Pakistan Overhauls Military Command Structure After Five Decades: What Has Changed?

Pakistan’s National Assembly on August 20 approved two laws formalising the powers of the country’s top military office, a move that could reshape the balance between the civilian government and the armed forces.

The Defence Forces of Pakistan Act, 2026, and an amendment to the National Command Authority Act, 2010, provide a legal framework for the office of the Chief of Defence Forces. The bills were not part of the Assembly’s original agenda. The cabinet cleared them that morning, and lawmakers passed them within hours, Al Jazeera reported.

The 27th Amendment moved through Parliament in a similarly compressed timeframe last November, Al Jazeera reported. The changes come just over a year after Pakistan’s four-day conflict with India in May 2025.

Analysts told Al Jazeera that this is the biggest restructuring of Pakistan’s higher military command since 1976, when the post of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) was created to provide limited coordination among the army, navy and air force.

How Has Pakistan’s Military Command Structure Changed?

That post has now been abolished. In its place is a Defence Forces Headquarters headed by the CDF, currently Field Marshal Asim Munir, who also serves as army chief. The legislation formalises a degree of authority the army chief has often exercised informally.

The old post was a coordinator’s job. The CJCSC was designed to coordinate, not command. It had no authority to act on the navy or air force and each service largely ran its own affairs.

The new law changes that. It gives the CDF “operational command and control of the Armed Forces” and makes him responsible to the federal government for military operations across all three services, not just the army.

Al Jazeera reported that this creates a codified chain of command from the prime minister to the CDF and his new headquarters, then to the service chiefs and formations on the ground.

Why Has The Reform Raised Army-Centric Concerns?

Under the new law, the Commander of the National Strategic Command, or CNSC, who oversees Pakistan’s nuclear-capable forces, must come from the army and is appointed on the CDF’s recommendation. General Syed Aamer Raza was appointed the first CNSC in July 2026.

The navy and air force are excluded from the post altogether. Majid Nizami, a Lahore-based strategic analyst, said the institutional effect is clear. “Since the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee was a rotational post, its abolition also means the Commander of the National Strategic Command will remain a four-star appointment, but will now come exclusively from the army,” Nizami said.

The CDF is also expected to serve as deputy chairman of the National Command Authority, which oversees Pakistan's nuclear weapons and is chaired by the prime minister. However, the Strategic Plans Division is expected to retain its role in managing the country's nuclear and missile programmes.

Why Has The Reform Raised Army-Centric Concerns?

Critics argue that the restructuring could further strengthen the military's influence over decisions that were previously more directly controlled by elected civilian authorities. One analyst also questioned whether giving the CDF operational command over all three services is consistent with Article 243 of the Constitution, which says the federal government has control and command of the armed forces.

Supporters of the reform, however, argue that Parliament is simply giving legislative effect to the CDF structure already created by the 27th constitutional amendment.

Others see the position differently.

The retired three-star general described the law as “not obviously ultra vires”. Hafiz Ahsaan Ahmad Khokhar, an advocate of the Supreme Court, told Al Jazeera Parliament was merely following through on a constitutional change, much as Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia have legislated the powers of their own top defence officers.

“Parliament has therefore not created an authority independently of the Constitution,” Khokhar told Al Jazeera. “Rather, it has given legislative effect to a constitutional structure already established”.