President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday approved the appointment of Chief of Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir as Pakistan’s first Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), following the submission of the summary by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The president also endorsed a two-year extension in the tenure of Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmed Babar Sidhu, extending his service beyond March 2026. A press release from the presidency conveyed best wishes to both officers for successful tenures in their respective roles.
The newly created CDF position, established under the 27th Constitutional Amendment, replaces the abolished office of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), which formally ended on November 27.
The post will be dual-hatted, combining the responsibilities of the army chief with the new CDF role. Field Marshal Munir’s appointment for both positions is set for a five-year term.
The PMO confirmed that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the summary recommending Field Marshal Munir for the dual role and subsequently referred it to the President House for final approval. ACM Sidhu, who has been serving as chief of the air staff since March 2021, had already received a one-year extension in 2024, and his new extension will now extend his tenure to a total of seven years.
Officials and observers had expected the CDF notification to coincide with the CJCSC post’s abolition. Defence Minister Khawaja Asif had earlier stated that the CDF notification would be issued in due course, while Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar indicated that the notification would follow shortly and emphasized that coordination with the PMO was required for its issuance.
The government now faces additional restructuring tasks, including the appointment of the National Strategic Command (NSC) commander, a four-star position responsible for overseeing nuclear assets previously managed by the CJCSC.
Amendments to the National Command Authority Act are also expected to formalize the CDF and NSC structure, including clarifying the roles of the Pakistan Air Force and Navy chiefs under the new unified framework. The transition represents a significant shift in Pakistan’s higher-defence command structure.
