General Headquarters (Pakistan Army)

Direct reporting post of the Pakistan Army.

General Headquarters

Part of Joint Staff Headquarters
Chaklala, Rawalpindi, Punjab in Pakistan

General Headquarters

Show map of Punjab, Pakistan

General Headquarters

Show map of Pakistan

Coordinates| 33°36′N 73°02′E﻿ / ﻿33.600°N 73.033°E﻿ / 33.600; 73.033
Type| HQ
Site information
Owner| Ministry of Defense (MoD)
Operator| Secretariat-I Army
Controlled by| Chief of the General Staff
Open to
the public| No
Website| Facebook
Site history
Built| 1851; 173 years ago (1851)
(By British Indian Army)
Built for| National Army HQ of Pakistan Armed Forces
Built by| Corps of Engineers
(Construction and expansion since 1947)
Garrison information
Current
commander| Lt-Gen. Avais Dastgir
Designations| Army GHQ[1]
John Kerry, then-Secretary of State, at the pavilion of the Army GHQ in 2015.

The General Headquarters (abbreviated Army GHQ: 230 [2][3][4]) is the direct reporting and the 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

[edit]

Main article: Second Anglo-Afghan War

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, Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army 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 "GHQ Pakistan", 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

[edit]

| Gates  | Purpose  | Road

|
|
|

| Gate No 1  | General  |
| Gate No 2  | Exclusively reserved for service/ex-service personnels  |
| 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

[edit]

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

[edit]

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 a part of the army branch but functions separately as an office of the chief of army staff.: 47 [10]

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "General Headquarters" Pakistan Army – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

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  |

|  |

Vice-CGS(A)

|

Vice-CGS(B)

DG Inter Services Intelligence

DG Military Operations

DG Military Intelligence

DG Inspection and Technical Development

DG Organization and Methods

DG Defense Security Force

DG Weapons and Equipment

(GS Brnch.)

Logistics Branch  |

|  |

Vice-CLS(A)

|

Vice-CLS(B)

Dte. of Logistics

Dte. National Logistics Corporation

Army Service Corps

Dte. of Budget and Banking

Corps of EME

Aviation Corps

MGO of Ordnance Corps

DG Supply & Transport

(Log. Brnch.)

Arms Branch  |

|  |

Infantry Brnch.

|

Armored Corps

Artillery

Air Defence Corps

Engineers

Army Aviation Corps

(Arms Brnch.)

Adjutant‑General 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

DG of Band

DG Federal Government Educational Institutes

(T&E Brnch.)

Quartermaster‑General Branch  |

|  |

Deputy Quartermaster-General

|

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  |

|  |

Deputy Inspector General Communication & IT

|

Signal Officer in Chief

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.)

Surgeon‑General Branch  |

|  |

Medical Corps

|

DG Medicine

DG Surgery

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:

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "General Headquarters" Pakistan Army – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (January 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

|

## Security

[edit]

### Incidents, breaches, and relocation efforts

[edit]

The Military Police (red beret and white belt) guarding the official vehicle used by Gen. Pervez Musharraf

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 into custody.: 115 [14]

The Pakistani Taliban have repeatedly attacked the headquarters. The first attack took place in 2007.[1] Others followed in 2008, resulting in Operation Janbaz; the 2008 Lal Masjid bombing; the December 2009 Rawalpindi attack; and the 2014 Rawalpindi suicide bombing.

To prevent the Taliban's repeated infiltration and to address the issue of increase security, the headquarters, together with Joint Staff Headquarters, has been slowly moving to Islamabad to integrate with the navy and air force's headquarters that are located in much safer zones of Islamabad, since 2017.[15]

## See also

[edit]

* Joint Staff Headquarters (Pakistan)
* Air Headquarters (Pakistan Air Force)
* Naval Headquarters (Pakistan Navy)
* Pakistan Armed Forces
* Operation Janbaz

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d L. P. Sen (1 January 1994). Slender Was the Thread. South Asia Books. p. 26\. ISBN 978-0861316922. Retrieved 26 April 2012.[permanent dead link‍]
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. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b 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.

## Further reading

[edit]

* 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.

* v
* t
* e

Military headquarters in Pakistan

* Joint Staff HQ
* Army
* Navy
* Air Force

Pakistan Armed Forces

* v
* t
* e

Pakistan Army

Leadership|

* Commander-in-Chief
* President of Pakistan
* Chief Executive
* Prime Minister of Pakistan
* Parliament
* Senate Committee on Defence
* National Assembly Committee on Defence
* Cabinet Committee on National Security

| Ministries|

* Defence
* Secretary
* Defence Production

|

General Headquarters|

* Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
* Chief of Army Staff
* Chief of General Staff
* Surgeon-General
* Master-General of Ordnance
* Adjutant-General
* Engineer-in-Chief
* Surveyor-General
* Accountant-General
* Judge Advocate General
* Comptroller-General
* Quartermaster-General
* Serving Generals

Combat commands|

| Field corps|

* I Corps
* II Corps
* IV Corps
* V Corps
* X Corps
* XI Corps
* XII Corps
* XXX Corps
* XXXI Corps

|

Corps-level formations|

* Air Defence
* Strategic Forces
* Southern
* Northern
* Eastern (historical)

Special Forces|

* Army Special Services Group (SSG)
* Light Commando Battalion (LCB)
* Special Security Division (SSD)

Reserves|

* Pakistan Army Reserve
* North
* South

Administrative arms|

| Infantry regiments|

* Azad Kashmir
* Baloch
* Frontier Force
* Northern Light Infantry
* Punjab
* Sindh

|

Administrative corps|

* Armoured
* Artillery
* Air Defence
* Chaplains
* Aviation
* Dental
* Education
* Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
* Engineers
* Medical
* Military Intelligence
* Military Police
* Nursing
* Ordnance
* Remount, Veterinary and Farms
* Service Corps
* Signals

Paramilitary|

* Civil Armed Forces
* National Guard

Affiliated
organisations|

* Army Welfare Trust
* CSD Pakistan
* Frontier Works Organization
* National Logistics Cell
* Special Communications Organization

| Defence Housing Authority|

* DHA Karachi
* DHA Islamabad
* DHA Lahore

|

Fauji Foundation|

* Fauji Foods
* Askari Bank
* Fauji Fertilizer Company
* Mari Petroleum

Sports|

* Army Basketball
* Army F.C.

Education
and
Training|

| Service training|

* Pakistan Military Academy
* Parachute Training School

|

Foundation University Islamabad|

* Foundation University Medical College

National Defence University|

* Command and Staff College

National University of
Medical Sciences|

* Army Medical College
* Armed Forces Post Graduate Medical Institute
* CMH Lahore Medical And Dental College
* Wah Medical College

National University of
Sciences and Technology|

* College of Electrical & Mechanical Engineering
* Military College of Engineering
* Military College of Signals
* Pakistan Navy Engineering College
* College of Aeronautical Engineering

Other universities|

* DHA Suffa University
* HITEC University
* Lahore Garrison University
* National University of Modern Languages
* National University of Technology
* Northern University
* University of Wah
* Army Public College of Management Sciences

Preparatory colleges|

* Army Burn Hall College
* Army Public Schools and Colleges
* Cadet Colleges
* Military College Jhelum
* Military College Murree
* Military College Sui

Literature and culture|

| Books|

* A Case of Exploding Mangoes
* Crossed Swords
* The Battle for Pakistan
* Military Inc.

|

Dramatization|

* Alpha Bravo Charlie
* Burning Valley
* Private Maqbool Hussain
* Ehd-e-Wafa
* Sinf-e-Aahan

Films|

* The Glorious Resolve
* Waar
* Waar-II
* Independence
* Delta Echo Foxtrot
* Wilco

Related|

* Army Museum
* Army Institute of Military History
* Equipment
* Awards and decorations
* Women in the Pakistan Armed Forces
* Criticism of the Pakistan Armed Forces
* Defence Industry
* Cantonments
* The Establishment (Pakistan)

Category:Pakistan Army

* v
* t
* e

Cantonments of Pakistan Army

Punjab|

* Attock
* Bahawalpur
* Chaklala
* Gujranwala
* Jhelum
* Kamra
* Kharian
* Lahore
* Mangla
* Multan
* Murree Gali
* Murree Hills
* Okara
* Rawalpindi
* Sanjwal
* Sargodha
* Shorkot
* Sialkot
* Taxila
* Wah
* Walton

Sindh|

* Clifton
* Faisal
* Hyderabad
* Karachi
* Korangi Creek
* Malir
* Manora
* Pano Aqil

Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa|

* Abbottabad
* Bannu
* Dera Ismail Khan
* Havelian
* Kohat
* Mardan
* Nowshera
* Peshawar
* Risalpur

Balochistan|

* Khuzdar
* Loralai
* Ormara
* Quetta
* Zhob

Gilgit-Baltistan|

* Rattu

See also: Defence Housing Authority
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template