Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Sunday said that the notification regarding the Chief of Defence Forces’ (CDF) appointment would be issued “in due course of time”, the process for which had started.
“Please be informed that the process has been initiated. PM is returning shortly. Notification will be issued in due course of time,” Asif said in a post on social media platform X.
The CDF position, created under the 27th Constitutional Amendment, replaced the now-abolished office of the Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC), which formally ended on Nov 27. It will be a dual-hatted position combined with the office of the army chief.
Officials and observers had expected the new notification to coincide with the abolition of the CJCSC post, but November 29 was seen as a critical marker, being the date on which the original three-year tenure of the incumbent Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Field Marshal Asim Munir, was set to expire.
Asif’s statement came as the November 29 date passed without any notification being issued to formally appoint the country’s first CDF.
His statement implies that the notification will be issued upon Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s return to the country, who is reportedly currently visiting London for medical check-ups.
Some legal experts had argued that without a new notification, Field Marshal Munir’s tenure could be interpreted as having lapsed.
However, a 2024 amendment to the Pakistan Army Act extended the tenure of the service chiefs to five years. That change included a “deeming” clause stating that the amendment “shall always be deemed to have been part of the Pakistan Army Act”, a formulation that legal minds say removed the requirement for a fresh notification extending the COAS tenure from three to five years.
Still, there is near consensus among security and legal officials that the creation of the CDF post, a new assignment rather than a continuation, does require a formal notification. Under the 27th Amendment and subsequent changes to the Army Act, the army chief will simultaneously serve as the CDF for a five-year term.
Therefore, several security sources, when contacted by Dawn earlier, said the government would have to issue a new, public notification assigning the CDF role to Field Marshal Munir.
The delay in the issuance of the notification has also been widely seen as a sign of unresolved debates within the highest levels of government. According to individuals with insight into the discussions, one point that has been under consideration is which date will be taken as the start of the COAS’s five-year tenure: November 2022 when Field Marshal Munir originally took command or November 2025 as had been broadly speculated after passage of the new legislation.
Another sensitive question that has been raised pertains to the extent of operational and command authority the CDF would exercise over the Pakistan Air Force and Pakistan Navy.
The government rapidly pushed the 27th Amendment through parliament earlier this month, but the notification setback has left top military leadership embarrassed and has complicated the transition to the restructured higher-defence framework, which military planners had hoped would be seamless.
Another pending decision has been the appointment of the commander of the National Strategic Command, a new four-star position created to assume the nuclear manager role previously exercised by the CJCSC. Officials believe this appointment will be made only after the CDF notification is issued.
