Pakistan over the decades: Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan

Chief of Army Staff or COAS is the highest post in the Pakistani army and is held by a senior officer of 4 star rank. Under the 1973’s constitution of Pakistan, the COAS is under the authority of the civilian leadership and reports directly to the president, prime minister, defence minister and the defence secretary of Pakistan.

Before the 1973 constitution, the COAS were referred to as Army Commander-in-Chief. There were six Commanders-in-Chief namely General Sir Frank Messervy (15^TH Aug 1947 to 10^th Feb 1948), General Sir Douglas Gracey (11^th Feb 1948-16^th Jan 1951), Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan (16^th Jan 1951-26^th Oct 1958), General Muhammad Musa (27^th October 1958-17^th June 1966), General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan(18^th June1966-20^th Dec 1971), Lieutenant General Gul Hassan Khan (20^th Dec 1971-3^rd March 1972).

Among these Commanders-in-Chief, Field Marshal Ayub Khan and Yahya Khan overthrew the elected governments and declared martial law. Ayub Khan later became the president and remained on the post for almost a decade.

From 1973 onwards the Commander-in-Chief was replaced by COAS; the first COAS was General Tikka Khan (3^rd March 1972-1^st March 1976), General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (1^st March 1976-17^th August 1988), General Mirza Aslam Beg (17^th August 1988- 16^th August 1991), General Asif Nawaz (16^th August 1991-8^th Jan 1993), General Abdul Waheed (11^th Jan 1993-12^th Jan 1996), General Jehangir Karamat (12^th Jan 1996- 6th Oct 1998), General Pervez Musharraf (6^th Oct 1998-Nov 28^th 2007) and General Ashfaq Kiyani (29^th Nov 2007-present).

General Zia ul Haq also declared martial law by overthrowing the elected government of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto in 1977. Zia ul Haq proceeded to become the president; he even held elections on no party basis and brought his puppet government in power. For eleven years he held the posts of both the COAS and the President until he died in a plane crash in 1988.

General Pervez Musharraf too declared emergency in 1998 and removed the elected government of Nawaz Sharif from power. For nine years he ruled over Pakistanis and the president while refusing to surrender his army uniform which he called his second skin.

Then in 2007 on the insistence of almost the whole nation he gave up his army post. After Gen Musharraff, General Kayani served as COAS. After General Kiyani’s retirement, General Raheel Shareef took over the charge, in 2013. General Qamar Javed Bajwa is the current chief of army staff of Pakistan.