Structure of the Pakistan Army
| Pakistan Army |
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| Leadership |
| Organisation and components |
| Installations |
| Personnel |
| Equipment |
| History and traditions |
| Awards, decorations and badges |
The structure of the Pakistan Army is based on two distinct themes: operational and administrative. Operationally the Pakistan Army is divided into nine corps and three corps-level formations with areas of responsibility (AOR) ranging from the mountainous regions of the north to the desert and coastal regions of the south. Administratively it is divided in several regiments (details below). The General Headquarters (GHQ) of the Army is located in Rawalpindi in Punjab province. It is planned to be moved to the capital city of Islamabad nearby.
Army headquarters and staff
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The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), formerly called the Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C of the Pakistan Army), is challenged with the responsibility of commanding the Pakistan Army. The COAS operates from army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. The Principal Staff Officers (PSO's) assisting him in his duties at the lieutenant general level include:
| Post | Name |
|---|---|
| Chief of Army Staff (COAS), GHQ. | General Asim Munir |
| Chief of General Staff (CGS) | Lieutenant General Avais Dastgir |
| Chief of Logistics Staff (CLS) | Lieutenant General Inayat Hussain |
| Inspector General Arms (IG Arms) | Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ahmed |
| Adjutant General (AG) | Lieutenant General Muhammad Asim Malik |
| Quarter Master General (QMG) | Lieutenant General Muhammad Ali |
| Military Secretary (MS) | Lieutenant General Amer Ahsan Nawaz |
| Master-General of Ordnance (MGO) | TBA |
| Inspector General Training & Evaluation (IG T&E) | Lieutenant General Fayyaz Hussain Shah |
| Inspector General Communications and Information Technology (IG C&IT) | Lieutenant General Muhammad Aqeel |
| Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C) | Lieutenant General Kashif Nazir |
The Military Operations and Intelligence Directorates function under the Chief of General Staff (CGS). A major reorganization in GHQ was done in September 2008 under General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, when two new PSO positions were introduced: the Inspector General Arms and the Inspector General Communications and IT, thus raising the number of PSO's to eight.[1]
The headquarters function also includes the Judge Advocate General (JAG), and the Controller of Civilian Personnel, the Chief of the Corps of Engineers (E-in-C) who is also head of Military Engineering Service (MES), all of them also report to the Chief of the Army Staff.
Operational structure
[edit]Hierarchy
[edit]| Order | Organization | Typical Commander | (NATO) OFC-Star | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Chief of Army Staff | This post is held by the senior most and an experienced army officer, although the Chief of Army doesn't directly command but it has significant importance, the role of Chief of Army is to ensure the command of the whole of national army that includes:
|
General |  |
| 2. | Corps | A corps usually comprises two or more divisions. | Lieutenant General |  |
| 3. | Division | A division usually comprises three brigades including infantry, artillery, and engineers. Each division also has one or more armoured brigades, except mountain divisions. There are nineteen Infantry divisions, one Special Security Division, two mechanised divisions, two armoured divisions, one division-sized formation called Force Command Northern Areas, one engineer division, three artillery divisions (two are believed to possess ballistic missiles). | Major General |  |
| 4. | Brigade |
A brigade usually comprises three or more battalions of different types and is commanded by a brigadier. Some brigades are independent of divisions and report either to Corps HQ or Army HQ (e.g. 111 Bde). The independent brigades include seven mechanised infantry brigades, eight armoured brigades, four artillery brigades, and nine engineer brigades:
|
Brigadier |  |
| 5. | Regiment | The only active operations regiments (as opposed to administrative regiments) are training regiments. Colonels don't exercise command appointments except training commands, staff appointments, brigade executive officers and a few administrative establishment commands. | Colonel | No Star |
| 6. | Battalion | A battalion has about 600–900 soldiers and is commanded by a lieutenant colonel. This number varies depending on the type of subunits of the battalion. A battalion comprises either three batteries (artillery or air defence) or four companies (infantry) or three squadrons (armoured). | Lieutenant Colonel | |
| 7. | Company | Headed by the major/captain, a company comprises about 120–150 soldiers. | Major - | |
| 8. | Platoon | An intermediate between a company and section, a platoon is headed by a lieutenant or, depending on the availability of commissioned officers, a junior commissioned officer, with the rank of subedar major. It has a total strength of about 30–36 troops. | Subedar major | |
| 9. | Section | Smallest military outfit, with a strength of about 9–13 personnel. Commanded by a non-commissioned officer of the rank of subedar, depending upon the working conditions of the section. | Subedar - Naib Subedar | |
Indicates staff and higher command positions and offices
Indicates common command positions
Corps
[edit]There are nine corps (each including an independent signals brigade) and three corps-level formations (Air Defence, Aviation and Strategic Forces).
| Logo/War flag | Corps | HQ Location | Current Commander | Major Corps Formations |
|---|---|---|---|---|
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I Corps[a] | Mangla, Azad Kashmir | Lieutenant General Nauman Zakaria |
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| II Corps[b] | Multan, Punjab | Lieutenant General Akhtar Nawaz Satti | ||
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IV Corps[c] | Lahore, Punjab | Lieutenant General Syed Aamer Raza |
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V Corps[d] | Karachi, Sindh | Lieutenant General Babar Iftikhar | |
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X Corps[e] | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Lieutenant General Shahid Imtiaz |
|
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XI Corps[f] | Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | Lieutenant General Syed Omer Ahmed Bokhari |
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| XII Corps[g] | Quetta, Balochistan | Lieutenant General Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan | ||
| XXX Corps[h] | Gujranwala, Punjab | Lieutenant General Syed Imdad Hussain Shah |
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| XXXI Corps[i] | Bahawalpur, Punjab | Lieutenant General Saqib Mehmood Malik |
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| Air Defence[j] | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Lieutenant General Muhammad Zafar Iqbal | ||
| Strategic Forces | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Lieutenant General Shehbaz Khan |
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| Aviation[k] | Rawalpindi, Punjab | Major General Nadeem Yousaf |
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Regional formations
[edit]In Pakistani military terminology, the regional commands are the temporary military formations that are structure based upon the conventional corps, and troop rotations are constant and varies based on the Pakistani war strategists' calculations.: 309 [2] The regional commands are led by the three-star rank general officer whose staff includes numbers of general officers.: 309 [2]
In past, the Eastern Command was organized at a corps-level conventional formation in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh), consisting of the 9th Infantry Division, 14th Infantry Division, and 16th Infantry Division. These divisions are still active duty with their respected Regiments. To further support the Eastern Command, the 36th Adhoc Division and 39th Adhoc Division were commissioned to support the paramilitary units and police; and subsequently decommissioned after Eastern Command was de-activated.
To address the challenges and issues faced by the Cold Start strategy of Indian Army, the army formed regional commands to protect the North—South regions by establishing the first the Southern Command in 1999 and later the Northern Command in 2008.: 310 Other active regional formations includes the Army Strategic Forces Command and the Army Air Defence Command that serves as a platform of missile defense.: 311
Regional formational commands
- Eastern Command (1960-1971)
- Northern Command (2008–Present)
- Southern Command (1999–Present)
- Army Strategic Forces Command (2002–Present)
- Army Air Defence Command (1999–Present)
- Army Cyber Command (2022–Present)[3]
Administrative structure
[edit]The Pakistan Army is organised in two main ways, which are Arms and Services.
Regiments
[edit]
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Regiment
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Administrative Services
[edit]- Pakistan Army Medical Corps
- Service Corps (ASC)
- Military Police (MP)
- Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME)
- Education (AEC)
- Remount Veterinary and Farms (RVFC)
- Ordnance (ORD)
- Military Intelligence (MI)
Notes
[edit]- ^ Formed in 1958 in Abbottabad, now based in Mangla; Fought in the 1965 and 1971 wars, as well as sent replacements to Kashmir for LOC.
- ^ Formed in 1968 in Lahore, transferred to Multan in 1969.
- ^ Formed in 1965 in Multan, transferred to Lahore in 1969.
- ^ Formed in 1975. 16, 18 IDs are all mechanized. Has a lot of independent Brigades as well, since it has all of Sindh to cover.
- ^ Raised in 1975 by Lt. Gen. Aftab Ahmad Khan
- ^ Formed in 1975. Presently engaged in fighting in the former Federally Administered Tribal Areas
- ^ Formed in 1985.
- ^ Formed in 1987. Each division has 4 brigades and an armoured division is in the process of raising.
- ^ Formed in 1988.
- ^ Formed in 1990.
- ^ Formed in 1977.
- ^ The Azad Kashmir Regiment was raised in 1947, became part of the army in 1971.
- ^ The Punjab Regiment formed in 1956 from the 1st, 14th, 15th and 16th Punjab Regiments; can be traced back to the 3rd Battalion of Coast Sepoys raised in 1759.
- ^ The Sindh Regiment was raised in 1980 from battalions of the Punjab Regiment and Baloch Regiment.
- ^ The Baloch Regiment formed in 1956 from the 8th Punjab Regiment, The 10th Baloch Regiment, and The Bahawalpur Regiment; can be traced back to the 3rd Madras Battalion raised in 1798.
- ^ The Frontier Force Regiment is the successor to the Frontier Brigade raised in 1846.
- ^ The Northern Light Infantry was formed in 1977 from various paramilitary units of scouts, became part of the army in 1999 after the Kargil War.
- ^ The Special Service Group was formed in 1959 around a cadre from the Baloch Regiment.
- ^ The President's Bodyguard formed at independence from members of the Governor General's Bodyguard, itself successor to the Governor's Troop of Moghals raised in 1773.
- ^ Guides Cavalry is the successor to the Corps of Guides raised in 1846.
- ^ 5th Horse is the successor to the 1st Sikh Irregular Cavalry (Wales's Horse), and the 2nd Sikh Irregular Cavalry, both raised in 1857.
- ^ 6th Lancers is the successor to The Rohilkhand Horse raised in 1857, and the 4th Sikh Irregular Cavalry raised in 1858.
- ^ 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force) is the successor to 1st Regiment of Punjab Cavalry and 3rd Regiment of Punjab Cavalry, both raised in 1849.
- ^ 13th Lancers is the successor to the 1st Native Troop raised in 1804, and the 2nd Native Troop raised in 1816. It is also the senior most armour regiment of the Indian Sub-Continent.
- ^ 19th Lancers is the successor to the 2nd Mahratta Horse (Tiwana Horse) raised in 1858, and Fane's Horse raised in 1860.
- ^ 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force) is the famous unit which stopped Indian armour thrust in Chawinda in 1965.
- ^ 29th Cavalry Regiment, nicknamed as 'Royal Bengal Tigers' was the armored regiment stationed in former East Pakistan. Entire regiment was lost in 1971 war and was raised later with nickname 'Tigers'. Currently the regiment forms part of 6th Armored Division and is stationed at Kharian.
- ^ Raised 1 November 2014.
References
[edit]- ^ Iftikhar A. Khan. "Kayani shakes up army command" Dawn, 30 September 2008
- ^ a b Nawaz, Shuja (10 April 2020). The Battle for Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship and a Tough Neighbourhood. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-4205-9. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ "Firepower, cyber have emerged as mainstay of future war: COAS". 5 August 2022.