Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Syed Asim Munir joined the military through the Mangla Officers Training School (OTS) programme and it was commissioned into the Frontier Force Regiment’s 23rd Battalion.
Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif appointed him as 11th Chief of Army staff on 24 November 2022 for the term of 3 years.
He assumed the charge as 17th Chief of Army Staff (COAS) of the Pakistan Army on November 29, 2022.
Before appointed as Army Chief he was serving as Quartermaster General in the Pakistan Army.
As a brigadier, he oversaw soldiers in the Force Command Northern Areas for former army chief Gen. Bajwa, who was then the Commander X Corps. Early in 2017, he was named director general of the military intelligence. In October 2018, he was named director general of the ISI.
Eight months later, Asim Munir was posted Gujranwala Corps Commander. He was moved to the GHQ as Quartermaster General two years later.
Gen Munir is the recipient of the Sword of Honour from the 17th course of the Officers Training School in Mangla. Also, he is the recipient of the Hilal-i-Imtiaz.
He served as the 23rd Director-General of the ISI until he was replaced with Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed on 16 June 2019.
Gen Munir is the first army chief in the history of Pakistan who is a ‘Hafiz-e-Quran’. He belongs to a well-known religious family of Rawalpindi. He memorised the Holy Quran at a seminary, Darul Tajweedul Quran, located near DAV College Road in the garrison city. He’s a student of the late Islamic preacher Hafiz Khalil Ahmed.
Gen Munir’s father served as a principal of a Tariqabad school in Rawalpindi Cantonment and he too was a ‘Hafiz-e-Quran’.
