Gen Raza's appointment as CNSC completes military overhaul under 27th Amendment, signals impending reshuffle

The government on Friday took another step towards completing the higher military command’s restructuring initiated last year under the 27th Constitutional Amendment by appointing Gen Syed Aamer Raza as the country’s first commander of the National Strategic Command (NSC).

The four-star post was created under last year’s constitutional tweak to oversee the operational integration of Pakistan’s strategic forces — a role previously exercised by the Chai­rman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, which was abolished under the 27th Amendment.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promoted Gen Raza from the rank of lieutenant general to the rank of a general and simultaneously appointed him as the CNSC.

Apart from the CNSC, the 27th Amendment also resulted in the creation of the post of the chief of defence forces (CDF), which is concurrently held by the army chief. Field Marshal Munir became the country’s first CDF after changes to the Army Act.

Under the Army Act, the CNSC is appointed by the prime minister on the recommendation of the CDF from among serving army generals, and serves a three-year term.

The office of the CNSC 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.

Who is Gen Raza?

Before his elevation, Gen Raza was serving as the chief of general staff — the army’s principal operational appointment — and oversaw the implementation of organisational changes necessitated by the 27th Amendment and the restructuring that followed last year’s conflict with India, including the establishment of the Army Rocket Force Command.

A cavalry officer from the Officers Training School and commissioned into the 6th Lancers in 1988, he has commanded an armoured regiment, an armoured brigade, an infantry brigade in South Waziristan, an infantry division, and Lahore’s IV Corps.

He also headed Heavy Industries Taxila and served as the director general of Weapons and Equipment and the chief of staff at II Corps.

Gen Raza has, however, not served in the Strategic Plans Division, the Army Strategic Forces Command or the country’s strategic missile programme, with his career largely rooted in conventional operations and force development.

At the time of his promotion to the rank of a four-star general and appointment as the CNSC, he ranked eighth in the army’s seniority list of lieutenant generals.

His elevation superseded Lt Gen Inam Haider Malik, Lt Gen Fayyaz Hussain Shah, Lt Gen Nauman Zakaria, Lt Gen Muhammad Zafar Iqbal, Lt Gen Ahsan Gulrez and Lt Gen Shahid Imtiaz, while the senior most officer, Lt Gen Asim Malik, who also serves as director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence and National Security Adviser, continues to perform his role on an extended tenure.

Impending reshuffle

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.

Although no draft legislation has yet entered the public domain, officials familiar with the process privately indicate that work on the amendments is under way 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.

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. The change would also likely lead to the formal recognition of the four-star CNSC as the operational commander of the strategic forces. The Development Control Committee is also expected to undergo corresponding changes in leadership.

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 rather than any individual office.

Supporters of the restructuring describe it as organisational modernisation intended to improve jointness, integrate planning across strategic capabilities and streamline command in an increasingly multi-domain security environment, particularly after last year’s conflict with India.

Gen Raza’s appointment is also expected to trigger a cycle of promotions and transfers in the army’s senior leadership. With the highest four-star appointment now completed, officials expect a wider reshuffle of principal staff officers and corps commanders in the coming weeks.

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