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Pakistan
Army and Paramilitary Forces
The key holder of power in the armed forces and, along with the
president and the prime minister, one of the triumvirate that
runs the country is the chief of the army staff (COAS)--formerly
called the commander in chief. In 1994 this post was held by General
Abdul Waheed. The COAS operates from army headquarters in Rawalpindi,
near Islamabad. From this position, both Ayub Khan and Zia seized
power. Other senior staff positions, at the lieutenant general
level, include a chief of general staff, who supervises army intelligence
and operations; the master general of ordnance; the quartermaster
general; the adjutant general; the inspector general for evaluation
and training; and the military secretary. The headquarters function
also includes the chief of the Corps of Engineers, the judge advocate
general, and the comptroller of civilian personnel, all of whom
report to the vice chief of the army staff.
The army is organized into nine corps: First Corps at Mangla;
Second Corps at Multan; Fourth Corps at Lahore; Fifth Corps at
Karachi; Tenth Corps at Rawalpindi; Eleventh Corps at Peshawar;
Twelfth Corps at Quetta; Thirtieth Corps at Gujranwala; and Thirty-first
Corps at Bahawalpur. There is also the Northern Area Command,
headquartered at Gilgit, directly responsible to army general
headquarters.
Active army strength in 1994 was 520,000. In addition, there
were 300,000 reserve personnel. Reserve status lasted for eight
years after leaving active service or until age forty-five for
enlisted men and age fifty for officers.
In 1994 major weapons included nearly 2,000 tanks (mainly Chinese
but also 120 M-47s and 280 M-48A5s of United States origin), 820
M-113 armored personnel carriers, 1,566 towed artillery pieces,
240 self-propelled artillery pieces, 45 multiple rocket launchers,
725 mortars, 800 Cobra, TOW, and Green Arrow antitank guided weapons,
eighteen Hatf surface-to-surface missiles, 2,000 air defense guns,
and 350 Stinger and Redeye missiles and 500 Anza surface-to-air
missiles. The army's combat aircraft inventory consisted of twenty
AH-1F airplanes equipped with TOW missiles (see table 14, Appendix).
Paramilitary organizations, which were mainly of symbolic importance,
included the 185,000-member National Guard, comprising the Janbaz
Force--locally recruited militia mainly charged with air defense--and
two programs similar to the United States Reserve Officers Training
Corps, the National Cadet Corps and the Women Guard. The Women
Guard, unlike the National Cadet Corps, included individuals trained
in nursing, welfare, and clerical work. There were also some women
in the Janbaz Force, and a very small number of women were recruited
into the regular service in limited numbers to perform medical
and educational work.
Paramilitary internal security forces were organized on the provincial
level but were subordinate to the Ministry of Interior and were
commanded by seconded army generals. These forces were in effect
an extension of the army for internal security duties. The Pakistan
Rangers, headquartered in Lahore, dealt with unrest in Punjab,
while the Mehran Force performed similar functions in Sindh. In
1994 their strengths were 25,000 and 24,000, respectively, divided
into "wings" of approximately 800 men each. The Frontier Corps,
with a strength of 65,000, was based in Peshawar and Quetta with
responsibility for the North-West Frontier Province and Balochistan.
The corps was responsible to both the Ministry of States and Frontier
Regions and to army headquarters. The corps was divided into twenty-seven
local units--fourteen in the North-West Frontier Province and
thirteen in Balochistan--and included the Chitral Scouts, the
Khyber Rifles, the Kurram Militia, the Tochi Scouts, the South
Waziristan Scouts, the Zhob Militia, and the Gilgit Scouts. There
was also a Coast Guard, subordinate to the Ministry of Interior
and staffed by army personnel.
In times of natural disaster, such as the great floods of 1992,
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.
Data as of April 1994
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