Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee - Historical Overview

Historical Overview

During the 1960s, the Pakistan Military grew much larger. During the Indo-Pak 1971 Winter War and the Bangladesh Liberation War, coordinating military efforts between the Air Force, Navy, Marines, and the Army, became increasingly difficult.

Precursors of this body can be found in East Pakistan when Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan became the Commander of the Eastern Military High Command of East-Pakistan. Admiral Ahsan was widely credited for improving coordination between the Armed Forces under his command, but before the system evolved completely, Admiral Ahsan resigned from his position amid political differences with the Central Military Government.

The Military government, mostly high-ranking generals, headed the Pakistan Armed Forces in the dual conflict. On important military matters, Air Force, Marines, and Navy, including the Army, weren't taken in confidence, and the joint efforts were unsupported at either a planning or operational level, and were also constrained over disagreements during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the East Pakistan crises. Due to lack of complete and comprehensive communication, each services blamed the others for operational failures.

In 1974, Former Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto created the Committee as his Government adopted the recommendations of the White Paper on Higher Defense Reorganization, prepared for Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, heading the Hamoodur Rahman Commission. A formal joint committee was established, the membership of which comprised the three services chiefs and the Secretary of the Defense Ministry. As the system evolved, the JCSC became an important tier in March 1976 It consists of a permanent Chairman and the three Chiefs of Staff. It is headed by a four-star officer designated as Chairman. In 1976, General Muhammad Shariff of Pakistan Army was the first of four-star general officer to chair the Committee. As of 2011, there had been fourteen four-star Pakistan military officers who headed the Committee Secretariat. Altogether, there has been twelve were from the army, one from the Air Force, and two from the Navy have served.

The headquarters are known as Joint Staff Headquarters and act as secretariat of JCSC. It is located at Chaklala, Rawalpindi. As of 2011, General Khalid Shameem Wynne is the current serving as Chairman joint chiefs.