Chief of the Army (COAS) Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir is set to see a reset to his tenure as the army chief upon his appointment as the chief of the defence forces (CDF) after the National Assembly approved changes to laws pertaining to the three branches of the armed forces shortly after the government tabled them.
The amendments were tabled soon after President Asif Ali Zardari gave his assent to the contentious 27th Constitutional Amendment, enacting it into law.
Defence Minister Khawaja Asif introduced the Pakistan Army Act (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill 2025 and the Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill 2025, which were passed with a majority vote.
Meanwhile, Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar introduced the Supreme Court Practice and Procedure (Amendment) Bill 2025, which was also passed with a majority vote.
Tarar said the four bills, which were passed in nine minutes without any debate, were meant to harmonise the existing laws with the recently signed 27th Constitutional Amendment Act. “These are not new laws. These are amendments to the present laws,” he said.
The law minister said the change in the army act was to make the COAS the CDF and to eliminate the post of the chairman joint chiefs of staff committee (CJCSC), adding that the CDF’s term would be five years from the date of appointment.
The amendment further said that the tenure of the incumbent army chief would recommence from the date of his notification as the CDF.
The changes also included replacing the position of the CJCSC with the commander of the National Strategic Command (CNSC). They outlined that the prime minister would appoint the CNSC on the recommendation of the army chief from the generals of the army for a three-year tenure.
It added that the prime minister could also reappoint the CNSC or extend his tenure by three years on the army chief’s recommendation.
The changes further said that the prime minister could, on the army chief’s recommendation, authorise an officer appointed as the vice or deputy chief of army staff to exercise and perform the powers and functions vested in the army chief.
The amendments to the air force and navy laws included the elimination of the post of CJCSC from their documents.
Meanwhile, the amendment to the Supreme Court law paved the way for the elimination of the constitutional bench.
The president’s assent to the 27th Constitutional Amendment came hours after the Senate approved the bill for the amendment after voting on it for a second time amid the opposition’s protest.
Announcing the result, Senate Chairman Yousuf Raza Gilani said 64 votes had been cast in favour of the bill and four against it. “So the motion is carried by the votes of not less than two-thirds of the total membership of the Senate, and consequently, the bill stands passed.”
The house first voted on the bill clause by clause and then by division. While clause-by-clause voting was underway, slogans of aain ki tabahi, na manzoor (destruction of the Constitution, unacceptable) filled the house, prompting Gilani to say at one point, “No slogans”.
The bill was initially presented in the Senate for voting on Monday and passed the same day. It was then referred to the NA, which approved it with some amendments yesterday. Therefore, the proposed legislation was again presented in the Senate today to consider the latest changes.
Law Minister Azam Nazeer Tarar again tabled the bill in the upper house of Parliament today.
COAS Munir’s extension
Field Marshal Munir was appointed the army chief on November 29, 2022. He is the 17th army chief to assume the command of the Pakistan Army.
In November 2024, the government passed six bills, including three related to the extension of the terms of armed services chiefs, amid deafening protests by the opposition. The three bills were The Pakistan Army (Amendment) Bill, 2024, The Pakistan Air Force (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and The Pakistan Navy (Amendment) Bill, 2024.
The salient features of the bills stated that the tenure of all three services chiefs (chief of army staff, chief of air staff and chief of naval staff) will be five years, instead of three. The retirement age bar of 64 years (for generals, air chief marshals and admirals) won’t apply to these three functionaries and extensions, re-appointments for these posts (if any) will also be for five years. However, the tenure of the CJCSC had remained unchanged, at three years.
The government promoted the COAS to the rank of field marshal in recognition of his ‘strategic leadership and decisive role’ in defeating India during the war in May this year.
In September, Prime Minister’s Adviser on Political Affairs Rana Sanaullah Khan had said that the tenure of the army chief would end in 2027 and a decision whether to extend it or not would be taken at that time.
Earlier this month, Minister of State for Law and Justice Barrister Aqeel Malik said that there was no need for a notification to specify the army chief’s five-year term, as it was established in Section 8C of the Pakistan Army Act.
He had said no new notification was required for the COAS’s five-year term and the section was always a part of legislation.
Section 8C of the Pakistan Army Act outlines the “retirement age and service limits prescribed for a general, under the rules and regulations made under this Act, shall not be applicable to the chief of the army staff, during his tenure of appointment, reappointment or extension, subject to a maximum age of sixty-four (64) years. Throughout such tenure, the chief of the army staff shall continue to serve as general in the Pakistan Army”.
American Dollar Exchange Rate