RAWALPINDI – General Nadeem Raza assumed charge of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee at General Headquarters in Rawalpindi today.
This was announced by Spokesperson of Pakistan Army Major General Asif Ghafoor through Twitter.
Prime Minister Imran Khan had approved appointment of Lt Gen Nadeem Raza as a new leader at the Joint Staff Headquarters last week as incumbent Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) Gen Zubair Hayat, was going to retire on Nov 27.
Lt Gen Nadeem Raza who had in August last year became the Chief of General Staff, the most prestigious appointment in the military after the army chief, as it is the organisational lead on both intelligence and operations, was being seen by the defence observers as the front runner for this post, as per his profile. As CGS, Gen Raza worked closely with Chief of Amry Staff Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, Dawn News reported.
The historical trends also favour Gen Raza. Most of those who reached this office before were from the infantry and he too is from the infantry’s Sindh Regiment. Moreover, out of the last 16 officers getting four-star general designation, 10 had previously served as CGS.
He has has earlier served as the Commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul and Corps Commander Rawalpindi