Pakistan grants Army chief unprecedented legal power over all armed forces

Until now, the closest equivalent was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, created in 1976 to coordinate between the services. That post had no legal authority to command the Navy or Air Force, and the last time it went to a non-Army officer was 1997. The new CDF role is different in kind, not just degree: it carries statutory operational command across all three services, reporting directly to the federal government, with the power to enforce decisions the old post never had.

A retired three-star general based in Rawalpindi told Al Jazeera the law creates a properly written chain of command from the prime minister down to units on the ground, something that never existed on paper before. Retired general Naeem Khalid Lodhi said the CDF is now “a real commander”, a description that would not have fit the old coordinating post.

What is the CDF?

The Chief of Defence Forces is a new post that replaces the old Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, a role that only coordinated between the three services and had no real authority over the navy or air force. The CDF, by contrast, has actual operational command across all three, reporting directly to the federal government. Munir, who also remains army chief, is the first officer to hold the post.

Is the army gaining too much power?

Analysts are split on what the change means internally. The nuclear-forces command post must now come from the army by law, a change analyst Majid Nizami said formally closes off a role the navy and air force could technically have held before. A retired three-star general based in Rawalpindi described the overall system as “unmistakably army-centric,” while a former strategic planning official warned that career decisions across the navy and air force will now run through an army-led command.

Retired general Naeem Khalid Lodhi took a different view, saying the CDF is now “a real commander” able to enforce decisions, unlike the old coordinating post it replaced.

Does this weaken civilian oversight?

Lawyer and former officer Colonel Inam Raheim said the CDF can now dismiss officers by letter alone, without the cabinet summary once required. Karachi lawyer Abdul Moiz Jaferii argued the law makes one service chief subordinate to another despite their formal equality, adding that Pakistan lacks a court independent enough to test the question.

Not everyone agrees the law goes too far. Supreme Court advocate Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar compared it to similar legislation in the UK, Canada and Australia, though in those countries the equivalent post rotates between services rather than sitting permanently with the army chief.

Pakistan says the restructuring is built around three goals: tighter coordination across land, air, sea, cyber and drone operations; ending the old system where each service ran largely on its own; and faster decision-making during a crisis, with one officer now able to direct all three services at once.