Five Chiefs of General Staff served as head of Pakistan Army in 64 years

Lt General Zubair Mahmood Hayat is the 32nd Chief of the General Staff of Pakistan Army since 1950, when Major General Akbar Khan was first appointed to this slot, which is considered as the senior most position after the post of the Chief of the Army Staff, research conducted by the Jang Group and Geo Television Network reveals.
Lt General Zubair Hayat had also served as Bahawalpur Corps Commander and Director-General of the Strategic Plans Division during his distinguished career.
He comes from a family of illustrious soldiers, as does the incumbent Pakistan Army Chief General Raheel Sharif.
According to the Indian Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, which claims to be one of the premier research institutes and think tanks on South Asian defence affairs, General Zubair Hayat’s father Mohammad Aslam Hayat had also retired as a Major General and his two brothers—Umer Hayat and Ahmed Hayat—have also served as 2-star Generals — a world record of sorts!
As Director-General of the Strategic Plans Division, Lt Gen Zubair Hayat had supervised Pakistan’s nuclear and missile programme.
He was commissioned in artillery regiment of Pakistan Army in early 1980s.
He has been Chief of Staff to a Corps and is a graduate of Command and Staff College, the prestigious Camberley Staff College at Surrey (England) and the reputed National Defence University in Islamabad.
Widely deemed to be among the most important and coveted positions within the military, the importance of this portfolio of CGS can be gauged from the fact that out of the 31 Chiefs of the General Staff (prior to Lt General Zubair Mahmood Hayat), some five Generals had gone on to assume charge as Pakistan’s Army’s top bosses (Commander-in-Chief and Chief of the Army Staff).
These 5 Chiefs of the General Staff who have till date gone on to serve as head of the Pakistan Army are:
General Yahya Khan (he was the third Pakistani President and Second Martial Law Administrator. General Yahya appointed as Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan Army in March 1966).
General Gul Hassan Khan (he was the last Army Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army from December 20, 1971 to March 3, 1972. Gul Hassan Khan had the shortest tenure as Pakistan Army’s Commander-in-Chief. He was deposed by the then president Zulfikar Ali Bhutto after the Hamoodu Rahman Commission, led by the then Pakistani Chief Justice Hamoodur Rahman, had recommended his deposal. Following a trial, General Gul Hassan Khan was immediately retired from the Army and further relieved from any benefits given to the retired officers).
General Mirza Aslam Beg (his tenure as country’s Ninth Army Chief had witnessed Benazir Bhutto as being elected Prime Minister in November 1988, and the restoration of democracy and the civilian control of the military in the country. He was summoned to the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2012 for his alleged role in the Mehran Bank scandal).
General Asif Nawaz Janjua (he was Pakistan’s Tenth Army Chief. His tenure was cut short by his death after suffering a sudden heart attack on January 8, 1993. His career highlights featured successful pacification operation in Sindh when the province wilted under the most violent period in its history) and—-General Jehangir Karamat (he had served as Army Chief from January 1996 to October 1998. He is also one of very few army generals in the military history of Pakistan to have resigned over a disagreement with the civilian authorities. Acting under orders from the General Karamat, DG MI Major-General Ali Kuli Khan had monitored the activities of Major-General Zaheerul Islam Abbasi who himself was posted at the GHQ. Abbasi was accused and convicted for a period of 7 years for being party to an attempted coup against the civilian government of Benazir Bhutto in 1995 while he was still a serving Major General in Pakistan Army. After retirement, General Karamat had served as country’s Ambassador to the United States).
Here follows the list of Pakistan Army’s Chiefs of the General Staff during the last 64 years:
Major General Akbar Khan (1950-51), Major General Yusuf Khan (1951-53), Major General Mian Hayaud Din (1953-55), Major General Sher Ali Khan Pataudi (1955-57), Major General Yahya Khan (1957-1962), Major General Malik Sher Bahadur (1962-1966), Major General Sahibzada Yaqub Khan (1966-69), Major General Gul Hassan Khan (1969-71), Major General Rahimud Din Khan (1972-74), Major General Iqbal Khan (1974-March 1976), Major General Abdullah Malik (March 1976-1978), Major General Sardar Farooq Shaukat Khan Lodhi (1978 – March 1980), Major General Aslam Beg (June 1980 – October 1985), Lt General Muhammad Safdar (1987-January 1988), Lt General Mian Muhammad Afzal (January 1988 – August 1988), Lt General Shamim Alam Khan (May 1989 – April 1991), Lt General Asif Nawaz Janjua (April 1991 – August 1991), Lt General Farrakh Khan (August 1991 – 1994), Lt General Jehangir Karamat (1994 – January 1996), Lt General Iftikhar Ali Khan (January 1996 – May 1997), Lt General Ali Kuli Khan Khattak (May 1997 – October 1998), Lt. General Aziz Khan (October 1998 – August 2000), Lt General Muhammad Yousaf Khan (August 2000 – October 2001), Lt General Shahid Aziz (October 2001 – December 2003), Lt General Tariq Majeed (December 2003 – October 2006), Lt. General Salahuddin Satti (October 2006 – October 2008), Lt General Muhammad Mustafa Khan (October 2008 – April 2010), Lt General Khalid Shameem Wynne (April 2010 – October 2010), Lt General Waheed Arshad (October 2010 – January 2013), Lt General Rashad Mahmood (January 2013 – November 2013) and Lt General Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad (November 2013 – April 9, 2015).