Islamabad, Pakistan — Pakistan’s parliament in late August passed legislation that, for the first time, spells out in statute the powers of the country’s most senior military office, continuing a restructuring of the military’s command structure that began with last November’s 27th constitutional amendment. The National Assembly on August 20 approved the Defence Forces of Pakistan Act, 2026, and an amendment to the National Command Authority Act, 2010. Together, the two laws give legal shape to the office of the Chief of Defence Forces (CDF), created through that amendment last year.
The bills were not on the National Assembly’s original agenda; the cabinet cleared them that morning, and they passed within hours. The 27th amendment moved through parliament in a similarly compressed timeframe last November. The changes come just over a year after Pakistan’s four-day conflict with India in May 2025.
Analysts say the changes mark the most significant 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 coordinate, in a limited way, between the army, navy and air force. That post has now been abolished. In its place is a Defence Forces Headquarters (DFHQ), headed by the CDF, currently Field Marshal Asim Munir, who also serves as army chief.
Al Jazeera sent questions to the military’s media wing, Inter-Services Public Relations, about the rationale behind the changes and how the navy and air force will be represented at the new headquarters. Pakistan’s military, and the army in particular, has dominated the country’s political life since independence in 1947, staging four coups and ruling directly for more than three decades. No elected prime minister has ever completed a full five-year term.
The new legislation formalises a degree of authority the army chief has often held informally. So what exactly do the new laws change, and what could they mean for the balance of power between Pakistan’s civilian government and its military? Al Jazeera examines the key questions.
The CJCSC was designed as a coordinator, not a commander. 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.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
