The Chief of Army Staff (Urdu: سالارِ افواجِ برّیِ پاکستان) (reporting name: COAS), is the most senior officer in the Pakistan Army.[2]
.svg)
The Chief of Army Staff is the senior most appointment in the Pakistani military who is a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in a separate capacity, usually consulting with the Chairman joint chiefs to act as a military adviser to the Prime Minister and its civilian government in the line of defending the land borders of the country.[3] The Chief of Army Staff exercise its responsibility of command and control of the operational, combatant, logistics, and training commands within the army, in contrast to the Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.[3] Due to its stature, the Chief of Army Staff have been instrumental in enforcing martial laws against the civilian government due to the meltdown of a civil-military relations in the past decades.:168[4][5]
The appointment, in principle, is constitutionally subjected to be for three years but extension may be granted from the approval and recommendations of the Prime Minister by the President.[6] The Chief of Army Staff is based in the Army GHQ, and the current Chief of Army Staff is General Qamar Javed Bajwa, serving in this capacity since 29 November 2016[7][8][9]
Office of the Chief of the Army Staff
The designation of the Chief of the Army Staff was created from the previous title Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army in 1972. Since 1972, there has been 10 four-star rank army generals to be appointed as chief of army staff by statute.[10] The Prime Minister approved the nomination and appointment of the Chief of Army Staff, with President confirming the Prime Minister's appointed choosing and nomination.[11]
The chief of army staff has been instrumental in instigating and enforcing the coups d'état against the civilian government and the Prime Minister.:40[12][13] In 1977, General Zia-ul-Haq was the first army chief who carefully planned a coup against Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto when the right wing opposition instigated popular demonstration after the general elections held in 1977.[14]
After the Pakistan Army's performance in Kargil sector, Prime Minister Sharif terminated the commission of General Musharraf, as an army chief and chairman joint chiefs, but Musharraf refused to follow the orders by instigating and leading the military coup by turning over the government under his control on 12 October 1999.[15][16]
The army chiefs, including the previous army's commanders-in-chiefs, had justified their course of actions by noting to attempt to control the worsening of the law and order situation in the country, as in the case of Yahya Khan (1969):239[17] and General Zia-ul-Haq:239[17] (1977), or by attempting to revive the economic prosperity in a threat of financial crises, as seen in the case of General Ayub Khan (1958):contents[18][19] and General Pervez Musharraf (1999).:154[20]:254[21]
The army leadership is based in the Army GHQ whose functions are supervised by the Chief of Army Staff, assisted by the civilians from the Army Secretariat of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).[1] The Chief of Army Staff exercise its responsibility of complete operational, training and logistics commands.:131[4][self-published source?]
There are several principle staff officers (PSO) that assists in running the operations of the Army GHQ:
- Engineer-in-Chief (Eng-in-C)
- Chief of General Staff
- Chief of Logistics Staff
- Inspector-General of Training and Evaluation (IGT&E)
- Inspector-General Communications and IT (IGC&IT)
- Inspector-General Arms (IG Arms)
- Military Secretary (Mil Secy)
- Adjutant-General
- Quartermaster General (QMG)
- Master-General of Ordnance (MGO)
- Judge Advocate General Corps
- Director-General EME (DGEME)
- Director-General Frontier Works Organisation (DGFWO)
- DG Combat Development Directorate
List of Chiefs of Army Staff
.jpg)
.jpg)
Vice Chief of Army Staff
The Vice Chief of Army Staff (VCOAS), is the post that is principal deputy and second-in-command (S-in-C) of the Pakistan Army, reporting under the Chief of Army Staff. The position was created in the existence of army chief is simultaneously the President of Pakistan, having taking over by imposing the martial law against the elected civilian government.:contents[22] The post is now nonexistence and no longer in commission with the army— the Chief of General Staff now serves as the second-in-command in the army leadership.[23]
The function and scope of the vice army chief was to "exercise and perform all the powers and functions vested in the chief of army staff under the law. rules, regulations, orders, and instructions for the time being in the force.":contents[22]
The vice army chiefs are considered to be the principle commander of the army but not altogether, as the vice army chief has to report to the army chief, specifically in taking decisions regarding the promotions.:contents[22] The post of the vice army chief is a very senior position and the appointment holder is a four-star general. To date only one Deputy COAS has been appointed. 3 star General Muzaffar Usmani was appointed as Deputy chief on 3 May 2001 by then Chief executive and COAS General Pervez Musharraf.
List of vice chiefs of army staff
All persons mentioned below have served as the Vice Chief of the Army Staff with distinction of General Abdul Hamid Khan who acted as the 'Chief of Staff' (COS) of the army under General Yahya Khan who was the President of Pakistan and also the holder of the appointment 'C-in-C of the Army'. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was the last vice chief of army staff till date.
No comments: