ISLAMABAD: On Thursday, Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had chosen to name Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza as the new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.
The minister said on Twitter that the two highest appointments in the Pakistan Army were made using the premier’s constitutional authority. She added that a brief about this has been provided to President Arif Alvi. Shehbaz has chosen Lt Gen Asim Munir to be the new Chief of Army Staff (COAS).
Recall that the Defence Ministry has suggested six candidates for the top two military positions, including Lt Gens Nauman Mehmood, Mohammad Amir, and Faiz Hameed.
The Rawalpindi Corps is now under the command of Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza.
The recipient of the Hilala-e-Imtiaz (Military) has held a number of high-level leadership roles, including those of Chief of General Staff, Adjutant General, and Director-General Military Operations (DGMO) at the General Headquarters.
Sahir Shamshad Mirza was working at Military Operations while simultaneously overseeing 40th Infantry Division in Okara.
He was a member of the core team at the GHQ, led by former Army Chief General Raheel Sharif, that oversaw the military operation against the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and other militant organisations in North Waziristan.
Additionally, he has participated in peacekeeping missions for UN in other nations, and he was awarded the UN Medal for Service in Sierra Leone.
In 1985, Mirza was appointed a second lieutenant in the Sind Regiment’s 8th Battalion.
