Muhammad Shariff General Muhammad Shariff ( 22 February 1921 – 6 August 1999 ) was retired four - star general in the Pakistan Army who was the first Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee since its inception in 1976 till his retirement in 1978 . General Muhammad Shariff was the first Supreme Commandant of the Pakistan Defense Forces who was succeeded by Admiral Mohammad Shariff in 1978 . Early military career . Shariff was commissioned in the British Indian Army in 1942 into a battalion of 3rd Punjab Regiment , the Muslim companies of which were amalgamated into 1 Punjab after partition . He and Aslam Khan Afridi ( Fellow Kashmiri and elder brother of Asghar Khan , Pak AirForce Chief ) took part in Indonesia operations as well as kashmir 1947 - 48 operations . He was one of few ethnic kashmiri officers to join pak army at partition as seniormost kashmiri officers Hiralal Atal and Md Karimullah Sheriff joined Indian army . Shariff then moved to 3 Punjab Regiment . His bravery in kashmir operations was noted and he was rapidly promoted . He became Lieutenant Colonel in 1952 and was promoted to Brigadier - General eight years later in 1959 . Then Brigadier - General Shariff took part in the 1960 Dir Operations when the army removed the Nawab of Dir when he was commanding the Shariff Force . Later career . As a major general , a rank to which he was promoted in 1966 , Gen Shariff served in the GHQ , commanded an infantry division and then became Commandant , Command and Staff College , Quetta in May 1968 continuing till January 1970 . In 1970 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and posted as Pakistan ' s Permanent Representative at CENTO HQ in Ankara , Turkey . During the 1971 Indo - Pakistani War then Lt Gen Shariff took over the 33rd Infantry Division from Maj Gen Chaudhry Naseer Ahmed who was wounded on 12 December 1971 . After the war he handed over command to Maj Gen Iqbal Khan and headed back to Turkey . He soon returned in 1972 as Corps Commander at II Corps at Multan , overseeing the Aid - to - Civil Power during the language disturbances in Sindh in mid - 1972 . He ensured that not a shot was fired while restoring complete calm and quiet . Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee . In 1974 , he became Colonel Commandant of the Punjab Regiment and in 1976 was promoted to full General taking over as the first Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee , a position he served in till his voluntary retirement in 1978 . It is said that he made the decision to retire after General Zia repeatedly delayed Parliamentary Elections and extended his martial law , which Shariff believed was unconstitutional . After his retirement he faded from public life , refusing to accept any post in government , living off his pension and savings . General Shariff wanted to rotate the chairmanship among the three services ( i . e . , Army , Navy and Air Force ) if the system of military governance was to evolve as intended . Because initially , Gen Shariff , being the senior most officer was chosen as the Chairman JCSC with Gen Zia - ul - Haq the Army chief . However , even before the system could evolve itself into a cohesive working structure the July 1977 coup disturbed the power balance totally , and tilted it heavily in favor of the army chief .