Gen Rashad Mahmood takes charge of Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee

Mahmood was also presented with a guard of honour comprising of contingents from the tri-services.

ISLAMABAD: General Rashad Mahmood, who was announced as the new Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJSC) on Wednesday, assumed charge of his new role on Thursday, Express News reported.

A guard of honour comprising of contingents from the tri-services was also presented to Mahmood, who was the principal staff officer (PSO) to General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani.

On arrival at the Joint Staff Headquarters he was received by the Director General Joint Staff, Lieutenant General Muhammad Asif.

Later, Director Generals of the Joint Staff Headquarters were introduced to the new Chairman.

Kayani will hand the baton to his successor Lieutenant General Raheel Sharif, who will become Pakistan’s 15th Army chief as of Friday.

On his last day as chief of army staff, Kayani held a farewell meeting at the Army General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi.

Profile

Rashad was the operational and intelligence eyes and ears of Kayani. As commander of Lahore's IV Corps, he had interacted with the Sharifs when their party were in power in Punjab in the previous administration.

He is perceived as being close to the US because of his stint at Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) as well as for his work on countering Improvised Explosive Devices (IED). Like Kayani, he is also from the Baloch regiment.