Pakistan Army

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Military of Pakistan

Military manpower
Military age	16 years of age
Availability	39,028,014 (2005)
Males ages	16-49
Reaching military age	males: 1,969,055 (2005)
Active troops	Ranked 7th)
Military expenditures
Dollar figure	.848 billion (2004)
Percent of GDP	4.9% (2004)
Pakistan Armed Forces
Pakistan Army
Pakistan Air Force
Pakistan Navy
Pakistan Coast Guard
Personnel
Military history
Military history of Pakistan
Related topics
Weapons of mass destruction
Nishan-E-Haider
Special Service Group
Inter-Services Intelligence

Pakistani Army (Urdu: پاک فوج) is the largest branch of the Military of Pakistan, and is responsible for protection of the state borders, the security of administered territories and defending the national interests of Pakistan within the framework of its international obligations. They must be able to achieve these goals both in nuclear war and conventional warfare.

The Pakistani Army is a well-trained and well-equipped military service and combined with the Navy and Air Force makes Pakistan's armed forces, the 8th largest military in the world.

The Army is modelled on the United Kingdom armed forces and came into existence after the independence in 1947. It has an active force of 550,000 personnel and Pakistan also has 513,000 men in reserve and they continue to serve until the age of 45.

The Pakistani Army is a complete volunteer force and has been involved in many conflicts with its neighbour to the East. Combined with this rich combat experience, the Army is also actively involved in contributing to United Nations peacekeeping efforts. Other foreign deployments have consisted of Pakistani Army personnel as advisors in many African, South Asian and Arab countries. In the latter case, Pakistani Army has maintained Division and brigade strength presence in some of the Arab countries during the past Arab-Israeli Wars, and the first Gulf War to help the Coalition.

The Pakistani Army is led by the Chief of Army Staff, who currently is Pervez Musharraf, who is also the President of Pakistan.

History of the Pakistani Army

''See main article: Military history of Pakistan.

Motto

The motto of the Pakistani Army reads: "Iman, Taqwa, Jihad fi Sabilillah". Translated into English, it means "Faith, Piety, Fight in the Way of Allah (The God)".

Combat Doctrine

Pakistani Army has espoused a doctrine of limited "offensive-defense" which it has tried to refine consistently ever since 1989 when it was pushed out to the formations during "Exercise Zarb-e-Momin". The main purpose of this strategy is to launch a sizeable offensive into enemy territory rather than wait to be hit from the enemy's offensive attack. The doctrine is based on the premise that while on the offensive, the enemy can be kept off-balance while allowing Pakistani Army to be able to seize enemy territory of strategic importance which can be used as a bargaining chip on the negotiating table. In order to do this, currently Pakistani Army maintains two sizeable strike Corps which will be backed up by holding Corps forming the defensive tier behind the strike corps. By pushing the offensive into the enemy territory, the Pakistani Army hopes to consolidate its gains inside the enemy's territory and will attempt to keep the war on the enemy side of the border rather than giving ground on the Pakistani side.

In the 1990s, the Army created a strong centralized corps of reserves for its formations in the critical semi-desert and desert sectors in southern Punjab and Sindh provinces. These new formations were rapidly equipped with assets needed for mechanized capability. These reserve formations are dual-capable, meaning they can be used for offensive as well as defensive (holding) purposes.

Pakistan, today has a 45 day reserve of ammunition and fuel as compared to only 13 days in 1965 and has fairly effective and efficient lines of communication and can fully mobilize its formations in less than 96 hours owing to the lack of depth in the country's North South axis.

Personnel Training

Enlisted Ranks

Most enlisted personnel come from rural families, and many have only rudimentary literacy skills and very limited awareness of the modern-day skills needed in a contemporary army. Recruits are processed gradually through a paternalistically run regimental training center, taught the official language, Urdu, if necessary, and given a period of elementary education before their military training actually starts.

In the thirty-six-week training period, they develop an attachment to the regiment they will remain with through much of their careers and begin to develop a sense of being a Pakistani rather than primarily a member of a tribe or a village. Enlisted men usually serve for fifteen years, during which they participate in regular training cycles and have the opportunity to take academic courses to help them advance.

Officer Ranks

About 320 men enter the army annually through the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul in Abbottabad in the North West Frontier Province; a small number--especially physicians and technical specialists--are directly recruited, and these persons are part of the heart of the officer corps. The product of a highly competitive selection process, members of the officer corps have completed twelve years of education and spend two years at the Pakistan Military Academy, with their time divided about equally between military training and academic work to bring them up to a baccalaureate education level, which includes English-language skills.

The army has twelve other training establishments, including schools concentrating on specific skills such as infantry, artillery, intelligence, or mountain warfare. A National University of Science and Technology has been established which has absorbed the existing colleges of engineering, signals, and electrical engineering. At the apex of the army training system is the Command and Staff College at Quetta, one of the few institutions inherited from the colonial period. The college offers a ten-month course in tactics, staff duties, administration, and command functions through the division level. Students from foreign countries, including the United States, have attended the school but reportedly have been critical of its narrow focus and failure to encourage speculative thinking or to give adequate attention to less glamorous subjects, such as logistics.

The senior training institution for all service branches is the National Defence College at Rawalpindi, which was established in 1978 to provide training in higher military strategy for senior officers. It also offers courses that allow civilians to explore the broader aspects of national security. In a program begun in the 1980s to upgrade the intellectual standards of the officer corps and increase awareness of the wider world, a small group of officers, has been detailed to academic training, achieving master's degrees and even doctorates at universities in Pakistan and abroad.

Pakistani officers were sent abroad during the 1950s and into the 1960s for training in Britain and other Commonwealth countries, and especially to the United States, where trainees numbering well in the hundreds attended a full range of institutions ranging from armored and infantry schools to the higher staff and command institutions. After 1961 this training was coordinated under the International Military Education and Training (IMET) program, but numbers varied along with vicissitudes in the United States-Pakistan military relationship. Of some 200 officers being sent abroad annually in the 1980s, over two-thirds went to the United States, but the cessation of United States aid in 1990 entailed suspension of the IMET program. In 1994 virtually all foreign training was in Commonwealth countries. However, after the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan again has begun sending officers to US Army schools.

Officers retire between the ages of fifty-two and sixty, depending on their rank.

Political power of the Army

The Pakistani army has always played an integral part of the Pakistan government and politics since its inception. It has virtually remained as the 3rd party that has seized power every now and then in the name of stabilizing Pakistan. The first of them was General Ayub Khan who came to power through a coup in 1958. Later, General Yahya Khan would assume power in 1969. After the 71 war the democratic setup was restored only to be cut short in 1977 after a coup which saw the end of another democratically elected Government and the Hanging of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the Pakistani Premier. General Zia ul-Haq ruled as a dictator virtually unopposed until his death in 1988. Despite the exit of the army from mainstream politics, the political muscle of the military was everpresent. The current President, General Pervez Musharraf, came to power in a bloodless coup in October 1999 overthrowing the last democratically elected government led by Nawaz Sharif. Musharraf has pledged to step down as Army chief in 2007 and hold democratic elections. Currently there is a democratically elected parliament, although the measure to which it has control over national affairs is suspect. On the provinical level however, there are fully functioning democratically elected legislatures. It remains to be seen whether or not Pakistan is meant to be democracy, with its history of divisive nationalisms.

Army's Role in Relief Operations and Economic Development

In times of natural disaster, such as the great floods of 1992 or the October 2005 devastating earthquake, army engineers, medical and logistics personnel, and the armed forces played a major role in bringing relief and supplies.

The army also engaged in extensive economic activities. Most of these enterprises, such as stud and dairy farms, were for the army's own use, but others performed functions beneficial to the local civilian economy. Army factories produced such goods as sugar, fertilizer, and brass castings and sold them to civilian consumers.

Several army organizations performed functions that were important to the civilian sector across the country. For example, the National Logistics Cell was responsible for trucking food and other goods across the country; the Frontier Works Organization built the Karakoram Highway to China; and the Special Communication Organization maintained communications networks in remote parts of Pakistan.

Women and Minorities in the Army

Women

Women have served in the Pakistani Army since its foundation. Currently, there is a sizable number of Women serving in the army. Most women are recruited in the regular Army to perform medical and educational work. There is also a Women's Guard section of Pakistan's National Guard where women are trained in nursing, welfare and clerical work and there are also women recruited in very limited numbers for the Janbaz Force. Only recently has Pakistan began to recruit women for combat positions and the Elite Anti-Terrorist Force recently graduated women candidates to be Sky Marshals for Pakistan based airlines. Pakistan is the only country in the Islamic world to have women Major Generals in the Army.

Minorities

Recruitment is nationwide and the army attempts to maintain an ethnic balance but most enlisted recruits, as in British times, come from a few districts in northern Punjab Province and the adjacent North West Frontier Province. Pakistan's Officer Corps are also mostly from Punjab and the North West Frontier Province and of middle-class, rural backgrounds.

This has caused some resentment to the other ethnic groups in Pakistan especially when the Army conducts operation in those areas where Punjabis are not a majority. The army has been criticized by the locals for lacking ethnic sensitivity. Efforts have been undertaken to recruit more ethnic groups such as Sindhis, Balochis and Pashtuns into the Pakistani Army. The first Sikh officer was recently inducted into the army and is expected to set the tone for future recruitment for minorities[link]. The army see itself as a national institution and thus many non-muslim officers (as well as Qadiyanis) have achieved high ranks within the army[link].

Organization

The Chief of the Army Staff (COAS), formerly called the Commander in Chief (C in C), is challenged with the responsibility of commanding the Pakistani Army. The COAS operates from army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. The Principal Staff Officers assisting him in his duties at the Lieutenant General level include a Chief of General Staff (CGS), who supervises the day to day running of the army, Director General Military Operations (DGMO), responsible for the overall operational planning; the Master General of Ordnance (MGO); the Quarter-Master General (QMG); the Adjutant General (AG); the Inspector General of Training and Evaluation (IGT&E); and the Military Secretary (MS). The headquarters function also includes the Chief of the Corps of Engineers (E in C), the Judge Advocate General (JAG), and the Comptroller of Civilian Personnel, all of whom report to the Chief of the Army Staff.

List of Chiefs of Army Staff

1. General Sir Frank Messervy (August 15 1947 - February 10 1948)
2. General Sir Douglas David Gracey (February 11 1948 - January 16 1951)
3. Field Marshal Ayub Khan (January 16 1951 - October 26 1958)
4. General Musa Khan (October 27 1958 - June 17 1966)
5. General Yahya Khan (June 18 1966 – December 20 1971)
6. General Gul Hassan (December 20 1971 - March 3 1972)
7. General Tikka Khan (March 3 1972 – March 1 1976)
8. General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (April 1 1976 - August 17 1988)
9. General Mirza Aslam Beg (August 17 1988 - August 16 1991)
10. General Asif Nawaz (August 16 1991 - January 8 1993)
11. General Wahid Kakar (January 8 1993 - December 1 1996)
12. General Jehangir Karamat (December 1 1996 - October 6 1998)
13. General Pervez Musharraf (October 7 1998 - Present)

Structure of Army Units

The Pakistani Army is divided into two main branches which are Arms and Services. Arms include infantry, artillery, armor, engineers, and communications and Services includes ordnance Corps, maintenance and repair Corps, electrical and mechanical engineering corps, education corps, military police corps, and the remount, veterinary, and farm corps.

Army Unit	Number of Units
Corps	9
Infantry Divisions	19
Artillery Divisions	1
Aviation Squadrons	17
2 Special forces Brigades with 5 Battalions	1
Armored Recce Regiment	3
Independent Mechanical Infantry Brigades	6
Independent Armoured brigades	7
Artillery Brigades	9
Air Defence Command with 3 Air Defence Groups, 8 AD Brigades	1
Engineer brigades	7
Armoured divisions	2

*Corps: A Corp in the Pakistani Army usually consists of two or more Divisions and is commanded by a lieutenant general. Currently the Pakistani Army has 9 Corps.

*Division: Each division is commanded by a major general, and usually holds three Brigades including infantry, artillery, engineers and communications units in addition to logistics (supply and service) support to sustain independent action. It, however, does not include any armoured units. Those are attached once the need arises. The most major of all ground force combat formations is the infantry division. Such a division would primarily hold three infantry brigades. There are 19 Infantry divisions, 2 Armored Divisions and 1 Artillery Division in the Pakistani Army.

*Brigade: A Brigade is under the command of a brigadier and comprises of three or more Regiments of different units depending on its functionality. An independent brigade would be one that primarily consists of an artillery unit, an infantry unit, an armour unit and logisitics to support its actions. Such a brigade is not part of any division and is under direct command of a corps.

*Regiment: Each regiment is commanded by a lieutenant colonel (in some cases a colonel) and has roughly 600 to 900 soldiers under his command. This number varies depending on the functionality of the regiment. A regiment comprises of either four batteries (in case of artillery and air defence regiments - generally named Papa, Quebec, Romeo, and Sierra) or four companies (in case of infantry regiments - generally named Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta - and other arms excluding armored units that are organized into squadrons) each under the command of a major and comprising of individual subunits called sections (which are further divisible into platoons and squads).

Corps

There are 9 Corps at various garrisons along with a Paramilitary Corp Command:

Corps	HQ Location	Major Formations under Corps	Commander
I Corps	Mangla, Punjab	6th Armored Division, 17th Infantry Division, 35th Infantry Division
II Corps	Multan, Punjab	1st Armored Division, 2nd Artillery Division, 40th Infantry Division
IV Corps	Lahore, Punjab	10th Infantry Division, 11th Infantry Division
V Corps	Karachi, Sindh	16th Infantry Division, 18th Infantry Division
X Corps	Rawalpindi, Punjab	12th Infantry Division, 19th Infantry Division, 23rd Infantry Division	Lieutenant General Syed Arif Hasan
XI Corps	Peshawar, North West Frontier Province	9th Infantry Division	Lieutenant General Ali Aurakzai
XII Corps	Quetta, Balochistan	41st Infantry Division
XXX Corps	Gujranwala, Punjab	8th Infantry Division, 15th Infantry Division	Lieutenant General Faiz Jilani
XXXI Corps	Bhawalpur, Punjab	33rd Infantry Division, 37th Infantry Division
Northern Area Command	Gilgit, Northern Areas	7th Infantry Division

*XI and XII Corps have both lost divisions to other Corps and as such have begun raising 2 more divisions to make them viable Corps. The new divisions are still being build up but as of yet, no name has been assigned to them.

Rank Structure and Uniform Insignia

Pakistani Officer Ranks
Rank	Field Marshal (5-Star)	General (4-Star)	Lieutenant General (3-Star)	Major General (2-Star)	Brigadier (1-Star)	Colonel	Lieutenant Colonel	Major	Captain	Lieutenant	2nd Lieutenant
NATO Equivalent	OF-10	OF-9	OF-8	OF-7	OF-6	OF-5	OF-4	OF-3	OF-2	OF-1	OF-1
Uniform Insignia

Pakistani Enlisted Ranks
Rank	Subedar Major	Subedar	Naib Subedar	Battalion Havildar Major	Battalion Quartermaster Havildar	Company Havildar Major	Company Quatermaster Havildar	Havildar	Naik	Lance Naik	Jawan
NATO Equivalent	None	None	None	OR-9	OR-8	OR-8	OR-7	OR-5/6	OR-4	OR-3	OR-1/2
Uniform Insignia											No Insignia

Special Forces

See main article: Pakistan Army's Special Forces for a detailed look at the Special Forces of the Pakistani Army.

Special Service Group or SSG is an Independent Commando unit of the Pakistani Army, the commander of which reports directly to the CoAS. It is an elite commando force similar to the American Green Berets. Official numbers are put at 2,100 men, in 3 Battalions; however the actual strength is classified and as of 2004 has been increased to 5 Battalions, with the formation of 2 Brigades of Special Forces (typically these two brigades will have a total of 6 Battalions).

Weapons and Equipment

Equipment	Number
Tanks	2350
APC	2200
Artillery Towed	1530
Artillery Self powered	400 (including 115 recently purchased m-109 a5)
MRLs	unknown
Mortars	unknown
SSM Launchers	122
Light SAM launchers	850
AA Guns	2250
Surface-to-surface missiles	300+
Anti-tank guided missile	2000+

Small Arms

• Heckler & Koch MP5 9 mm carbines and the Carbine 1A 9 mm sub-machine guns
• Machine Gun MG-3
• SMG PK, Type 1 & 2
• Automatic Rifle G-3, Types A3 & P4
• Anti Aircraft Machine Gun 12.7 mm, Type 54

*All Pakistani Small Arms are Indigenously Produced

Pakistan's version of the MBT2000- its Al-Khalid Tank during Desert Trials

• T85II AP: - Reportedly 600 in service with more on order.
• T-69: -Actively being phased out (being replaced by Al-khalid and Al-Zarrar)
• T-59: - Actively being phased out (being replaced by Al-khalid and Al-Zarrar)
• M-47/48s-Actively being phased out (being replaced by Al-khalid and Al-Zarrar)
• MBT 2000 Al-Khalid: - new generation tank being inducted into the Pakistan Army.
• Al-Zarar: - A substantial upgrade of the T-59 tank, bringing them more on par with the T-72.
• T-80UD/T-84: - 320 confirmed in service with another 300 reportedly ordered or in service.
• Al Khalid II Main Battle Tank: - Reportedly under development, it will replace Al Zarrar and T-59 tanks from 2012. Assumed to be on par with the Chinese T-99 MBT.

**M-47/48s, T-59 Tanks are being replaced with Pakistan's Al-Zarar T-59 upgrade, a tripartite venture between Norinco of China, Ukraine's KMDB tank bureau which are handling the bulk of design and development and Pakistan, whose requirements the tank addresses. M4 Sherman tanks were historically important in Pakistani military history but are no longer in service.

Armored Personnel Carriers

• M113s (Pakistan has bought 730 more)
• BTR 70s
• UR 416M
• Al-Qaswa Logistic Vehicle
• Scorpion
• Al-Talha (Pakistan currently operates 400 of these machines and expects to operate 2000 Al-Talha's by 2010)

*Al-Talha APC are upgraded versions of M113 and are currently being manufactured at Heavy Industries Taxila

Artillery

Towed

• T-56 85 mm
• M-101 105 mm
• M-56 105 mm
• T-60 122 mm
• T-54 122 mm
• T-59I 130 mm
• M-59 155 mm
• M-114 155 mm
• M-198 155 mm
• M-115 203 mm

Self Propelled

• M-7 105 mm
• M109A2 155 mm
• M110A2 203 mm
• M109A5 155 mm

Mortars

• (Type) 81 mm
• AM- 50 & M- 61 Series 120 mm
• Type 63-1

Multiple Rocket System

• T-83 Azar 122 mm
• T-81 107 mm

*T-83 Azar MRS is Indigenously produced in Pakistan

Anti Tank Guided Weapons

• Milan ATGM
• TOW ATGM
• TOW II (recently procured)
• Bakter-Shikan ATGM

Army Aviation

• AH-1 COBRA Gunships (60-80)
• Mi-8s
• French Alloute IIIs
• PUMAs
• Mi-17s
• UH-1s
• Bell-47
• Cassena O-1Es.

Army Air Defence

• AA guns ZU-23/33 30, 36, 37 mm
• SAMs CROTALEs
• RBS-70
• SAM-7
• Stinger Missiles
• Redeye
• Anza mk II.

Missiles

• Hatf-I
• Hatf-II (Abdali-I)
• Hatf-III (Ghaznavi)
• M-11
• Hatf-V (Ghauri I)
• Hatf-V (Ghauri II)
• Ghauri III
• Shaheen I
• Shaheen II
• Shaheen III

Notes

References

• Indian Army
• Jane's Defence Weekly
• BBC News

External links

• [Unofficial Pakistan defence site]
• [Global Security]
• [Pakistan Army details]
• All About Pakistani Defence [link]

Military of Pakistan
Pakistan Army | Pakistan Navy | Pakistan Air Force

• [Website on the Pakistani Army by PakMilitary.net]

 

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