# Chief of the General Staff (Pakistan)

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 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 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

| # | Name | Start of term | End of term | Unit of Commission |
| 1 | Major General Reginald Antony Hutton | 1947 | 1951 | 2nd Gurkha Rifles |
| 2 | Major General Akbar Khan DSO | 1951 | 1951 | 6/13 Frontier Force Rifles (1 FF) |
| 3 | Major General Mohammad Yusuf Khan | 26 March 1951 | 1953 | |
| 4 | Major General Mian Hayaud Din HJ MBE MC | 1953 | 1955 | 4/12 Frontier Force Regiment (6FF) |
| 5 | Major General Sher Ali Khan Pataudi HJ | 1955 | December 1956 | 7th Light Cavalry |
| 6 | Major General Habibullah Khan Khattak SPk LOM | 24 January 1957 | July 1957 | 12 Baluch Regiment |
| 7 | Major General Yahya Khan | 25 July 1957 | 23 December 1962 | 3rd Battalion (Queen Mary's Own, 10th Baluch Regiment (10 Baluch) |
| 8 | Major General Malik Sher Bahadur | 24 December 1962 | 1966 | 4th Battalion (Duke of Connaught's Own) The Baluch Regiment (11 Baluch) |
| 9 | Major General Sahabzada Yaqub Khan SPk | 1966 | 19 December 1968 | 18th King Edward's Own Cavalry |
| 10 | Major General Gul Hassan Khan SQA SPk | 20 December 1968 | 19 December 1971 | 5th Horse (Probyn's Horse) |
| 11 | Major General M. Rahim Khan | 1972 | 1974 | |
| 12 | Major General 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) |
| 13 | Major General Abdullah Malik | March 1976 | March 1978 | |
| 14 | Major General F. S. Lodhi | March 1978 | June 1980 | East Bengal Regiment |
| 15 | Major General Mirza Aslam Beg NI(M) SI(M) SBt | June 1980 | October 1985 | 16 Baloch Regiment |
| 16 | Lieutenant General Muhammad Safdar | October 1987 | January 1988 | Punjab Regiment |
| 17 | Lieutenant General Mian Muhammad Afzaal HI(M) SI(M) SBt | January 1988 | August 1988 | 6 Lancers |
| 18 | Lieutenant General Shamim Alam Khan, NI(M) SBt SJ | May 1989 | April 1991 | 20 Lancers |
| 19 | Lieutenant General Asif Nawaz Janjua NI(M) HI(M) SBt | April 1991 | August 1991 | 5 Punjab Regiment |
| 20 | Lieutenant General Farrakh Khan | August 1991 | July 1994 | 15th Lancers |
| 21 | Lieutenant General Jehangir Karamat NI(M) SBt | July 1994 | January 1996 | 13 Lancers |
| 22 | Lieutenant General Iftikhar Ali Khan HI(M) SBt | January 1996 | May 1997 | 11 Baluch Regiment |
| 23 | Lieutenant General Ali Kuli Khan Khattak HI(M) | May 1997 | October 1998 | 12 Baloch Regiment |
| 24 | Lieutenant General Muhammad Aziz Khan NI(M) HI(M) SBt TBt | October 1998 | August 2000 | 12 Punjab Regiment |
| 25 | Lieutenant General Muhammad Yusaf Khan | August 2000 | October 2001 | The Guides Cavalry (Frontier Force) |
| 26 | Lieutenant General Shahid Aziz | October 2001 | December 2003 | 10th Baloch Regiment |
| 27 | Lieutenant General Tariq Majid NI(M) | December 2003 | October 2006 | 28 Baloch Regiment |
| 28 | Lieutenant General Salahuddin Satti | October 2006 | October 2008 | 40 Punjab Regiment |
| 29 | Lieutenant General Muhammad Mustafa Khan | October 2008 | April 2010 | |
| 30 | Lieutenant General Khalid Shameem Wynne NI(M) HI(M) | April 2010 | October 2010 | 20 Punjab Regiment |
| 31 | Lieutenant General Waheed Arshad HI(M) TBt | October 2010 | January 2013 | 16 Horse |
| 32 | Lieutenant General Rashad Mahmood NI(M) HI(M) | January 2013 | November 2013 | 7 Baluch Regiment |
| 33 | Lieutenant General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad HI(M) | November 2013 | April 2015 | 34 Azad Kashmir Regiment |
| 34 | Lieutenant General Zubair Mahmood Hayat NI(M) | April 2015 | November 2016 | 3 (Self Propelled) Medium Regiment Artillery |
| 35 | Lieutenant General Bilal Akbar | December 2016 | August 2018 | Corps of Artillery |
| 36 | Lieutenant General Nadeem Raza NI(M) HI(M) | August 2018 | November 2019 | 10 Sind Regiment |
| 37 | Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza | November 2019 | September 2021 | 8 Sind Regiment |
| 38 | Lieutenant General Azhar Abbas | 8 September 2021 | December 2022 | 41 Baluch Regiment |
| 39 | Lieutenant General Muhammad Saeed | December 2022 | 25 November 2023 | 10 Sind Regiment |
| 40 | Lieutenant General Avais Dastgir | 25 November 2023 | 24 January 2025 | 58 Cavalry |
| 41 | Lieutenant General Syed Aamer Raza | 24 January 2025 | Incumbent | 6 Lancers |