ISLAMABAD - Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza and Lt Gen Asim Munir have been appointed as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and Chief of Army Staff respectively. These high profile appointments in the Pakistan Army were made yesterday after President Arif Alvi while acting as Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Armed Forces signed and approved the recommendations of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. “President Dr Arif Alvi has promoted Lieutenant General Sahir Shamshad Mirza HI(M) to the rank of General with immediate effect and appointed him as Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee with effect from 27th November 2022,” a presidential statement issued late Thursday night said. “The President promoted Lieutenant General Syed Asim Munir HI(M) to the rank of General with immediate effect and appointed him as Chief of Army Staff with effect from 29th November 2022,” said the Presidential statement. The official statement issued by the Presidency said these promotions and appointments were made under article 243(4) (a)&(b) and Article 48(1) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan read with Sections 8-A and 8-D of the Pakistan Army Act 1952 .It further said that the President had signed the summary received in his office on Thursday. The much awaited high profile appointments of the chair man, joint chiefs of staff committee and chief of the army staff took place after several weeks of intensive political consultations by the Prime Minister with ruling allies and stakeholders and the president of Pakistan. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired the federal cabinet meeting which approved both the high profile appointments of the Pakistan Armed Forces after the summary was presented before the cabinet. Soon after approval from the cabinet, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif sent a summary along with his recommendations to President Arif Alvi for approval. however, the President signed the summary in the evening after an urgent visit to Lahore where he consulted PTI chairman Imran Khan on these appointments, who advised the President to follow the law and the Constitution on these appointments. A day earlier, the summary for the appointment of CJCSC and COAS was received by the PM Office from the GhQ through the Ministry of Defence, which contained six names of senior most Pakistan army officers for the appointments as CJCSC and COAS. Newly appointed CJCSC Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad and COAS Lt Gen Asim Munir would take their command on 29th November at an impressive ceremony in Rawalpindi. Both CJCSC Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad and COAS Lt Gen Asim Munir have been promoted to full four-star Army General with immediate effect, which was done to avoid technical hitch, for which the federal cabinet has approved the amended rules and frozen the retirement of Lt Gen Asim Munir due on 27th November. Later, after getting promoted, CJCSC Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza and COAS Gen Asim Munir called on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif separately. According to a short statement from the PM Office, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif extended good wishes for their new responsibilities. “I hope that the Armed Forces would cope with the challenges of national security under your leadership and would continue to play their role to wipe out the menace of terrorism from the country,” the PM was quoted as saying in the official communiqué. CJCSC Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza and designated Army Chief Lt Gen Asim Munir also separately called on President Arif Alvi at the Presidency. On the occasion, the President congratulated them and hoped both would render their professional responsibilities as per expectations of the nation. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had taken PML-N allies into confidence only a night before making the two most challenging appointments with full assurance from allies to him for making the appointments. Lt Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza started his army career in the Sindh Regiment after training at Pakistan Military Academy. he has served as the director-general of the military operations under former COAS Raheel Sharif from 2015-2018. Lt Gen Mirza also supervised the operations against terrorists in North Waziristan. he was part of the coordination group that oversaw negotiations with Afghanistan. Lt Gen Mirza was also a member of the Gilgit-Baltistan Reforms Committee. After becoming Lt Gen, he was appointed as the Vice Chief of the General Staff in 2018, a year before being posted as Chief of the General Staff. his last posting was Corps Commander Rawalpindi. Moreover, he also served in GOC Infantry Division, Okara, and for a brief period as the General headquarters adjutant general. Lt Gen Asim Munir was commissioned in the 23 Frontier Force Regiment in 1986. he passed out with 17 Officers Training course, Mangla and was awarded the coveted sword of honour. he graduated from Fuji School Japan, Command and Staff College, Quetta, Malaysian Armed Forces College, Kuala Lumpur and National Defence University, Islamabad. he also has M.Phil degree in Public Policy and Strategic Security Management from National Defence University. he was also posted as a directing staff in Command and Staff College, Quetta, brigade major of a deployed infantry brigade in Kel, general staff officer, grade-2, CGS secretariat and chief of staff of Mangla Corps. Lt Gen Munir has commanded 23 Frontier Force Regiment, Infantry Brigade, remained as a force commander in Northern Areas, Gilgit and Corps Commander 30 Corps, Gujranwala. he has also served as the director general of Military Intelligence (MI). In 2018, Lt Gen Munir was appointed as the director-general of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). he was posted as corps commander Gujranwala for two years.