG Training and Evaluation , Vice Chief of General Staff and DG...

 since October 2010.

Organisation

The CGS heads the General Staff Branch of Army General Headquarters. He is also assisted by a Vice Chief of General Staff (VCGS) and Deputy Chief of General Staff), both two-star major generals. The critical directorates of Military Operations and Military Intelligence (headed by DGMO and DGMI respectively) also come under his purview.

Coup-maker

Historically, the CGS post, in addition to Commander X Corps
X Corps (Pakistan)
The X Corps is an active military administrative corps of Pakistan Army, currently assigned in Rawalpindi, Punjab Province of Pakistan. Its one of two brigades are currently active in Kashmir. One of its brigades, the 111th Infantry Brigade in Rawalpindi, has been frequently involved in military...

, Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...

, had political significance when the army chief wanted to overthrow political leadership. The 1999 Pakistani coup d'état, which brought General Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf
Pervez Musharraf , is a retired four-star general who served as the 13th Chief of Army Staff and tenth President of Pakistan as well as tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Musharraf headed and led an administrative military government from October 1999 till August 2007. He ruled...

 to power had active involvement of Lt Gen Muhammad Aziz Khan, then CGS and Lt Gen Mahmud Ahmed, commander X Corps Rawalpindi.

Therefore, the army chief essentially positions most trusted aides for these two postings before making a routine reshuffle. General Ziauddin Butt
Ziauddin Butt
General Ziauddin Khawaja, also known as Ziauddin Butt, is a four-star general of the Pakistan Army and a career operations and infantry formations commander, head of intelligence and engineering officer...

, who was nominated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
Nawaz Sharif
Mian Mohammad Nawaz Sharif is a Pakistani conservative politician and steel magnate who served as 12th Prime Minister of Pakistan in two non-consecutive terms from November 1990 to July 1993, and from February 1997 to October 12, 1999...

 after retiring Pervez Musharraf, passed his first orders to appoint Lt Gen Muhammad Akram as CGS and Lt Gen Salim Haider as Commander Rawalpindi 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

  1. Maj Gen Akbar Khan 1950 – 1951
  2. Maj Gen Yusuf Khan 1951 – 1953
  3. Maj Gen Mian Hayaud Din 1953 – 1955
  4. Maj Gen Sher Ali Khan Pataudi 1955 – 1957
  5. Maj Gen Yahya Khan
    Yahya Khan
    General Agha Mohammad Yahya Khan Qizilbash, H.Pk, HJ, S.Pk, psc was the third President of Pakistan from 1969 to 1971, following the resignation of Ayub Khan...

     1957 – 1962
  6. Maj Gen Malik Sher Bahadur 1962 – 1966
  7. Maj Gen Sahabzada Yaqub Khan
    Sahabzada Yaqub Khan
    Lieutenant-General Sahabzada Yaqub Ali Khan is a retired 3 star rank general in the Pakistan Army who the was the international face of Pakistan for three decades. He served as Foreign Minister of Pakistan from 1982 to 1991 during the dying days of Cold War and then caretaker Foreign Minister...

     1966 – 1969
  8. Maj Gen (later Lt Gen) Gul Hassan Khan
    Gul Hassan Khan
    Lieutenant-General Gul Hassan Khan , was a former three star general and the last Army Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army from December 20, 1971 – March 3, 1972...

     1969 – 1971
  9. Maj Gen M. Rahim Khan 1972 – 1974
  10. Maj Gen Muhammad Iqbal Khan
    Iqbal Khan (general)
    General Muhammad Iqbal Khan, NI, SBt, is a former four star general of the Pakistan Army who stayed as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1980 to 1984 during the martial regime of Chief Martial Law Administrator and Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army General Zia-ul-Haq...

     1974 – March 1976
  11. Maj Gen Abdullah Malik March 1976 – 1978
  12. Maj Gen Sirdar Farooq Shaukat Khan Lodi 1978 – March 1980
  13. Maj Gen (later Lt Gen) Mirza Aslam Beg
    Mirza Aslam Beg
    General Mirza Aslam Beg, SBt, HI, NI, afwc, psc , is a retired four-star general who was the Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army succeeding General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, after the latter died in an air crash on 17 August 1988...

     June 1980 – October 1985
  14. Lt Gen Muhammad Safdar
    Muhammad Safdar
    Lieutenant General Muhammad Safdar is the former Governor of Punjab, the largest province of Pakistan, having served from 1999 to 2001. A career soldier, he was Chief of General Staff at the GHQ under Zia-ul-Haq's rule, ambassador to Morocco in Nawaz Sharif's first tenure, carried on as...

     1987 – January 1988
  15. Lt Gen Mian Muhammad Afzal January 1988 – August 1988
  16. Lt Gen Shamim Alam Khan
    Shamim Alam Khan
    General Shamim Alam Khan, NI, SJ, SBt, is a retired four-star rank general in the Pakistan Army was the Supreme Commandant of the Pakistan Defense Forces as Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 1991 to 1994...

     May 1989 – April 1991
  17. Lt Gen Asif Nawaz
    Asif Nawaz
    General Asif Nawaz Janjua, NI, HI, SBt , afwc, psc , was a senior four-star general and the 10th Chief of Army Staff of the Pakistan Army from August 16, 1991 till January 8, 1993. His tenure was cut short by his death after suffering a heart attack...

     April 1991 – August 1991
  18. Lt Gen Farrakh Khan August 1991 – 1994
  19. Lt Gen Jehangir Karamat
    Jehangir Karamat
    General Jehangir Karamat, NI, TBt, afwc, psc, fsc, is a retired four-star general and a renowned military scientist who served as the former Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army from January 1996 to October 1998, and then former Pakistan Ambassador to the United States from November 2004 to June...

     1994 – January 1996
  20. Lt Gen Iftikhar Ali Khan
    Iftikhar Ali Khan (general)
    Lieutenant General Iftikhar Ali Khan , HI, SBt, was the former Secretary of Defence and Chief of General Staff of the Pakistan Army. He was the elder brother of National Assembly opposition leader Nisar Ali Khan...

     January 1996 – May 1997
  21. Lt Gen Ali Kuli Khan Khattak May 1997 – October 1998
  22. Lt Gen Muhammad Aziz Khan October 1998 – August 2000
  23. Lt Gen Muhammad Yusaf Khan
    Yusaf Khan
    General Muhammad Yusaf Khan Qaimkhani , is a retired four-star general of the Pakistan Army who served as the Vice Chief of Army Staff from October 8, 2001 until October 7, 2004...

     August 2000 – October 2001
  24. Lt Gen Shahid Aziz October 2001 – December 2003
  25. Lt Gen Tariq Majid
    Tariq Majid
    General Tariq Majid, NI, afwc, fsc, psc, is a retired Pakistan Army's four-star general who served as the Supreme Commandant of the Pakistan Defense Forces as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee from 2007 to 2010...

     December 2003 – October 2006
  26. Lt Gen Salahuddin Satti October 2006 – October 2008
  27. Lt Gen Muhammad Mustafa Khan October 2008 – April 2010
  28. Lt Gen Khalid Shameem Wynne
    Khalid Shameem Wynne
    General Khalid Shameem Wynne, PA, NI, afwc, fsc, psc, , is a four-star general in the Pakistan Army and the current and 14th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The official statement noted that "Gen...

     April 2010 – October 2010
  29. Lt Gen Waheed Arshad
    Waheed Arshad
    Lieutenant General Waheed Arshad, HI, TBt, afwc, fsc, psc, is a three-star general in the Pakistan Army who is currently serving as the Chief of General Staff at the General Headquarters. His previous appointments at the GHQ include; IG Training and Evaluation , Vice Chief of General Staff and DG...

    October 2010 – present

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