By Afshain Afzal

In the latest development, he Prime Minister of Pakistan sent a summary to the Pakistani President for the for approval of appointment of Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Field Marshal Asim Munir also being referred as “Hafiz Syed Asim Munir Ahmed Shah” as Pakistan’s first Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) for a period of five years. Interestingly, General Asim Munir was due to retire on 27 November 2022 but he non-volunteered and submitted his retirement application was rejected by the Ministry of Defense and retained in service after giving him extension for three years. Meanwhile, the National Assembly approved the Pakistan Army (Amendment) Act 2025, to designate the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) as the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) for a five-year term effective from 27 November 2025. New clauses from Sections 8D to 8G have been introduced or amended to align with the 27th Constitutional Amendment in order to harmonise the operational and command structures of Pakistan’s Army, Navy, and Air Force.

Pakistanis have all the right to know what is going on in their country and should have fair idea without breaching national security that Pakistan is changing its command, control and management system on the lines of the one Indian Armed Forces, on which India started working after the 1999- Kargil War between Pakistan and India. If we recall, in this regard the Kargil Review Committee after the war exposed serious flaws in Indian inter services coordination while the Group of Ministers thus established in 2001, as well as the Naresh Chandra Committee in 2012 recommended major reforms, including the establishment of a centralized defense leadership. It was in 2019 that Indian Cabinet finally approved the position of Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) and created the Permanent Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee to improve cooperation among the services and streamline procurement, staffing, and training through the newly established Department of Military Affairs under the Ministry of Defense. General Bipin Rawat became India’s first CDS with major task to promote inter-service coordination and overseeing integrated planning across all military branches.

Our memories are still fresh, how Indian Army established unified commands: the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) set up in 2001 and the Strategic Forces Command (SFC) setup in 2003, and the integrated functional commands including the Defence Cyber Agency, Defence Space Agency, the Special Operations Division, new Air Defence Command and Drone establishments. The earlier papers presented at Port Blair, the past exercises and integrated command drills as well as the latest series of exercises including Indo Russo Trishul 2025 and Indo-UK Ajeya Warrior 2025 that ended few days back failed to fetch the desired coordination results in cyber, space, Air defence and drones and special operations. One wonders did Pakistan undergo above stages before reaching this final stage of coercive Parliamentary cum military operations. Ironically, neither the organization, infrastructure, working on manpower or budgetary allocations has been discussed or approved only because the US, Australia and India attempted to test Integrated Theatre Command. No doubt, Pakistan has already strong defence management system with safe nuclear deterrence and any decision in the haste would be waste.