Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

In early 1950s, the recommendations were sent to the government of establishing the joint staff committee, but it was resisted by the Navy as it feared that it would be dominated by the army.[5] As the military of Pakistan grew in size and political influence increased after the 1965 war with India.[6] Though, the joint coordination mechanism was felt but no steps were taken.

Martial law was proclaimed all over in Pakistan for the second time on March 25, 1969 to curb civil disobedience which was especially chronic in East Pakistan. The number of army personnel in the Eastern region was increased in the beginning of 1971 fearing a possible Indian intervention.

As the crisis in East Pakistan progressed, following the intervention by India, the top military brass had the full control of the military and state's affairs.[7] In the absence of the joint staff mechanism, the defence plans and executions of operations were oversaw by each inter-service which affected the overall performance of the armed forces. Coordination between each inter-service became increasingly difficult.[8][7] In a thesis written by Pervez Cheema, the 1971 war was fought "without a purpose and with total lack of coordination between the civil effort and the armed forces, and between four fighting services: the Army, Navy and Air Force."[7] Furthermore, the federal studies also noted that the top military brass had alienated the Army, Navy and Air Force. in which, none 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.[8] Due to lack of complete and comprehensive communication, each services blamed the others for operational failures.[8]

As surrendered to India in 1971, Prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formed a federal commission chaired by Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman to conduct federal studies on the failure of the civil-military relations.[9] Recommendations noted in "Higher Direction of War act" in the HRC report, it strongly called for the establishment of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) mechanism with headquartered in MoD.[9] Per the act, the JCSC composed of a chairman, the Chief of Naval Staff, the Chief of Army Staff, and the Chief of Air Staff. It was mandate to have a collective responsibility of national defence and mechanism of plans based on a joint objectives.[9] The chairmanship was to be rotated between each inter-services, irrespective of the personal ranks in each service.[9]

Lesson learns and recommendations after the 1971 war with India, all military work, combat coordination, and joint missions are overseen by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee at the Joint Staff Headquarters located in Rawalpindi, Punjab, Pakistan.[7] All studies were accepted in March 1976, the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was officially formed with army general Muhammad Shariff becoming its first Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.[9] It is headed by a four-star officer designated as Chairman.[10] 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.[3]

The headquarters are known as Joint Staff Headquarters and act as secretariat of JCSC. It is located at Chaklala, Rawalpindi.[10] As of 2019, General Nadeem Raza is serving as Chairman Joint chiefs. The federal studies were fully supported by the military and many of the recommendations were implemented in 1980s to improve the joint efforts.[7]