The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) is a position in the Pakistani Army held by a four-stargeneral. As the highest-ranking officer, it is the most powerful position in the army.[2][3]
The appointment, in principle, is constitutionally subjected to be for three years after the approval by the President on the recommendations of the Prime Minister.[5] The Chief of the Army Staff is based in the GHQ, and the current Chief is GeneralSyed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah, serving in this capacity since 29 November 2022.[6][7]
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 have been 10 four-star rank army generals to be appointed as chief of army staff by statute.[8] 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.[9]
The army leadership is based in the 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 responsibility of complete operational, training and logistics commands.: 131 [10][self-published source?]
There are several principle staff officers (PSO) who assist in running the operations of the Army GHQ:
^ abMoD, Ministry of Defence. "Organogram of MoD"(PDF). mod.gov.pk/. Ministry of Defence Press. Archived from the original(PDF) on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.