Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army

The Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army (reporting name: C-in-C) was normally the highest-ranking officer in the Pakistan Army from the country's independence to 1972.[2]^:105 The C-in-C was directly responsible for commanding the army. It was an administrative position and the appointment holder had main operational command authority over the army.

Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army پاک فوج کا کمانڈر ان چیف
Flag of the Pakistan Army
Longest serving General Musa Khan 27 October 1958 – 17 September 1966
Ministry of Defence Army Secretariat-I at MoD[1]
Abbreviation	C-in-C
Seat	Army GHQ Rawalpindi Cantonment in Punjab, Pakistan
Nominator	Governor General of Pakistan, Prime Minister or President of Pakistan
Appointer	Governor General of Pakistan, Prime Minister or President of Pakistan
Formation	15 August 1947 (1947-08-15)
First holder	Gen. Frank Messervy
Final holder	Lt. Gen. Gul Hassan Khan
Abolished	3 March 1972 (1972-03-03)
Succession	Chief of Army Staff
Deputy	Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army Chief of General Staff

Direct appointments to the command of the Pakistan Army came from the British Army Council until 1951, when the first native commander-in-chief was nominated and appointed by the Government of Pakistan.[3]^:24

The C-in-C was assisted by a deputy C-in-C until the late 1960s. The last deputy C-in-C was Abdul Hamid Khan, who served until 1969. The C-in-C designation was changed to 'Chief of Army Staff' in 1972, Tikka Khan was the first person to hold the new title. Six men have served as C-in-C, the first two of them were native British and the post was largely akin to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army.[4][5][6][7][6][8]

History

Main articles: Commander-in-Chief, India and Chief of the General Staff (India)

Prior to creation of Pakistan from the partition of India on 14 August 1947, the senior military general officer commanding of the Pakistan Army were the ad-hoc appointments made by the Army Board of the British Army.[9]

The appointment was known as Commander-in-Chief who directly reported to the Governor-General who was also under British monarchs.[10]^:105 Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck was the last Commander-in-Chief of the undivided British Indian Army who became the supreme commander of India and Pakistan in 15 August 1947 serving till November 30 of the year.[10]^:105 On 15 August General Frank Messervy became the first C-in-C of the Pakistan Army.

In 1969, when General Yahya Khan became President of Pakistan, the then deputy commander-in-chief of the army Lieutenant General Abdul Hamid Khan was promoted to full General and was appointed as the 'Chief of Staff of the Army', a newly created post which was akin to Chief of Staff of the United States Army.[6]^:contents On 20 March 1972, the commander-in-chief post was renamed as "Chief of Army Staff (COAS)" with Lieutenant-General Tikka Khan elevated to four star rank to be appointed as army's first chief of army staff.[11]^:62

The term of the superannuation was then constrained to three years in the office as opposed to four years and was made a permanent member of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.[11]^:62

Appointees

The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Commander-in-Chief since the independence of Pakistan.

Commander-in-Chief, Pakistan Army (1947-1972)

See also: Chief of General Staff (Pakistan)

No.	Portrait	Commander-in-Chief	Took office	Left office	Time in office	Unit of Commission
1		Messervy, FrankGeneral Sir Frank Walter Messervy KCSI, KBE, CB, DSO & Bar (1893–1974)	15 August 1947	10 February 1948	179 days	9th Hodson's Horse
2		Gracey, DouglasGeneral Sir Douglas David Gracey KCB, KCIE, CBE, MC & Bar (1894–1964)	11 February 1948	16 January 1951	2 years, 339 days	1st King George's Own Gurkha Rifles (The Malaun Regiment)
3		Khan, AyubField Marshal Muhammad Ayub Khan HJ, HPk,MBE (1907–1974)	17 January 1951	27 October 1958	7 years, 284 days	14th Punjab Regiment
4		Khan, MusaGeneral Muhammad Musa Khan HPk, HJ, HQA,MBE (1908–1991)	27 October 1958	17 September 1966	7 years, 325 days	4th Hazara Pioneers
5		Khan, YahyaGeneral Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan (1917–1980)	18 September 1966	20 December 1971	5 years, 93 days	10th Baluch Regiment
6		Khan, GulLieutenant General Gul Hassan Khan (1921–1999)	20 December 1971	2 March 1972	5 years, 93 days	Frontier Force Regiment

References

1. MoD, Ministry of Defence. "Organogram of MoD" (PDF). Ministry of Defence (Pakistan). Ministry of Defence Press. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
2. Bajwa, Kuldip Singh (2003). "Kashmir Valley saved". Jammu and Kashmir War, 1947-1948: Political and Military Perspective (googlebooks) (1st ed.). New Delhi, India: Har-Anand Publications. p. 320. ISBN 9788124109236. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
3. Harmon, Daniel E. (2008). Pervez Musharraf: President of Pakistan: Easyread Super Large 20pt Edition. ReadHowYouWant.com. ISBN 9781427092038. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
4. Cheema, Pervaiz Iqbal (2002). "Defence Administration". The Armed Forces of Pakistan (google books) (1st ed.). New York, U.S.: NYU Press. p. 225. ISBN 9780814716335. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
5. Shabbir, Usman (2003). "Command and Structure control of the Pakistan Army". pakdef.org. PakDef Military Consortium. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
6. Cloughley, Brian (2016). A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections. Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. ISBN 9781631440397. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
7. "Pakistan: Army and Paramilitary Forces". Factba.se. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
8. "The Army Chief's". www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 4 December 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2013.
9. Lenze Jr (2016). Civil–Military Relations in the Islamic World. Lexington Books. ISBN 9781498518741. Retrieved 21 July 2017.
10. Bajwa, Kuldip Singh (2003). "Kashmir Valley Saved". Jammu and Kashmir war, 1947-1948 : political and military perspective (google books) (1st ed.). New Delhi: Har-Anand Publications. p. 350. ISBN 9788124109236. Retrieved 24 July 2017.
11. Singh, Ravi Shekhar Narain Singh (2008). "Military and Politics". The Military Factor in Pakistan (googlebooks) (1st ed.). London, UK: Lancer Publishers. p. 550. ISBN 9780981537894. Retrieved 24 July 2017.