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.
Army headquarters and staff
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 the Army Staff (COAS) concurrently Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir Ahmed ShahChief of the General Staff (CGS)Lieutenant General Syed Aamer RazaChief of Logistics Staff (CLS)Lieutenant General Inayat HussainInspector General Arms (IG Arms)Lieutenant General Sarfraz Ahmed Adjutant General (AG)Lieutenant General Azhar WaqasQuarter Master General (QMG)Lieutenant General Hassan Khattak Military Secretary (MS)Lieutenant General Amer Ahsan NawazMaster-General of Ordnance (MGO)TBA Inspector General Training & Evaluation (IG T&E)Lieutenant General Aamer Najam Inspector General Communications and Information Technology (IG C&IT)Lieutenant General Muhammad AqeelEngineer-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.Iftikhar A. Khan. "Kayani shakes up army command" Dawn, 30 September 2008
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
Hierarchy OrderOrganizationTypical Commander(NATO) OFC-Star1.Chief of Army StaffThis 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:
Overseeing the army: The army chief is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the army, including training, discipline, equipment, and readiness. Acting on orders: The army chief must carry out the orders of the Prime Minister or President, and may be responsible for implementing military action as directed. Advising the government: The army chief provides advice to the government on matters of national security, and may be called upon to provide advice to the Prime Minister or President.General2.CorpsA corps usually comprises two or more divisions.Lieutenant General3.DivisionA 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 General4.BrigadeA 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: 105 Independent Infantry Brigade under V Corps 105 Air Defence Independent Brigade Group in XXXI Corps 111 Independent Infantry Brigade at Rawalpindi with X Corps 212 Infantry Brigade at Lahore with IV Corps.Brigadier5.RegimentThe 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.ColonelNo Star6.BattalionA 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 Colonel7.CompanyHeaded by the major/captain, a company comprises about 120–150 soldiers.Major - Captain8.PlatoonAn 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.Second Lt./ Lt.9.SectionSmallest military outfit, with a strength of about 9–13 personnel. Commanded by a junior commissioned officer of the rank of subedar, depending upon the working conditions of the section.Subedar - Naib Subedar
Corps There are nine corps (each including an independent signals brigade) and three corps-level formations (Air Defence, Aviation and Strategic Forces). Logo/War flagCorpsHQ LocationCurrent CommanderMajor Corps FormationsI Corps Mangla, Azad Kashmir Lieutenant General Nauman Zakaria6th Armoured Division (Gujranwala) 17th Infantry Division (Kharian) 37th Infantry Division (Kharian)II Corps Multan, Punjab Lieutenant General Ahsan Gulrez1st Armoured Division (Multan) 40th Infantry Division (Okara)IV Corps Lahore, Punjab Lieutenant General Syed Fayyaz Hussain Shah10th Infantry Division (Lahore) 11th Infantry Division (Lahore)V Corps Karachi, Sindh Lieutenant General Avais Dastagir 16th Infantry Division (Pano Aqil) 18th Infantry Division (Hyderabad) 25th Mechanized Division (Malir)X Corps Rawalpindi, Punjab Lieutenant General Amer Ahsan NawazForce Command Northern Areas (Gilgit) 12th Infantry Division (Murree) 19th Infantry Division (Mangla) 23rd Infantry Division (Jhelum) 34th Light Infantry Division (Chilas)XI Corps Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Lieutenant General Syed Omer Ahmed Bokhari7th Infantry Division, (Miranshah) 9th Infantry Division (Kohat)XII Corps Quetta, Balochistan Lieutenant General Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan33rd Infantry Division (Khuzdar) 41st Infantry Division (Quetta) 44th Light Infantry Division (Gwadar)XXX Corps Gujranwala, Punjab Lieutenant General Syed Imdad Hussain Shah8th Infantry Division (Sialkot) 15th Infantry Division (Sialkot)XXXI Corps Bahawalpur, Punjab Lieutenant General Muhammad Aqeel14th Infantry Division (Okara) 26th Mechanized Division (Bahawalpur) 35th Infantry Division (Bahawalpur) Air Defence Rawalpindi, Punjab Lieutenant General Muhammad Zafar Iqbal3rd Air Defence Division (Sargodha) 4th Air Defence Division (Malir)Strategic Forces Rawalpindi, Punjab Lieutenant General Shehbaz Khan2nd Artillery Division (Gujranwala) 21st Artillery Division (Pano Aqil) Strategic Forces North (Sargodha) Strategic Forces South (Petaro) Aviation Rawalpindi, Punjab Major General Saeed Niazi101 Avn Group (Rawalpindi) 202 Avn Group (Quetta) 303 Avn Group (Gujranwala) 404 Avn Group (Multan) 505 Avn Group (Mangla) 606 Avn Group(Tarbela)
Regional formations
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. The regional commands are led by the three-star rank general officer whose staff includes numbers of general officers.
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. Other active regional formations includes the Army Strategic Forces Command and the Army Air Defence Command that serves as a platform of missile defense.
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) Army Rocket Force Command (2025–Present)dawn.com
Administrative structure The Pakistan Army is organised in two main ways, which are Arms and Services.
Regiments Infantry: Azad Kashmir Regiment Punjab Regiment Sindh Regiment Baloch Regiment Frontier Force Regiment
Northern Light Infantry Regiment Mujahid Regiment
Special Services GroupEME: 55 EME Battalion 53 EME Battalion 544 EME 42 EME Battalion 43 EME Battalion 118 EME Battalion Armour: President's Bodyguard Guides Cavalry 4th Cavalry (Valiants) 5th Horse (Probyn's Horse) 6th Lancers (Fateh Khem Karan) 7th Lancers 8 Cavalry (Izz-Ul-Khail) 9th Horse (Arabian Horse) 11th Cavalry (Frontier Force) 12th Cavalry (Sam Browne's Cavalry) 13th Lancers (Spearheads) 14th Lancers 15th Lancers (Baloch Horse) 16th Horse (al-Mugheerat) 17th Lancers 18th Horse 19th Lancers 20th Lancers (Haideri) 21st Horse (Murtajiz) 22nd Cavalry (Death or Glory) 23rd Cavalry (Frontier Force) 24th Cavalry (Chargers) 25th Cavalry (Frontier Force)(Men of Steel) 26th Cavalry (Mustangs) 27th Cavalry (Steeds of war)(Ribat-ul-Khail) 28th Cavalry (Chhamb Hunters) 29th Cavalry (Tigers) 30th Cavalry (Bold Till Death) 31st Cavalry (Sprocketeers) 32nd Cavalry 33rd Cavalry (Fortunes with the Bold) 34th Lancers (Dragoons) 35th Cavalry (al-Mubarizun) 36th Cavalry 37th Cavalry (Ribat-us-Sehra) 38th Cavalry (Desert Hawks) 39th Cavalry (Vanguards) 40th Horse (Scinde Horse) 41st Horse (Frontier Force) 42nd Lancers (Punjab Lancers) 43rd Cavalry (al-Zarib) 44th Cavalry (Pioneers) 45th Horse 47th Cavalry 51st Lancers (Silver Eagles) 52nd Cavalry (Howal mastan) 53rd Cavalry (Golden Eagles) 54th Cavalry (Hizbullah) 55th Cavalry 56th Cavalry (Raad-ul-Harb) 57th Lancers 58th CavalryArtillery 3 Medium Regiment Artillery 4 Medium Regiment Artillery 5 MLRS Regiment 7 Field Regiment Artillery 15 SP Medium Regiment Artillery 16 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 17 Locating Regiment Artillery 28 Medium Regiment Artillery 30 (SP) Heavy Regiment Artillery 32 Medium Regiment Artillery 35 SP (Heavy) Regiment 38 Field Regiment Artillery 39 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 44 Medium Regiment Artillery 45 Field Regiment Artillery 46 Field Regiment Artillery 48 Field Regiment Artillery 50 Field Regiment Artillery 51 Medium Regiment Artillery 54 Medium Regiment Artillery 61 Medium Regiment Artillery 63 Medium Regiment Artillery 64 Medium Regiment Artillery 65 Medium Regiment Artillery 72 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery 79 Field Regiment Artillery 86 Field Regiment Artillery 93 Medium Regiment Artillery 106 Medium Regiment Artillery 115 Medium Regiment Artillery 118 Medium Regiment Artillery 139 (SP) Medium Regiment Artillery (WAKAZA)