Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (Urdu: جوانٹ چيفس ﺁف اسٹاف كميٹي; Acronym:JCSC), is an administrative body of senior high-ranking uniformed military leaders of the unified Pakistan Defense Forces who advises the civilian Government of Pakistan, National Security Council, and Defence Minister, President and Prime minister of Pakistan on important military and non-military strategic matters. It is defined by statute, and consists of a Chairman, the military chiefs from Army, Navy and the Air Force: all 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 of their Joint Chiefs of Staff obligations, performs their duty directly for the Ministry of Defence.

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. The Committee is headed by the four-star officer who is designated as the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC). The chairman is the de Jure Commander in chief of all services of the Pakistan Defense Forces, but he does not have operational authority over combatant forces, which report directly to their Chiefs of Staff. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee Secretariat (JCSCS), is headquartered in Rawalpindi near the Pakistan Army Generals Combatant Headquarter (GHQ). The Joint Chief of Staff Committee is composed of all uniformed military personnel from each service, who assist the Chairman to coordinate military efforts.

Historical overview
During the 1960s, the Pakistan Military grew much larger. During the Indo-Pak 1971 Winter War and the Bangladesh Liberation War, coordinating military efforts between the Air Force, Navy, Marines, and the Army, became increasingly difficult.

Precursors of this body can be found in East Pakistan when Admiral Syed Mohammad Ahsan became the Commander of the Eastern Military High Command of East-Pakistan. Admiral Ahsan was widely credited for improving coordination between the Armed Forces under his command, but before the system evolved completely, Admiral Ahsan resigned from his position amid political differences with the Central Military Government.

The Military government, mostly high-ranking generals, headed the Pakistan Armed Forces in the dual conflict. On important military matters, Air Force, Marines, and Navy, including the Army, weren't taken in confidence, and the joint efforts were unsupported at either a planning or operational level, and were also constrained over disagreements during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the East Pakistan crises. Due to lack of complete and comprehensive communication, each services blamed the others for operational failures.

In 1974, Former Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto created the Committee as his Government adopted the recommendations of the White Paper on Higher Defense Reorganization, prepared for Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, heading the Hamoodur Rahman Commission. A formal joint committee was established, the membership of which comprised the three services chiefs and the Secretary of the Defense Ministry. As the system evolved, the JCSC became an important tier in March 1976 It consists of a permanent Chairman and the three Chiefs of Staff. It is headed by a four-star officer designated as Chairman. In 1976, General Muhammad Shariff of Pakistan Army was the first of four-star general officer to chair the Committee. As of 2011, there had been fourteen four-star Pakistan military officers who headed the Committee Secretariat. Altogether, there has been twelve were from the army, one from the Air Force, and two from the Navy have served.

The headquarters are known as Joint Staff Headquarters and act as secretariat of JCSC. It is located at Chaklala, Rawalpindi. As of 2011, General Khalid Shameem Wynne is the current serving as Chairman joint chiefs.

Responsibilities
In peacetime the Chair's main function is to plan the defence of the country. In war the Chairman assumes responsibilities as Principal Staff Officer to assist the Government in the supervision and conduct of war. JCSC is the highest military body for considering all problems bearing on the military aspects of national defence and rendering professional military advice thereon. It is mainly responsible for preparing joint strategic plans and providing strategic direction. It reviews periodically the role, size and shape of the services and advises the Government on related aspects of national defence and security.

Current members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
The Members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee includes: Temporary Members of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee:

'''Military Affairs and Public Relation Office: Non-Member Officers of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee: