Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
JCSC
Flag of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Role	Advisory board providing professional military advice to the Minister of Defense and the President or the Prime Minister
Established	1972
Constituting instrument	Constitution of Pakistan
Predecessor entities	none
Members
Chairman	GEN Sahir Shamshad Mirza, PA
Chief of the Army Staff	GEN Asim Munir, PA
Chief of the Naval Staff	ADM Amjad Khan Niazi, PN
Chief of the Air Staff	ACM Zaheer Ahmad Babar, PAF
Number of members	Four (Permanent)
Administration
Parent agency	Ministry of Defense
Seat	Joint Staff, HQ

The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), (Urdu: ہیئتِ مشترکہَ رؤسائے افواجِ پاکستان); is an administrative body of senior high-ranking uniformed military leaders of the unified Pakistan Armed Forces who advises the civilian Government of Pakistan, National Security Council, Defence Minister, President and Prime minister of Pakistan on important military and non-military strategic matters.^[1] It is defined by statute, and consists of a Chairman, the military chiefs from Army, Navy and the Air Force: all four-star officers appointed by the President, on the advice of the Prime minister. The chairman is selected based on seniority and merit from the Chiefs of service of the three branches of the Pakistan Armed and Defense Services. Each service chief, outside their Joint Chiefs of Staff obligations, performs their duty directly for the Ministry of Defence.^[2]

Following the Hamoodur Rahman Commission, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee does not have operational command authority. Instead, the Joint Chief of Staff Committee is a principal military advisory body, and coordinates command operations between the services.^[3] The committee is headed by the four-star officer who is designated as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC).^[3] The chairman is the de Jure Commander in chief of all services of the Pakistan Armed Forces, but he does not have operational authority over combatant forces, which report directly to their Chiefs of Staff.^[2]

The Joint Staff, is headquartered in Rawalpindi near the vicinity of Naval, Air, GHQ headquarters.^[4] The Joint Chief of Staff Committee is composed of all uniformed military personnel from each inter-service, who assist the chairman to coordinate military efforts.