General Headquarters
Part of Joint Staff Headquarters
Chaklala, Rawalpindi, Punjab in Pakistan
General Headquarters is located in Punjab, Pakistan
General Headquarters
General Headquarters
General Headquarters is located in Pakistan
General Headquarters
General Headquarters
Coordinates33°36′N 73°02′E / 33.600°N 73.033°E / 33.600; 73.033
TypeHQ
Site information
OwnerMinistry of Defense (MoD)
OperatorSecretariat-I Army
Controlled byChief of the General Staff
Open to
the public
No
WebsiteFacebook
Site history
Built1851 (1851)
(By British Army in India)
Built forNational Army HQ of Pakistan Armed Forces
Built byCorps of Engineers
(Construction and expansion since 1947)
Garrison information
Current
commander
Lt-Gen. Avais Dastgir
DesignationsArmy GHQ[1]
John Kerry, then-Secretary of State, at the pavilion of the Army GHQ in 2015.

The General Headquarters (Reporting name: Army GHQ:230[2][3][4]) is a direct reporting and a general command post of the Pakistan Army, located in the Chaklala at the vicinity of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ).[5]

History

In 1851, the British Army in India made an permanent headquarter in Rawalpindi when Marquess of Dalhousie decided to stationed the 53rd Infantry Regiment to protect India from Afghan intervention.[6] In 1854, Robert Milman from the Diocese of Calcutta had built the city's first Garrison Church and a telegraph office.:189[7][6] It is also the site where Robert Milman is buried following his death in Rawalpindi in 1876.[6]

On 14 August 1947, General Frank Messervy decided to establish the army headquarters of the Pakistan Army at the Rawalpindi, which was also the headquarter of the Northern Command of the former British Indian Army; Gen. Messervy established it as "Army GHQ", which he derived from GHQ India.[6][8][9] The Army's GHQ was viewed as a temporary post in Rawalpindi since its where Gen. Messervy was based in.:51[10] Since its establishment, the Army GHQ in Rawalpindi has faced many problems in civil–military relations context and criticism at broader level since the nation's capital was based in Karachi in past, and now in Islamabad.:51[10]:75[11] Until 2006, the Army GHQ's command post was based in Rawalpindi but later moved to Chaklala, near the vicinities of the PAF Base Chaklala and the JS HQ military headquarters.[10]

Since 2017, the Pakistan Army has been slowly moving its headquarters to nation's capital, Islamabad to be able to merge with the air force and the navy.[12]

Gates

Gates Purpose Road
Gate No 1 General
Gate No 2 Exclusively reserved for service/ ex service men
Gate No 3 Exclusively reserved for families/ families of martyrs
Gate No 4 Exclusively reserved for politicians/ bureaucrats
Gate No 5 Exclusively reserved for foreign dignatries
Gate No 6 Exclusively reserved for patients visiting CMH/Army Museum
Gate No 7 General

Secretariat

The Pakistan Army's GHQ is a command post of the Pakistan Army where the secretariat of the Chief of the Army Staff functions to ensure the ceremonial and operational command of the army.:47[10]

There are ten branches of the Pakistan Army that are headed by the lieutenant-generals and multiple administrative corps that are commanded by the director-generals who are ranked at the major-general.:47[10] Each of the army's branches and the director-generals of the administrative corps works under the Chief of the General Staff (CGS).[13] The chief of general staff, who usually heads the Army GHQ Staff, reports directly to chief of army staff on daily routine basis.[13]

Branches of the Pakistan Army

There are ten branches of the Pakistan Army that are headed by the lieutenant-generals and multiple administrative corps that are commanded by the director-generals who are ranked at the major-general.:47[10]

The Chief of Army Staff Secretariat is not considered as apart of the army branch but functions separately as an office of the chief of army staff.:47[10]

Branches at the Army GHQ
Chief of Army Staff Secretariat

Personal Secretary COAS

Director-General Staff Duties

Director-General Perspective Planning Cell

(COAS Secy.)
General Staff Branch

Dte. of Military Operations

Corps of Military Intelligence

Dte. Inspection and Technical Development

Dte. Organization and Methods

DG Defense Security Force

Dte. Weapons and Equipment

(GS Brnch.)
Logistics Branch

Dte. of Logistics

National Logistics Corp

Army Service Corps

Dte. of Budget and Banking

Corps of EME

Aviation Corps

MGO of Ordnance Corps

(Log. Brnch.)
Arms Branch

Infantry Brnch.

Armored Corps

Artillery

Air Defence Corps

Engineers

Army Aviation Corps

(Arms Brnch.)
AdjutantGeneral Branch

JAG Brnch.

Welfare and Rehabilitation

Military Accounts Brnch.

Dte. Housing

Dte. Personal Service

Provost Marshal-General of MP

DG of Army National Guards

DG of Strategic Projects

Comptroller-General of Civilians

Dte. Procurement-Army (P-A)

Dte. Personal Administration (PA)

(AG Brnch.)
Military Secretary Branch

Military Secretary

(MS Brnch.)
Training and Evaluation Branch

Dte. of Human Resource Development

DG of Corps of Education

Pres. of National Defence University

Cmdt. of Military Academy

DG of Institute of Military History

Cmdt. of Command and Staff College

DG of Physical and Sports

Dir. of Band

(T&E Brnch.)
QuartermasterGeneral Branch

DG of Cantonments

DG of Military Lands and Cantonments

DG of Corps of Remount Veterinary and Farms

Pres. of Welfare Trust

(QMG Brnch.)
Engineer-in-Chief Branch

DG of Frontier Works Organization

Military Engineering Service

Corps of Engineers

Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering

Surveyor-General of Mapping Services

(E-in-C Brnch.)
Communication and Information Technology Branch

DG of Corps of Signals

Dte. of Command, Control, Communication, Computer and Intelligence

Dte. of Cyber Operations

DG of Special Communications Organization

(C&IT Brnch.)
SurgeonGeneral Branch

Medical Corps

DG of Nursing Corps

IG of Combined Military Hospitals

DG of Medical Services (Inter-Services)

DG of Medical Services, Azad Kashmir

DG of Medical Services, (Navy)

(SG Brnch.)
(Source: More citations needed)
Source:

Security

Incidents, breaches, and relocation efforts

The Military Police (red beret and white belt) guarding the official vehicle used by the chief of army staff, ca. 2006.

In 1970s, the Army's GHQ became a focal point of massive arrests and incidents of military police's baton charge on protestors when politicians Sheikh Mujibur Rahman (in 1970) and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (in 1977) were taken in the custody.:115[14]

Due to being a significant command post of the army, the Taliban insurgents have repeatedly carried series of violent terrorist attacks at the premises of the GHQ, with first attack reported in 2007.[1]

To prevent the Taliban's repeated infiltration and to address the issue of increase security, the Army's GHQ (together with JS HQ) has been slowly moving its command infrastructure to Islamabad to integrate with the navy and air force's headquarters that are located in much safer zones of Islamabad, the nation's capital, since 2017.[15]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Abbas, Hassan (October 11, 2009). "Deciphering the attack on Pakistan's Army headquarters". Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy. Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  2. Nawaz, Shuja (2008). Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within. Karachi, Sind, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. p. 655. ISBN 978-0-19-547660-6. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  3. Alam, Shah (2012). Pakistan Army: Modernisation, Arms Procurement, and Capacity Building. Vij Books India. ISBN 978-93-81411-20-9. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. "General Headquarters (Army)". www.ppra.org.pk. Public Procurement Regulatory Authority. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  5. "What an Indian saw inside the Pakistan Army headquarters". Quartz. December 7, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 L. P. Sen (1 January 1994). Slender Was the Thread. South Asia Books. p. 26. ISBN 978-0861316922. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  7. Cloughley, Brian (2000). A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections. Oxford University Press: Oxford University Press. p. 435. ISBN 978-0-19-579374-1. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  8. Shreenivas Kumar Sinha (1992). A soldier recalls. Spantech & Lancer. p. 86. ISBN 978-8170621614. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
  9. Eqbal Ahmad; Noam Chomsky; Carollee Bengelsdorf; Margaret Cerullo (13 June 2006). The Selected Writings of Eqbal Ahmad (1st ed.). Columbia University Press. p. 592. ISBN 978-0231127110. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cheema, Pervaiz Iqbal (2002). The Armed Forces of Pakistan. NYU Press. ISBN 978-0-8147-1633-5. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  11. Nawaz, Shuja (2008). Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-547660-6. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  12. Kashif Abbasi (2017-12-27). "Army to be allotted over 1,000 acres for new GHQ, other offices". Dawn Media Group. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  13. 1 2 Alam, Dr Shah (1 July 2012). Pakistan Army: Modernisation, Arms Procurement and Capacity Building. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-93-81411-79-7. Retrieved 31 December 2023.
  14. Khan, Gohar Ayub (2007). Glimpses Into the Corridors of Power. University of Karachi, Sind, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. p. 354. ISBN 978-0-19-547354-4. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  15. "Pakistan Army to get over 1,000 acres for new General Headquarters". The Economic Times. 27 December 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  • Cloughley, Brian (2000). A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections. Oxford University Press: Oxford University Press. p. 435. ISBN 978-0-19-579374-1. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  • Nawaz, Shuja (2008). Crossed Swords: Pakistan, Its Army, and the Wars Within. Karachi, Sind, Pakistan: Oxford University Press. p. 655. ISBN 978-0-19-547660-6. Retrieved 30 December 2023.
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