Chief of General Staff (Pakistan)


Chief of General Staff, shortly abbreviated as CGS, is the most coveted position within the Pakistan Army after that of the Chief of Army Staff. Although four-star Chief of Army Staff is the nominal head of the land forces, CGS is "the organisational lead on both intelligence and operations". A three-star lieutenant general is appointed to the post of CGS.
Traditionally, the selection for COAS or Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee has a preference for the officer candidate having served as Chief of General Staff. Of the last 13 four-star army generals, eight officers had served a tenure as CGS. Of the five who hadn't, Pervez Musharraf and Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had served as Director General of Military Operations, while Ehsan ul Haq had served as Director General of Military Intelligence, all two-star postings under the CGS.
The current CGS is Sahir Samshad Mirza since November 2019.

Organisation

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

Coup-maker

Historically, the CGS post, in addition to Commander X Corps, Rawalpindi, had 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 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, 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 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