The Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army

The Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army, (reporting name: COAS), is the four-star rank appointment in the Pakistan Army, held by the senior four-star rank officer appointed by the President of Pakistan, on a summary sent by the Prime Minister of Pakistan.^[1] The Chief of Army Staff post has historically been vested with proportionately more powers^[2] because of the recurrent military takeovers in the country. It is the highest and most prestigious four-star assignment, unless the four-star officer is appointed as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The appointment is in principle for three years subject to extensions granted by The President of Pakistan on recommendation from The Prime Minister of Pakistan.^[3] The appointment is vested with complete operational, training and logistics commands unlike the pattern followed in Western Commands where the Chief of Army Staff is the training and logistics chief while operational command rests with the Ministry of Defense. The current Chief of Army Staff is General Raheel Sharif.^[4] The COAS operates from Army Combatant General Headquarters (GHQ)^[5] in Rawalpindi, the twin city of the capital Islamabad. Under the Constitution of 1973 presently in vogue, the Chief of Army Staff is subordinate to the Defense Minister of Pakistan, Secretary General/Secretary Defense and reports directly to the civilian leadership.

Name	Photo	Term	Unit of Commission	Decorations
Commander in Chief of Pakistan Army (C in C)[6]
1.	General Sir Frank Messervy		15 August 1947 – 10 February 1948	9th Hodson's Horse	KCSI, KBE, CB, DSO
2.	General Sir Douglas Gracey		11 February 1948 – 16 January 1951	1st Gurkha Rifles	KCB, KCIE, CBE, MC
3.	Field Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan		16 January 1951 – 26 October 1958	1/14 Punjab Regiment	NPk, HPk, HJ, GCMG, MBE
4.	General Muhammad Musa		27 October 1958 – 17 June 1966	6/13 Frontier Force Rifles	HPk, HJ, HQA, MBE
5.	General Muhammad Yahya Khan		18 June 1966 – 20 December 1971	4/10 Baluch Regiment	HPk, HJ, SPk
6.	Lieutenant General Gul Hassan Khan		20 December 1971 – 3 March 1972	Armoured Corps	SPk, SQA
Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Army (COAS)
7.	General Tikka Khan		3 March 1972 – 1 March 1976	Artillery	HJ, HQA, SPk
8.	General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq		1 March 1976 – 17 August 1988	Armoured Corps
9.	General Mirza Aslam Beg		17 August 1988 – 16 August 1991	Baloch Regiment	NI(M), SBt
10.	General Asif Nawaz		16 August 1991 – 8 January 1993	Punjab Regiment	NI(M), SBt (Bar)
11.	General Abdul Waheed		11 January 1993 – 12 January 1996	Frontier Force Regiment	NI(M), SBt
12.	General Jehangir Karamat		12 January 1996 – 6 October 1998	Armoured Corps	NI(M), TBt
13.	General Pervez Musharraf		6 October 1998 – 28 November 2007	Artillery	NI(M), TBt
14.	General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani		29 November 2007 – 29 November 2013	Baloch Regiment	NI(M), HI
15.	General Raheel Sharif		29 November 2013 – Present	Frontier Force Regiment	NI(M), HI