The government took another step on Friday toward completing the restructuring of Pakistan’s higher military command under last year’s 27th Constitutional Amendment, appointing Gen. Syed Aamer Raza as the country’s first Commander of the National Strategic Command, a newly created four-star post overseeing the operational integration of the country’s strategic forces.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif promoted Gen Raza from lieutenant general and simultaneously named him to the new role. The CNSC office was established through the 27th Amendment, enacted last November, which reshaped Pakistan’s defense architecture by abolishing the office of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and creating the new post of Chief of Defense Forces, a role now held concurrently by the Chief of Army Staff. Field Marshal Asim Munir became Pakistan’s first CDF following the constitutional overhaul.
Under the Army Act, the CNSC is appointed by the prime minister on the CDF’s recommendation from among serving army generals, and serves a three-year term. The office functions as a unified operational headquarters for strategic forces, bringing the army, navy, and air force strategic commands under a single structure, while the National Command Authority, chaired by the prime minister, retains ultimate authority over nuclear policy and employment.
Attention Turns to the NCA Act
With the constitutional restructuring largely in place, focus is now shifting to expected amendments to the National Command Authority Act, 2010, which still reflects the military hierarchy that existed before the 27th Amendment. While no draft legislation has been made public, officials familiar with the process say the changes are underway and are intended to align the statute with the new military offices, not to alter the civilian-led character of Pakistan’s nuclear command and control system.
If implemented, the amendments would replace references to the abolished Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee with the Chief of Defense Forces, who is expected to become deputy chairman of the National Command Authority. The changes would also likely formalize the four-star CNSC as operational commander of the strategic forces, with corresponding leadership changes expected within the Development Control Committee. Officials stress, however, that the broader framework will remain intact, with the prime minister continuing as NCA chairman, the Strategic Plans Division retaining its secretariat role, and nuclear employment authority remaining vested in the National Command Authority rather than any single office.
Supporters of the restructuring describe it as organizational modernization aimed at improving jointness and integrating planning across strategic capabilities in an increasingly multigenerals and-domain security environment, particularly in the aftermath of last year’s conflict with India.
Gen Raza’s appointment is expected to set off a broader cycle of promotions and transfers within the army’s senior leadership, with officials anticipating a reshuffle of principal staff officers and corps commanders in the coming weeks now that the top four-star appointment has been finalized.
Who Is Gen Raza?
Before his elevation, Gen. Raza served as Chief of General Staff, the army’s principal operational appointment, overseeing organizational changes required by the 27th Amendment as well as the broader restructuring that followed last year’s conflict with India, including the establishment of the Army Rocket Force Command.
A cavalry officer trained at the Officers Training School and commissioned into the 6th Lancers in 1988, he has commanded an armored regiment, an armored brigade, an infantry brigade in South Waziristan, an infantry division, and Lahore’s IV Corps. He has also headed Heavy Industries Taxila and served as Director General of Weapons and Equipment and Chief of Staff at II Corps.
Notably, Gen. Raza has not served in the Strategic Plans Division, the Army Strategic Forces Command, or the country’s strategic missile program, his career having been built largely around conventional operations and force development. At the time of his promotion to four-star rank and appointment as CNSC, he ranked eighth on the army’s seniority list of lieutenant generals.
His elevation superseded six more senior officers, 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 most senior officer on the list, Lt Gen Asim Malik, who also serves as Director General of the Inter-Services Intelligence and National Security Adviser, continues in his role on an extended tenure.
