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KARACHI, Pakistan

Pakistan promoted its powerful army chief Gen. Asim Munir to field marshal on Tuesday for his "courageous leadership" and "high strategy" during the latest military standoff with longtime rival India, according to a statement from the prime minister's Office.

The federal Cabinet that met Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad approved the decision, a rare honor in Pakistan's 78-year history.

Munir is the nation's second army officer to be promoted to field marshal since 1947, when it won independence from the UK.

Former army chief and President Gen. Ayub Khan was conferred the rank in 1959.

Munir dedicated the honor to the "martyrs, armed forces and the people of Pakistan" as he thanked the government and people of Pakistan for their confidence.

The Cabinet also extended the term of Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar, according to a statement from Sharif's office.

The latest military escalation between India and Pakistan began on May 6, when New Delhi fired missiles inside Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, hitting what New Delhi said were "nine terror locations," triggering retaliation on May 10 by Islamabad, which hit 26 Indian military targets inside its eastern neighbor as well as in Indian-administered Kashmir.

But the US mediated a ceasefire between the two nuclear-armed neighbors. The two rival militaries last week decided to continue “confidence-building measures to reduce alertness level.”

Following the April 22 attack by unidentified gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir, which left 26 people dead and triggered the escalation, India unilaterally suspended the decades-old Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, which continues to remain in abeyance.