General Headquarters (Pakistan Army)

The General Headquarters (abbreviated Army GHQ^{: 230 [2][3][4]}) is the headquarters of the Pakistan Army, located in the Chaklala at the vicinity of Rawalpindi, adjacent to the Joint Staff Headquarters (JS HQ).^[5]

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
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.

History

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

	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

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 a part 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 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:

Security

Incidents, breaches, and relocation efforts

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

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

References

1. 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. 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. 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. 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

• 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.