On 24 July Pakistan took another step towards completing the restructuring of its higher military command initiated under last year’s 27th Constitutional Amendment when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promoted Lieutenant General Syed Aamer Raza to the rank of General and simultaneously appointed him to the as Pakistan’s first Commander of the National Strategic Command (CNSC), a newly created four-star office that will oversee the operational integration of Pakistan’s strategic forces.

The office of Commander NSC was created through the 27th Constitutional Amendment enacted in November last year, which fundamentally altered Pakistan’s higher defence architecture by abolishing the office of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and creating the new position of Chief of Defence Forces, concurrently held by the Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Asim Munir. It has been termed as the most ambitious restructuring effort in decades, which elevated the Army Chief to a constitutionally approved position of supremacy.

The CNSC is the military body responsible for overseeing Pakistan’s strategic capabilities, including the nuclear arsenal. It functions as the unified operational headquarters for the strategic forces by bringing together the Army, Navy, and Air Force Strategic Commands under a single command structure, while the National Command Authority, chaired by the Prime Minister, continues to retain the ultimate authority over nuclear policy and employment. 

Under the Army Act, the CNSC is appointed by the Prime Minister on the recommendation of the CDF from among serving army Generals, and he serves a three-year term.

With the constitutional architecture now largely operationalised, attention is increasingly turning towards amendments to the National Command Authority Act, 2010, which, in its current form, still reflects the pre-27th Amendment military hierarchy.

According to reports, though no draft legislation has yet entered the public domain, those familiar with the process indicate that work on the amendments is underway and the changes are primarily intended to bring the statute in line with the new military offices instead of altering the civilian-led character of the nuclear command and control system. They would replace references to the abolished Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee with the Chief of Defence Forces.

The amendments, if implemented, would replace references to the abolished Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee with the Chief of Defence Forces, who is likely to become the Deputy Chairman of the National Command Authority.

Officials maintain, however, that the broader institutional framework would remain unchanged, with the Prime Minister continuing as Chairman of the National Command Authority, the Strategic Plans Division retaining its role as the Secretariat, and the authority to employ nuclear weapons remaining vested in the National Command Authority.

The restructuring is intended to improve jointness, integrate planning across strategic capabilities, and streamline command in an increasingly multi-domain security environment, particularly post Operation Sindoor.

A Cavalry officer from the Officers Training School, General Raza was commissioned into the 6 Lancers in 1988. His professional career includes commanding an Armoured Regiment, an Armoured Brigade, an Infantry Brigade in South Waziristan, an Infantry Division, and IV Corps in Lahore.

He also headed Heavy Industries Taxila and served as the Director General of Weapons and Equipment and was the Chief of Staff at II Corps at Multan. He is a graduate of Command & Staff College, Quetta, and National Defence University, Islamabad, and is a recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military) and the Sitara-i-Basalat for distinguished service.

At the time of his promotion to a four-star rank and appointment as the CNSC, he was eighth in the Army’s seniority list of Lieutenant Generals and was serving as the Chief of General Staff (CGS) at Army Headquarters in Rawalpindi, which is undoubtedly a key and coveted operational appointment.

It is here that he oversaw the implementation of organisational changes necessitated by the 27th Amendment and the restructuring that followed, including the establishment of the Army Rocket Force Command (ARFC), which is presently being commanded by Lieutenant General Nauman Zakaria, GOC I Corps.

He has, however, not served in the Strategic Plans Division or the Army Strategic Forces Command.

General Raza’s elevation superseded Lieutenant General Inam Haider Malik from the Engineers who is presently the Chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority, Lieutenant General  Fayyaz Hussain Shah, GOC IV Corps in Lahore, Lieutenant General  Nauman Zakaria, GOC I Corps at Mangala, Lieutenant General  Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Commander, Army Air Defence Command at Rawalpindi, Lieutenant General  Ahsan Gulrez, GOC 2 Corps at Multan and Lieutenant General  Shahid Imtiaz, the Military Secretary who had commanded X Corps, while the senior most officer, Lieutenant General  Asim Malik, is the Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence and National Security Adviser, who continues to perform his duties on an extended tenure.

General Raza’s appointment is also expected to trigger a cycle of changes in the Army’s senior leadership, as to start with a new CGS will need to be posted. With the four-star appointment now completed, a wider reshuffle of Principal Staff Officers and Corps Commanders is bound to take place.

Pakistan’s nuclear weapons policy is directed by the National Command Authority, the country’s top civilian-military body responsible for strategic decision-making, while the creation of the National Strategic Command forms part of a broader effort to reorganize military oversight of the country’s strategic forces under the constitutional reforms.

There are, of course, voices in Pakistan who have expressed reservations about how the delicate balance between the three Services and between military and civilian components of the NCA would be maintained, with both the CDF and CNSC being from the Army and being part of the NCA.  As the role of the Navy and Air Force in decision-making looks diminished.

Pakistan’s new strategic command structure now seems to be in place within a military hierarchy that is more centralised than earlier. 

Maj Gen Jagatbir Singh, VSM (Retired)

Major General Jagatbir Singh is an Armoured Corps Officer who commanded the First Armoured Division. He served in varied terrains and tenanted important command, staff and instructional appointments including a UN Peace Keeping Mission in Iraq and Kuwait. He co-authored ‘Armour 1971’ and edited ‘Valour and Honour’.