Military history of Pakistan

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The roots of the Pakistan army traces back to theBritish Indian Army which included several personnel from present day Pakistan. In picture are troops of the famous Khyber Rifles striking a pose. ~1895.

The military history of Pakistan encompasses an immense panorama of conflicts and struggles extending for more than 2,000 years across areas including modern Pakistan, and greater India, but Pakistan as a nation-state dates only from 1947.

The recent military history can be viewed as the history of Pakistan, as the military of Pakistan has played and continues to play a vital role in the establishment and shaping of the country since its inception. Although Pakistan was founded as a democracy after the independence of the India from British Raj, the military has remained one of the country's most powerful institutions and has on occasion overthrown democratically elected governments on the basis of mismanagement and corruption. Successive governments have made sure that the military was consulted before they took key decisions, especially when those decisions related to the Kashmir Conflict. Political leaders know that the military has stepped into the political arena before at times of crisis, and could do so again.

The Military was created in 1947 by division of the British Indian Army and was given units who had a long and cherished history during the British Raj such as the Khyber Rifles, and had seen intensive service in World War I and World War II. Many of the early leaders of the military had fought in both world wars.

The military draws on inspiration from the rich combat history that has occurred on Pakistani soil and uses example of sacrifice and perseverance to embolden troops, and has named medals of valor, nickname for combat divisions, and indigenous weapons; Such as the short-range ballistic missiles Ghaznavi, which is named in honour of Mahmud of Ghazna who founded the Ghaznavid Empire, and ruled from 997 to 1030.

Since independence, the military has fought three major wars with India and several minor border skirmishes with Afghanistan. It has also fought a limited conflict at Kargil with India after acquiring nuclear capabilities. After 9/11, the military is engaged in a protracted low intensity conflict along Pakistan's western border with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants, as well as those who support or provide shelter to them.

In addition, Pakistani troops have also participated in various foreign conflicts usually acting as United Nations peacekeepers. At present, Pakistan has the largest number of its personnel acting under the United Nations with the number standing at 10,173 as of 31 March 2007.^[1]

Contents  [hide] 1 550 BCE-1857 1.1 Ancient empires 1.2 Arab conquests 1.3 Mughal Empire 2 1857-1947 2.1 British Raj 2.2 The World wars 2.3 Birth of the modern Military 3 1947-1965 3.1 The war of 1947 3.2 U.S. Aid 3.3 First Military Rule 3.4 Border clash with Afghanistan 3.5 Alliance with China 4 1965-1979 4.1 The war of 1965 4.2 Rebuilding the Armed Forces 4.3 Involvement in Arab conflicts 4.4 The war of 1971 4.5 Recovery from the 1971 War 4.6 Baloch Nationalist uprisings 4.7 Second Military Rule 5 1979-1999 5.1 Development of nuclear weapons 5.2 U.S. sanctions 5.3 Soviet-Afghan war 5.4 Taliban takeover of Afghanistan 5.5 Siachen Glacier 5.6 Kargil War 6 1999-Present 6.1 Third Military Rule 6.2 Standoff with India 6.3 Military assistance to Sri Lanka 6.4 War in the North-West region 7 UN peacekeeping missions 8 See also 9 Notes 10 Further reading 11 External links

[edit]550 BCE-1857

[edit]Ancient empires

A painting by Charles Le Brun depicting Alexander and Porus during the Battle of the Hydaspes.

The region of Pakistan formed the most populous and richest satrapy of the Persian Achaemenid Empire for almost two centuries, starting from the reign of Darius the Great (522-485 BCE).^[2] The first major conflict erupted when Alexander the Great overthrew the Achaemenid empire in 334 BCE, and marched eastwards. Eventually, after defeating KingPorus in the fierce Battle of the Hydaspes (near modern Jhelum), he conquered much of the Punjab region. But, his battle weary troops refused to advance further into India^[3] to engage the formidable army ofNanda Dynasty and its vanguard of trampling elephants, new monstorities to the invaders. Therefore, Alexander proceeded southwest along the Indus valley.^[4] Along the way, he engaged in several battles with smaller kingdoms before marching his army westward across the Makran desert towards modern Iran. Alexander founded several new Macedonian/Greek settlements in Gandhara and Punjab.

As Alexander the Great's Greek and Persian armies withdrew westwards, the satraps left behind by Alexander were defeated and conquered byChandragupta Maurya who founded the Maurya Empire which ruled the region from 321 to 185 BC. The Mauryas Empire was it self conquered by the Sunga Empire which ruled the region from 185 to 73 BCE. Other regions such as the Khyber Pass was left unguarded, and a wave of foreign invasion followed. The Greco-Bactrian king, Demetrius, capitalized and he conquered southern Afghanistan and Pakistan around 180 BC, forming the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The Indo-Greek Kingdom ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 AD following the invasions of the Central Asian Indo-Scythians. Their empire morphed into the Kushan Empire who ruled until 375 AD. The region was then conquered by the Persian Indo-Sassanid empire who ruled until 565 AD before the entire Sassanid Empire was conquered by the Arabs including the region of modern Pakistan.

[edit]Arab conquests

Muhammad Bin Qasim leading his troops in battle. He is often called the first Pakistani.^[5]

In 712 CE, a Syrian Muslim chieftain called Muhammad bin Qasim conquered most of the Indus region for the Umayyad empire. In 997 CE, Mahmud of Ghazni conquered the bulk of Khorasan, marched on Peshawar in 1005, and followed it by the conquests of Punjab (1007), Balochistan (1011), Kashmir (1015) and Qanoch (1017). By the end of his reign in 1030, Mahmud's empire extended from Kurdistan in the west to the Yamuna river in the east, and the Ghaznavid dynasty lasted until 1187. In 1160, Muhammad Ghori conquered Ghazni from the Ghaznavids and became its governor in 1173. He marched eastwards into the remaining Ghaznavid territory and Gujarat in the 1180s, but was rebuffed by Gujarat's Solanki rulers. In 1186-7, he conquered Lahore, bringing the last of Ghaznevid territory under his control and ending the Ghaznavid empire. Muhammad Ghori returned to Lahore after 1200 to deal with a revolt of the Rajput Ghakkar tribe in the Punjab. He suppressed the revolt, but was killed during a Ghakkar raid on his camp on the Jhelum River in 1206. Muhammad Ghori's successors established the first Indo-Islamic dynasty, the Delhi Sultanate. The Mamluk Dynasty, (mamluk means "slave" and referred to the Turkic slave soldiers who became rulers throughout the Islamic world), seized the throne of the Sultanate in 1211. Several Turko-Afghan dynasties ruled their empires from Delhi: the Mamluk (1211-90), the Khalji(1290-1320), the Tughlaq (1320-1413), the Sayyid (1414-51) and the Lodhi (1451-1526). Although some kingdoms remained independent of Delhi - in Gujarat, Malwa (central India), Bengal andDeccan - almost all of the Indus plain came under the rule of these large Indo-Islamic sultanates. Perhaps the greatest contribution of the sultanate was its temporary success in insulating South Asia from the Mongol invasion from Central Asia in the thirteenth century; nonetheless the sultans eventually lost Afghanistan and western Pakistan to the Mongols (see the Ilkhanate Dynasty).

[edit]Mughal Empire

From the 16th to the 19th century CE the formidable Mughal empire covered much of India.^[6] In 1739, the Persian emperor Nader Shah invaded India, defeated the Mughal Emperor Mohammed Shah, and occupied most of Balochistan and the Indus plain. After Nadir Shah's death, the kingdom of Afghanistan was established in 1747, by one of his generals, Ahmad Shah Abdali and included Kashmir, Peshawar, Daman, Multan, Sind and Punjab. In the south, a succession of autonomous dynasties (the Daudpotas, Kalhoras and Talpurs) had asserted the independence of Sind, from the end of Aurangzeb's reign. Most of Balochistan came under the influence of the Khan of Kalat, apart from some coastal areas such as Gwadar which were ruled by the Sultan of Oman. The Sikh Confederacy (1748-1799) was a group of small states in the Punjab which emerged in a political vacuum created by rivalry between the Mughals, Afghans and Persians.^[7] The Confederacy drove out the Mughals, repelled several Afghan invasions and in 1764 captured Lahore. However after the retreat of Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Confederacy suffered instability as disputes and rivalries emerged.^[8] The Sikh empire (1799-1849) was formed on the foundations of the Confederacy byRanjit Singh who proclaimed himself "Sarkar-i-Wala", and was referred to as the Maharaja of Lahore.^[7] His empire eventually extended as far west as the Khyber Pass and as far south as Multan. Amongst his conquests were Kashmir in 1819 and Peshawar in 1834, although the Afghans made two attempts to recover Peshawar. After the Maharaja's death the empire was weakened by internal divisions and political mismanagement. The British annexed the Sikh empire in 1849 after two Anglo-Sikh wars.^[9]

[edit]1857-1947

[edit]British Raj

The British Raj lasted from 1858 to 1947, of the British Empire on the india. After the mutiny, the British took steps to avoid further rebellions taking place which drastically changed the structure of the Army. The roots of the Pakistan army traces back to the British Indian Army. They banned Indians from the officer corp and artillery corp to ensure that future rebellions would not be as organized and discipline and that the ratio of British Solders to Indians would be drastically reduced. Recruiting percentages changed with an emphasis on Sikhs and Ghurkas which proved loyalties and fighting prowess in the conflict and new caste and religious based regiments were formed.

[edit]The World wars

Members of the 3rd (Lahore) Division fighting in Flanders 1914-15

During WWI the British Indian Army fought in Egypt, Palestine, Mesopotamia, Gallipoli, and France and suffered very heavy casualties.

The British Indian Army's strength was about 189,000 in 1939. There were about 3,000 British officers and 1,115 Indian officers. The army was expanded greatly to fight in World War II. By 1945, the strength of the Army had risen to about two and a half million. There were about 34,500 British officers and 15,740 Indian officers. The Army took part in campaigns in France, East Africa, North Africa, Syria, Tunisia, Malaya, Burma, Greece,Sicily and Italy. It suffered 179,935 casualties in the war (including killed (24,338), wounded (64,354), missing (11,762) and POW (79,481) soldiers). Many future military officers and leaders of Pakistan fought in these wars.

[edit]Birth of the modern Military

On June 3, 1947, the British Government announced its plan to divide British Indiabetween India and Pakistan and the subsequent transfer of power to the two countries. The division of the British Indian Army occurred on June 30, 1947 in which Pakistan received six armored, eight artillery and eight infantryregiments compared to the forty armored, forty artillery and twenty one infantry regiments that went to India.^[10] The Partition Council which chaired by the Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten of Burma, the leaders of the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress had agreed that the British Indian Army of 11,800 officers and 500,000 enlisted personnel, be divided to the ratio of 64% for India and 36% for Pakistan.

Pakistan was forced to accept a smaller share of the armed forces as most of the military assets such as weapons depots, military bases were located inside India and those that were in Pakistan were mostly obsolete and it also had a dangerously low ammunition reserve of only one week.^[10] By August 15, 1947, both India and Pakistan had operational control over their armed forces.

The Pakistani armed forces initially numbered around 150,000 men, many scattered around various bases in India and needing to be transferred to Pakistan by train. The independence created large scale communal violence in the India . Armed bands of militants detained and attacked the trains and massacred Indian military personnel and their families in Pakistan.^[11] In total, around 7 million Muslims migrated to Pakistan and 5 million Sikhs and Hindus to India with over a million people dying in the process.

Of the estimated requirement of 4,000 officers for Pakistani armed forces, only 2,300 were actually available. The neutral British officers were asked to fill in the gap and nearly 500 volunteered as well as many Polish and Hungarian officers to run the medical corps.^[12]

By October 1947, Pakistan had raised four divisions in West Pakistan and one division in East Pakistan with an overall strength of ten infantry brigades and one armored brigade with thirteen tanks. Many brigades and battalions within these divisions were below half strength, but Pakistani personnel continued to arrive from all over India, the Middle East and North Africa and from South East Asia. Mountbatten and Supreme Commander Claude Auchinleck had made it clear to Pakistan that in case of war with India, no other member of the Commonwealthwould come to Pakistan's help.

[edit]1947-1965

[edit]The war of 1947

Main article: Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

Area shaded in Green is Pakistani controlled Kashmir and area shaded in Orange is Indian controlled Kashmir and the remainder is under Chinese control.

Pakistan had its first taste of war almost immediately in the First Kashmir War where it sent its forces into Kashmir. Kashmir, had a Muslim majority population, but the choice of which country to join was given to the Hindu Maharaja of Kashmir who decided to accede into India. When Indian forces started entering Kashmir, the newly created Pakistani Army initially sent in regulars and pro-Pakistani tribal groups. Later, regular army units in large numbers joined the invasion but were pushed back by the Indians but not before occupying the northwestern part of Kashmir (roughly 40% of Kashmir) which Pakistan still controls, the rest remaining under Indian control except for the portion ceded by Pakistan to China

[edit]U.S. Aid

With the failure of the United States to persuade India to join an anti-communist pact, it turned towards Pakistan which in contrast with India was prepared to join such an alliance in return of military and economic aid and also to find a potential ally against India. By 1954, the Americans had decided that Pakistan along with Turkey and Iran would be ideal countries to counter Soviet influence. Therefore Pakistan and USA signed the Mutual Defense Assistance Agreement and American aid began to flow in Pakistan. This was followed by two more agreements. In 1955, Pakistan joined the South East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) and the Baghdad Pact later to be renamed as Central Asian Treaty Organization (CENTO) after Iraq left in 1959.^[13]

Pakistan received over a billion dollars in military aid from United States between 1954 and 1965. This aid greatly enhanced Pakistan’s defense capability as new equipment and weapons were brought into the armed forces, new military bases were created and existing ones were expanded and upgraded and two new Corps commands were formed. Shahid M Amin, who has previously served in the Pakistani foreign service, writes in his book Pakistan's foreign policy: A reappraisal that "It is also a fact, that these pacts did undoubtedly secure very substantial US military and economic assistance for Pakistan in its nascent years and significantly strengthened it in facing India, as seen in the 1965 war.""^[14]

American and British advisers trained Pakistani personnel and the USA was allowed to set up bases within Pakistan’s borders to spy on the Soviet Union. In this period, many future Pakistani presidents and generals went to American and British military academies that lead to the development of the Pakistani army on Western models, especially the British one.

After Dominion status ended in 1956 with the formation of a Constitution and a declaration of Pakistan as an Islamic Republic, the military took control in 1958 and held power for more than 10 years. During this time, Pakistan had developed close military relations with many Middle Eastern countries to whom Pakistan sent military advisers and this relationship continues to the present day.

[edit]First Military Rule

Field Marshal Ayub Khan became the leader of Pakistan and during his reign, relations with the United States and the West grew stronger. A formal alliance including Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, and Turkey was formed and was called the Baghdad Pact (later known as CENTO), which was to defend the Middle East and Persian Gulf from Soviet designs.

After the indecisive war of 1965, many people accused Ayub Khan of betraying the cause of Kashmir and he was forced to resign. He was replaced by the army chief of staff, Yahya Khan in 1969.

Yahya Khan presided over the disastrous 1971 War which resulted in the army being forced out of Pakistani politics and Zulfikar Ali Bhuttobecoming the new civilian leader of Pakistan following an election.

[edit]Border clash with Afghanistan

Armed tribal incursions from Afghanistan into Pakistan’s border areas began with the transfer of power in 1947 and became a continual irritant. Many Pashtun Afghans regarded the 19th century Anglo-Afghan border treaties as void and were trying to re-draw the borders with Pakistan or trying to help create an independent state (Pashtunistan) for the ethnic Pashtun people. The Pakistan Army had to be continually sent to secure the country’s western borders. Afghan-Pakistan relations were to reach their nadir in 1955 when diplomatic relations were severed with the ransacking of Pakistan’s embassy in Kabul and again in 1961 when the Pakistan Army had to repel a major Afghan incursion in Bajaur region.^[10]

Pakistan used American weaponry to fight the Afghan incursions but the weaponry had been sold under the pretext of fighting Communism and the USA was not pleased with this development, as the Soviets at that time became the chief benefactor to Afghanistan. Some sections of the American press blamed Pakistan for driving Afghanistan into the Soviet camp.

In retaliation to continious Pashtun Afghan claims on Northwestern Pakistan, Pakistan's military provided support for the non-Pashtun populations of Afghanistan to re-unite with their ethnic groups who constitute a majority in nieghboring countries of Afghanistan which gained independence after the fall of the USSR.

All this changed after the rise of the Taliban movement, which mainly consisted of Pakhtuns. Seeing the Taliban as a tool to maintain stability, Pakistan's military then shifted it's support to the Pashtun-dominated Taliban; loosing the trust of the non-Pashtun majority which it traditionally supported right until the Soviet-Afghan war era.

[edit]Alliance with China

After India’s defeat in the Sino-Indian War of 1962, India began a rapid program of reforming and expanding its military. A series of conferences on Kashmir was held from December 1962 to February 1963 between India and Pakistan. Both nations offered important concessions and a solution to the long-standing dispute seemed imminent. However, after the Sino-Indian war, Pakistan had gained an important new ally in China and Pakistan then signed a bilateral border agreement with China that involved the boundaries of the disputed state, and relations with India again became strained.

Fearing a communist expansion into India, the USA for the first time gave large quantities of weapons to India. The expansion of the Indian armed forces was viewed by most Pakistanis as being directed towards Pakistan rather than China. The US also pumped in large sums of money and military supplies to Pakistan as it saw Pakistan as being a check against Soviet expansionist plans.^[15]

[edit]1965-1979

[edit]The war of 1965

Main article: Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Pakistani soldiers during the Battle of Chawinda. Brigadier A.A.K. Niazi, (3rd from left) observing a map

In Pakistan, after the Sino-Indian War in 1962, the military of India was seen as being weakened. This analysis was proven true when a small border skirmish occurred between India and Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch on April 1965 where the Indian Army was caught unprepared. The skirmish occurred between the border police of both countries due to poorly defined borders and later the Armies of both countries responded. The result was a decisive one for the Pakistan Army that was praised back home. Emboldened by this success, Operation Gibraltar, a covert infiltration attempt in Kashmir was launched later in the year. The plan was to start a rebellion among local Kashmiris and attack the rebuildingIndian Army thus capturing Kashmir by force, as the Pakistan Army Command believed that it had a qualitative superiority over their neighbours. However this proved over-ambitious as Indian Kashmiris did not support the intruding Pakistan Army and a full-fledged war across the international border (the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965) broke out between India and Pakistan. Despite the impressive performance of the Pakistan Air Forceagainst their Indian counterparts in the early stages of war, it was not able to hold on the Indian trust^[16] the Army could not achieve the goal of taking over Indian controlled Kashmir.

US had imposed an arms embargo on both India and Pakistan during the war and Pakistan was hurt more by the arms embargo as it had no spare parts for its Air Force, tanks, and other equipment while India's quantitative edge was taking a heavy toll on the Pakistan Army. With no spare parts to fix its damaged forces and as the theatre of war spread to the plains of western India, Pakistan lost the initiative and the war ended in a ceasefire.

[edit]Rebuilding the Armed Forces

The United States was disillusioned by a war in which both countries fought each other with equipment, which had been sold for defensive purposes and to stop the spread of communism. Pakistan’s claims that an Indian attempt to fully integrate Indian Controlled Kashmir into the union of India had compelled it to act fell on deaf ears in the Johnson Administration and by July 1967, the United States withdrew its military assistance advisory group. In response to these events, Pakistan declined to renew the lease on the Peshawar military facility, which ended in 1969. Eventually, United States-Pakistan relations grew measurably weaker as the United States became more deeply involved in Vietnam and as its broader interest in the security of South Asia waned.^[17]

The Soviet Union continued the massive build-up of the Indian military and a US arms embargo forced Pakistan to look at other options. It turned to China, North Korea, Germany, Italy and France for military aid. China in particular gave Pakistan over 900 tanks, Mig-19 Fighters and enough equipment to fully equip 3 Infantry divisions. France supplied some Mirage aircraft, submarines and even the Soviet Union gave Pakistan around 100 T-55 tanks, Mi-8 helicopters but that aid was abruptly stopped under intense Indian pressure. Pakistan in this period was partially able to enhance its military capability.

[edit]Involvement in Arab conflicts

Main articles: Six-Day War, North Yemen Civil War, Black September in Jordan, and Gulf War

Pakistan had sent numerous military advisers to Jordan and Syria to help in their training and military preparations for any potential war withIsrael. When the Six Day war started, Pakistan assisted by sending a contingent of its pilots and airmen to Egypt, Jordan and Syria. PAF pilots performed excellently and downed about 10 Israeli planes including Mirages, Mysteres, Vautours without losing a single plane of their own.^[18]

Jordan and Iraq decorated Pakistani Flight Lieutenant Saif-ul-Azam. Israelis praised the performance of PAF pilots too. Eizer Weizman, then Chief Of Israeli Air Force wrote in his autobiography about Air Marshal Noor Khan (Commander PAF at that time): "...He is a formidable person and I am glad that he is Pakistani not Egyptian..."^[19] No Pakistani ground forces participated in the war.

After the end of the Six-Day War, Pakistani advisors had remained in Jordan and were training the Jordanian Forces. In 1970, King Hussein of Jordan decided to remove the PLO and its forces from Jordan by force after a series of terrorist acts attributed to the PLO which undermined Jordanian sovereignty. On September 16, King Hussein declared martial law. The next day, Jordanian tanks attacked the headquarters of Palestinian organizations in Amman. The head of Pakistani training mission to Jordan, Brigadier Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (later President of Pakistan), took command of the Jordanian Army's 2nd division and helped Jordan during this crisis.

Pakistan again assisted during the Yom Kippur War, sixteen PAF pilots volunteered for service in the Air Forces of Egypt and Syria. The PAF contingent deployed to Inchas Air Base (Egypt) led by Wing Commander Masood Hatif and five other pilots plus two air defence controllers. During this war, the Syrian government decorated Flight Lieutenant Sattar Alvi when he shot down an Israeli Mirage over the Golan Heights.^[20]The PAF pilots then became instructors in the Syrian Air Force at Dumayr Air Base and after the war Pakistan continued to send military advisers to Syria and Jordan. Apart from military advisers, no Pakistani ground forces participated in this war.

In 1969, South Yemen, which was under a communist regime and a strong ally of the USSR, attacked and captured Mount Vadiya inside the province of Sharoora in Saudi Arabia. Many PAF officers as well Army personnel who were serving in Khamis Mushayt training the Saudi Air Force (the closest airbase to the battlefield), took active part in this battle in which the enemy was ultimately driven back.^[20]

During the Gulf War in 1990, the Pakistani government joined the international community in condemning the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Pakistan also joined the Coalition forces to expel Saadam Hussein's forces from Kuwait. However that was not an easy decision as the CoAS of the Pakistani Army was against sending Pakistani soldiers to fight the fellow Muslim nation of Iraq. This caused a rare strain in the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Later on, Pakistan agreed to send forces to assist the coalition forces and most of these forces were deployed along the Saudi border with Yemen, which sided with Iraq during the conflict, and Pakistani forces were also stationed around various religious sites throughout Saudi Arabia. Pakistan suffered no casualties in the conflict and later joined the UN in rebuilding Kuwait's destroyed infrastructure.

[edit]The war of 1971

Lt. Gen A. A. K. Niazi of Pakistan signs the instrument of surrender on December 16, surrendering his forces to Lt. Gen Jagjit Singh Aurora of Indian army.

Main articles: Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Faced with popular unrest and revolt in East Pakistan, the Army clamped down through violence. The army crackdown and brutalities during the Operation Searchlight and the continued killings throughout the later months resulted in further resentment among theBengalis of East Pakistan. With India assisting the Mukti Bahini, war broke out between the separatist supporters in Bangladesh and Pakistan (Indo-Pakistani War of 1971). The result was the Pakistan Army's surrender to the Indian forces upon which 90,000 Pakistani soldiers and 90,000 militants became POWs, the largest since World War II. The official war between India and Pakistan ended in just a fortnight on December 16,1971, with Pakistan losing East Pakistan which became Bangladesh.

The official Bangladesh Government claim puts the number of Bengali civilian fatalities at 3 million.

[edit]Recovery from the 1971 War

Pakistan’s defense spending rose by 200% during the Bhutto era but the military balance between India-Pakistan which was at a rough parity during the 1960s was growing decisively in India’s favor. The United States once again became a major source for military hardware following the lifting of the arms embargo in 1975 but by then Pakistan had become heavily dependent on China as an arms supplier. Heavy spending on defense re-energized the Army, which had sunk to its lowest morale following the debacle of the 1971 war. The high defense expenditure took money from other development projects such as education, health care and housing.

[edit]Baloch Nationalist uprisings

Main article: Balochistan conflict

See also: Baloch nationalism

The Baloch rebellion of the 1970s, was the most threatening civil disorder to a United Pakistan since Bangladesh's secession. The Pakistan Army wanted to establish military garrisons in Balochistan which at that time was quite lawless and run by tribal justice. The ethnic Balochis saw this as a violation of their territorial rights. Emboldened by the stand taken by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in 1971, the Baloch and Pashtun nationalists had also demanded their "provincial rights" from then Prime Minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto in exchange for a consensual approval of the Pakistan Constitution of 1973. But while Bhutto admitted the NWFP and Balochistan to a NAP-JUI coalition, he refused to negotiate with the provincial governments led by chief minister Ataullah Mengal in Quetta and Mufti Mahmud in Peshawar. Tensions erupted.

Surveying the political instability, Bhutto's central government sacked two provincial governments within six months, arrested the two chief ministers, two governors and forty-four MNAs and MPAs, obtained an order from the Supreme Court banning the NAP and charged them all withhigh treason , to be tried by a specially constituted Hyderabad Tribunal of handpicked judges. In time, a Baloch nationalist insurgency erupted and sucked the army into the province, pitting the Baloch tribal middle classes against Islamabad. The sporadic fighting between theinsurgency and the army started in 1973 with the largest confrontation taking place in September 1974 when around 15,000 Balochs fought the Pakistani Army and the Air Force. The Iranian military fearing a spread of the greater Baloch resistance in Iran also aided the Bhutto-sent Pakistan military in brutally putting down the insurrection.^[21] After three days of fighting the Baloch tribals were running out of ammunition and so withdrew by 1976. The army had suffered 25 fatalities and around 300 casualties in the fight while the rebels lost 5,000 people as of 1977.

Although major fighting had broken down, ideological schisms caused splinter groups to form and steadily gain momentum. Despite the overthrow of the Bhutto government in 1977 by General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, calls for secession and widespread civil disobedience remained. The military government then appointed General Rahimuddin Khan as Martial Law Administrator and Governor over the province. The provincial government under the famously authoritarian Rahimuddin began to act as a separate entity and military regime independent of the central government.

This allowed General Rahimuddin to act as a dictator, unanswerable to the central government. Both General Zia-ul-Haq and General Rahimuddin Khan supported the declaration of a general amnesty in Balochistan to those willing to give up arms. Rahimuddin then purposefully isolated feudal leaders such as Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti and Ataullah Mengal from provincial policy. He also militarily put down all civil disobedience movements, effectively leading to unprecedented social stability within the province. Due to Martial Law, his reign was the longest in the history of Balochistan (1977 - 1984).

Tensions have resurfaced recently in the province with the Pakistan Army being involved in attacks against an insurgency known as theBalochistan Liberation Army. Attempted uprisings have taken place as recently as 2005.^[22]

[edit]Second Military Rule

During the 1977 elections, there were rumors of wide spread voter fraud and as such the civilian government under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was overthrown in a bloodless coup (July 1977) and the new ruler General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq became President of Pakistan in 1978. Bhutto was executed in 1979 after the Supreme Court upheld the High Court's death sentence on charges of authorizing the murder of a political opponent.^[23] Under Zia's Martial Law military dictatorship (which was declared legal under the Doctrine of Necessity by the Supreme Court in 1978) the following initiatives were taken:

• Strict Islamic law was introduced into the country's legal system by 1978, contributing to current-day sectarianism and religious fundamentalism, as well as instilling a sense of religious purpose within the youth.
• Pakistan fought a war by proxy against the Communists in Afghanistan in the Soviet-Afghan War, greatly contributing to the eventual withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan.
• Secessionist uprisings in Balochistan were put down by the province's authoritarian Martial Law ruler, General Rahimuddin Khan, who ruled for an unprecedented seven years under Martial Law.
• The socialist economic policies of the previous civilian government, which also included aggressive nationalisation, were gradually reversed; and Pakistan's Gross National Product rose greatly to be among the highest in the world.

General Zia lifted Martial Law in 1985, holding party-less elections and handpicking Muhammad Khan Junejo to be the Prime Minister of Pakistan, who in turn rubber-stamped Zia remaining Chief of Army Staff until 1990. Junejo however gradually fell out with Zia as his political and administrative independence grew. Junejo also signed the Geneva Accord, which Zia greatly disliked. After a large-scale explosion at a munitions store in Ojhri, Junejo vowed to bring those responsible for the significant damage caused to justice, implicating several times theInter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director-General Akhtar Abdur Rahman.

President Zia, infuriated, dismissed the Junejo government on several charges in May 1988. He then called for the holding of fresh elections in November. General Zia-ul-Haq never saw the elections materialize however, as he died in a plane crash on August 17, 1988, which was later proven to be highly sophisticated sabotage by unknown perpetrators.

Under Zia, real defence spending increased on average by 9 percent per annum during 1977-88 while development spending rose 3 percent per annum; by 1987-88 defence spending had overtaken development spending. For 1980s as a whole, defence spending averaged 6.5 percent of GDP. This contributed strongly to large fiscal deficits and a rapid build up of public debt.^[24]

[edit]1979-1999

[edit]Development of nuclear weapons

Television screenshot of the first known Pakistani Nuclear Test, 28 May 1998.

In 1972, Pakistani intelligence learned that India was close to developing a nuclear bomb. Partially in response, defence spending under then-Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhuttoincreased by 200 percent. The foundations were laid down to develop a military nuclear capability. This includes the nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear weapons design, development and testing programme. The fuel cycle program included the uranium exploration, mining, refining, coversion and Uranium Hexafluoride (UF6) production, enrichment and fuel fabrication and reprocessing facilities. These facilities were established in the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission or PAEC by its Chairman, Mr. Munir Ahmad Khan. He was appointed as Chairman of PAEC on January 20, 1972 at the Multan Conference of senior scientists and engineers. Earlier, Munir Ahmad Khan was serving as Director of Nuclear Power and Reactors Division, IAEA. He was credited to be the technical "father" of Pakistan's atomic bomb by a recent International Institute of Strategic Studies, London, (IISS) Dossier on Pakistan's nuclear programme.

After General Zia-ul-Haq came to power, further advancements were made to enrichuranium and consolidate the nuclear programme. On March 11, 1983, PAEC carried out the first successful cold test of a working nuclear device. By the late 1980s, it was common knowledge that Pakistan had developed nuclear weaponry. To compound further matters, the Soviet Union had withdrawn from Afghanistan and the strategic importance of Pakistan to the USA was gone. Once the full extent of Pakistan's nuclear weapons programme was revealed, economic sanctions were imposed on the country by several other countries. Having been developed under both Bhutto and Zia, the nuclear programme had fully matured by the late 1980s. Dr.Abdul Qadeer Khan, a metallurgical engineer, greatly contributed to the uranium enrichment programme under both governments, and is generally considered to be the founder of Pakistan's uranium enrichment programme, which was originally launched by PAEC in 1974.

The PAEC also played its part in the success and development of the uranium enrichment programme by producing the uranium hexafluoridegas feedstock for enrichment. PAEC was also responsible for all the pre and post enrichment phases of the nuclear fuel cycle. By 1986 PAECChairman Munir Ahmad Khan had begun work on the 50 MW plutonium and tritium production reactor at Khushab which became operational by 1998. After India successfully tested 5 nuclear missiles underground in 1998, Pakistan under then-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to the distaste of the international community, successfully carried out six underground nuclear tests, proving Pakistan's nuclear capability. These tests were carried out by the PAEC.

[edit]U.S. sanctions

U.S. Senator Pressler, introduced the Pressler Amendment which imposed an embargo on all economical and military aid to Pakistan for developing nuclear weapons.^[25] This whole episode caused very negative publicity in Pakistan towards the USA as many people in Pakistan as well as the military believed they had risked a great deal in helping the USA give the Soviet Union its own Vietnam in Afghanistan and when the task was done, Pakistan was promptly abandoned.^[26] Pakistan was hosting a very large Afghan refugee population and drugs from Afghanistan had infiltrated Pakistan and the use of heroin was growing to be a very widespread problem that further compounded the situation.

The embargo continued for five years and in 1995, the Brown Amendment authorised a one-time delivery of US military equipment, contracted for prior to October 1990, worth US$368 million. However, the additional 28 F-16 aircraft costing US$658 million and already paid for by Pakistan were not delivered. Unable to purchase American or NATO weaponry, Pakistan tried to develop an indigenous weapons industry, which has yielded some successes such as the development of the Al-Khalid Tank and JF-17 Strike Fighter.

[edit]Soviet-Afghan war

Main article: Soviet war in Afghanistan

See also: Operation Cyclone

Mujahideen gather outside a Soviet garrison, preparing for to launch a mortar attack.

During the Soviet occupation of neighbouring Afghanistan, the alliance between USA and Pakistan was greatly strengthened as the USA needed Pakistan as a staging area from which to send weapons to the Mujahideens who were fighting the Soviets. Apprehensive of the threats on two front to Pakistan from India and from Soviet occupied Afghanistan, the USA in 1981 offered a military aid package of over $1.5 billion which included 40 F-16fighters, 100 M-48 tanks, nearly 200 artillery guns and over 1,000 TOW anti-tank missiles which considerably enhanced Pakistan's defence capability. During the course of the war, Pakistan experienced several air intrusions by Afghan/Soviet pilots and claims to shooting down about 8 Afghan/Soviet aircraft over the years as well as losing one F-16 from its own fleet.^[18]

The Pakistani Military, aided by the United States and financed by Saudi Arabia, began helping the Mujahideen in setting up training camps and arming them. United States President Jimmy Carter had accepted the view that Soviet aggression could not be viewed as an isolated event of limited geographical importance but had to be contested as a potential threat to the Persian Gulf region. The uncertain scope of the final objective of Moscow in its sudden southward plunge made the American stake in an independent Pakistan all the more important.

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and Special Service Group now became actively involved in the conflict against the Soviets. Pakistan's SSG created a unit called the Black Storks who were SSG men dressed as Afghan Mujahideen during the Soviet-Afghan war. They were then flown into Afghanistan and provided the Mujahideen with support. After Ronald Reagan became the new United States President in 1980, aid for the Mujahideen through Zia's Pakistan significantly increased. In retaliation, the KHAD, under Afghan leader Mohammad Najibullah, carried out (according to the Mitrokhin archives and other sources) a large number of terrorist operations against Pakistan, which also suffered from an influx of weaponry and drugs from Afghanistan. Pakistan also took in 3 million Afghan refugees (mostly Pashtun) who were forced to leave their country due to heavy fighting including genocide by the communist forces of Soviet Union. Although the refugees were controlled within Pakistan's largest province, Balochistan, then under martial law ruler General Rahimuddin Khan, the influx of so many refugees - believed to be the largest refugee population in the world^[27] - into several other regions had a heavy impact on Pakistan and its effects continue to this day.

PLO and Lebanese weapons captured by the Israelis in their invasion of Lebanon in June 1982 were of Soviet origin and were then covertly transferred into Afghanistan through Pakistan. Later, when American support for the Mujahideen became obvious, Stinger Missiles and other high-technology American weaponry were transferred through Pakistan into Afghanistan. However some of these weapons may have been siphoned off by the ISI for reverse engineering purposes. The arrival of the new high-technology weaponry proved to be quite helpful in organizing stiff resistance against the Soviet Union. Many Army regulars fought in Afghanistan along with the resistance and were partly instrumental in the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan in 1989.

[edit]Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

After the Soviet withdrawal, Pakistan for the first time since 1947, was not concerned about a threat on two fronts. Further, the emergence of five independent Muslim republics in Central Asia raised hopes that they might become allies and offer Pakistan both the political support and the strategic depth it lacked. As long as Afghanistan was in chaos, Pakistan would lack direct access to the new republics.

Fighting between the Communist government in Kabul and the Mujahideen forces continued until 1992 when the Mujahideen forces, led by Ahmed Shah Massoud, removed the Soviet-backed government of Mohammad Najibullah. By 1993, the rival factions who were vying for power agreed on the formation of a government with Burhanuddin Rabbani as president, but infighting continued. Lawlessness was rampant and became a major hindrance to trade between Pakistan and the newly independent Central Asian states. Pakistan appointed the Taliban to protect its trade convoys because most of the Taliban were Pashtun and were trained by the ISI and CIA in the 1980s and could be trusted by Pakistan.^[28] With Pakistan's backing, the Taliban emerged as one of the strongest factions in Afghanistan. Pakistan then decided to the end the infighting in Afghanistan and backed the Taliban in their takeover of Afghanistan to bring stability to its western border and establish a pro-Pakistan regime in Kabul.

Pakistan solicited funds for the Taliban, bankrolled Taliban operations, providing diplomatic support as the Taliban's virtual emissaries abroad, arranged training for Taliban fighters, recruited skilled and unskilled manpower to serve in Taliban armies, planned and directed offensives, providing and facilitating shipments of ammunition and fuel, and on several occasions senior Pakistani military and intelligence officers help planned and execute major military operations.^[29] By September 1996, the Taliban under the leadership of Mullah Muhammad Omar seized control of Kabul. However, the stability in Afghanistan led to Osama bin Laden and Zawahiri to come to Afghanistan which caused the Talbian to implement a very strict interpretation of Islamic law. The Taliban continued to capture more Afghan territory until by 2001 they controlled 90% of the country.^[28]

[edit]Siachen Glacier

After the 1971 war, another border flare-up occurred between India and Pakistan in 1984. The area of the dispute was the Siachen Glacier - the world's highest battlefield. The Glacier was under territorial dispute, but in the late 1970s and early 1980s, Pakistan began organizing several tourist expeditions to the Glacier. India, irked by this development, mounted Operation Meghdoot, and captured the top of the Glacier by establishing a military base which it still maintains to this day at a cost of more than US$1 million per day.^[30] Pakistan on the other hand spends just under US$1 million per day, though as a percentage of GDP Pakistan spends 5 times as the Indian Military does to maintain its share of the glacier.^[31] Pakistan tried in 1987 and in 1989 to retake the whole Glacier but was unsuccessful. A stalemate has arisen where India controls the top part of the glacier and Pakistan the bottom.

[edit]Kargil War

Main article: Kargil War

After the failure of the 1989 attempt to re-take the glacier, a new and much more daring plan was developed by the Pakistan Army to re-take the glacier by blocking the Indian supplies reaching the Indian base at the top of the glacier. The plan was ready in the late 1980s but was put on hold due to the fear that this operation could lead to an all out war with India. Pakistan had recently been placed under US military sanctions for developing Nuclear weapons and the Pakistani military hierarchy believed that they did not have the proper military deterrent if the situation escalated into an all out war with India.

In the winter of 1998, a modified version of the plan was approved due to the fact that months earlier both India and Pakistan had conducted nuclear tests. Pakistan believed that it now had a deterrent to prevent all out war with India and believed that once it had taken the Kargil hills, the international community, fearing a nuclear war, would urge a secession of hostilities. Pakistan would emerge with an improved tactical advantage along the LOC and bring the Siachen Glacier conflict to the forefront of international resolution.

Some elements of the Pakistani SSG Commandos, Northern Light Infantry Forces as well as Indian Kashmiri militants planned to take over the abandoned Indian bunkers on various hills that overlooked the vital Srinagar-Leh highway that serviced the logistics base from which supplies were ferried through helicopter to the Indian Army at the top of the Siachen Glacier. The Indian Army routinely abandoned the bunkers in the winter due to the cold and snow and re-occupied them in the spring.

The Pakistani backed forces took over the bunker complex around April and May 1999 but the winter snows had melted earlier than usual and an Indian reconnaissance team which was sent to inspect the bunkers was wiped out by them. The Indian Army, alerted to the presence of these militants, responded quickly, forcefully and massed a huge force of around 30,000 men to re-take the Kargil hills. The Pakistani backed forces were detected very early in the operation and were not adequately prepared as they still needed another month or so before they properly established themselves on the Kargil hills, as they were short on heavy weaponry, ammunition, food, shelter, and medicine.

The Kargil War lasted for around eight weeks and both sides suffered casualties. After suffering reverses and heavy international pressure to withdraw and end the conflict, primarily from the USA, the Pakistani backed forces withdrew by July 1999.

[edit]1999-Present

[edit]Third Military Rule

See: 1999 Pakistani coup d'état

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Navy Adm. Mike Mullen reviews Pakistani troops during a ceremony honoring Mullen's arrival to Islamabad, Pakistan, Feb. 9, 2008. Mullen is visiting the country to discuss security issues with Pakistani military officials. Since 9/11, Pakistan and USA have established close military ties.

Many people in Pakistan blamed Sharif for retreating from Kargil under American pressure. Growing fiscal deficits and debt-service payments mainly due to American sanctions after Pakistan tested its Nuclear Weapons in May 1998 as a response to India had led to a financial crisis. When asked about his reason for backing down from Kargil, Sharif said that Pakistan had only enough fuel and ammunition for 3 days and the nuclear missiles were not ready. This comment made many Pakistanis brand Nawaz Sharif a traitor as Army doctrine called for having at least 45 days of fuel and ammunition and to have stand by nuclear missiles ready.

Fearing that the Army might take over, Sharif attempted to dismiss the head of the Pakistan military, General Pervez Musharraf and install ISI director Ziauddin Butt in his place. Musharraf, who was out of the country, boarded a commercial flight to return to Pakistan. Senior Army generals refused to accept Musharraf's dismissal. Sharif ordered the Karachi airport to prevent the landing of the aeroplane, which then circled the skies over Karachi. In a coup d'état, the generals ousted Sharif's administration and took over the airport. The plane landed with only a few minutes of fuel to spare, and Musharraf assumed control of the government. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was put under house arrest and later exiled.

The coup d'état in Pakistan was condemned by most world leaders but was mostly supported by Pakistani populace.^[32] The new military government of Pervez Musharraf was heavily criticized in the USA and when President Bill Clinton went on his landmark trip to South Asia, he only made a last minute stop in Pakistan for a few hours but spent more than five days touring and visiting India.^[33] Pakistan was also suspended from the Commonwealth while Musharraf pledged to clean corruption out of politics and stabilise the economy.

On 18 August 2008, Pervez Musharraf resigned from the post of President under impeachment pressure from the coalition government. Consequently, his website was removed since he was no longer President. He was succeeded on 6 September 2008 by Asif Ali Zardari, duly elected as Pakistan's 11th President since 1956.^[34][35][36]

[edit]Standoff with India

Main article: 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff

In response to a militant attack on the Indian Parliament on December 13, 2001 during which fourteen people, including the five men who attacked the building, were killed. India claimed that the attacks were carried out by two Pakistan based militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), both of whom, were backed by Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency,^[37] a charge Pakistan denied. This lead to a military standoff between India and Pakistan that resulted in the amassing of troops on either side of the International Border (IB) and along the Line of Control (LoC) in the region of Kashmir. In the Western media, coverage of the standoff focused on the possibility of a nuclear war between the two countries and the implications of the potential conflict on the United States-led War on Terrorism. Tensions de-escalated following international diplomatic mediation which resulted in the October 2002 withdrawal of Indian^[38] and Pakistani troops^[39] from the International Border.

[edit]Military assistance to Sri Lanka

Main article: Sri Lankan civil war

Pakistan and Sri Lanka enjoy a strong relationship and Pakistan International Airlines planes ferrying Pakistan Army reinforcements to East Pakistan, now Bangladesh, refueled in Colombo after India denied Pakistan overflight permissions before the actual outbreak of the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971. Pakistan has send military advisers, ammunition and other equipment to Sri Lanka during previous offensives against the LTTE. Many Sri Lankan officers are trained in Pakistan. Pakistan by supplying high-tech military equipment such as 22 Al-Khalid main battle tanks, 250,000 rounds of 60mm, 81mm, 120mm and 130mm mortar ammunition worth and 150,000 hand grenades and along with positioning of some of its highly trained army officers in Sri Lanka played a key role in the ultimate defeat of Tamil Tigers in May 2009.^[40] Back in 2000, when a LTTE offensive code-named Operation Ceaseless Waves overran Sri Lankan military positions in the north and captured the Elephant Pass Base and entered Jaffna, and was being feared that the LTTE would run down thousands of Sri Lankan troops stationed in Jaffna, Pakistan supplied Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher System and other high tech weaponry which halted the offensive.^[41]

[edit]War in the North-West region

View of the hotel after the attack in Islamabad,Pakistan. The bombing was called Pakistan's 9/11.

See: War in North-West Pakistan

After the 9/11 attacks, Pakistan joined the US-led War on Terror and helped the U.S. Military by severing ties with the Taliban and immediately deploying 72,000 troops along Pakistan's western border to capture or kill Taliban and al-Qaida militants fleeing from Afghanistan.

Pakistan initially garrisoned its troops in military bases and forts in the tribal areas. It was only in May 2004 that it was decided to take forceful action against al-Qaeda members inPakistan's mountainous Waziristan area (in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas) which escalated into armed resistance by local tribesmen.

Clashes erupted between the Pakistani troops and al-Qaeda's and other militants joined by local rebels and pro-Taliban forces. The Pakistani actions were presented as a part of the War on Terrorism, and had connections to the war and Taliban insurgency inAfghanistan.^[42][43]

After a 2 year conflict from 2004 till 2006, the Pakistani military negotiated a ceasefire with the Tribesmen from the region in which they pledged to hunt down al-Qaeda members, stop the Talibanization of the region and stop attacks in Afghanistan and Pakistan. However, the militants did not hold up their end of the bargain and began to regroup and rebuild their strength from the previous 2 years of conflict.

Fighting erupted again in July 2007, after the Pakistani Military had taken out militants holed up in the Lal Masjid in Islamabad. Once the operation ended, the Taliban launched a wave of attacks and suicide bombings erupted all over North-West Pakistan and major Pakistani cities. The Taliban also took over the neighboring Swat valley in 2007, the Army launched an offensive to take the valley back but was unable to clear it of the militants who had fled into the mountains and waited for the Army to leave to take over the valley again.

By 2008, Pakistan tried another peace deal with the militants in Swat Valley, which was roundly criticized in the West as abdicating to the militants. Initially pledging to lay down their arms if Sharia Law was implemented, the newly created Pakistani Taliban used Swat Valley as a springboard to launch further attacks into neighboring regions and reached to within 60 km of Islamabad.

The public opinion turned decisively against the Pakistani Taliban when a video showing a flogging of a girl by the Pakistani Taliban in Swat Valley finally forced the army to launch a deceive attack against the Taliban occupying Swat Valley in April 2009.^[44] That operation is still ongoing.

To date, the Pakistani military has won nearly every battle against the militants. However, militancy still remains strong in various parts of theNorth West Frontier Province. As of 2009, the Pakistan Army and the Frontier Corps are currently being trained in counter-insurgency warfare by the US and British Governments.^[45]

Since the conflict began, Pakistan has lost more than three times the number of its soldiers compared to the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan. However, as of 2009, the confirmed bodycount of militants killed by the Pakistan Army reached the 7,000 mark.^[46]

Pakistan plans to launch more attacks in the FATA region once operations are wrapped up in Swat Valley.

[edit]UN peacekeeping missions

Main article: Military of Pakistan - United Nations Peacekeeping missions

Date	Location	Mission
August 1960 - May 1964	Congo	Pakistani troops working under the auspices of the UN were first deployed in Congo and formed part of the UN Operation in Congo (UNOC). Their mission was to ensure a stable withdrawal of Belgian Colonial forces and a smooth transition of Congo to self-government.[47]
October 1962 - April 1963	West New Guinea	More than six hundred Pakistani troops formed part of the UN contingent forces that were deployed to ensure a smooth withdrawal of Dutch colonial forces from West New Guinea before the government of Indonesia could take over the island.[47]
March 1991	Kuwait	After the Gulf War, the Pakistani Army Corps of Engineers performed recovery missions on the Kuwaiti Island of Bubiyan located north of Kuwait City.[47]
March 1992 - March 1996	Bosnia	Pakistan contributed two battalions of troops to form part of the United Nations Protection Force. These troops provided security and protection to various UN agencies, organization and personnel operating there and also provided humanitarian assistance such as medical care to the local population.[47]
April 1992 - March 1995	Somalia	Pakistan contributed over 7,200 troops for the humanitarian mission in Somalia. They were heavily engaged in peacekeeping, humanitarian assistance to a region racked with senseless factional violence. Unfortunately thirty-nine Pakistani peacekeepers became casualties of this factional violence when Somali militias ambushed them. Pakistani peacekeepers also played a major part in the rescue of US forces when they tried to capture wanted warlords during the Battle of Mogadishu.[47]
May 1996 - August 1997	Eastern Slovenia	Pakistan had over 1,000 troops as part of UN Transitional Administration for Eastern Slovenia. It provided security that ensured that there was no further fighting between Serbs and Croats.[47]
2003	Haiti	Pakistani troops participated in peace keeping process.
Jan 2001 - Jan 2004	East Timor	Pakistan had over 2000 troops consisting of engineer elements present for construction process taking place in East Timor after civil war.
June 2003 - Dec 2004	Sierra Leone	1500 Pakistani troops participated in peace keeping process.
Jan 2005 - Dec 2006	Burundi	2000 Pakistani troops participated in peace keeping missions.
May 2006 - to date	Liberia	1600 Pakistani troops in peace keeping missions.

[edit]See also

• Indo-Pakistani Wars
• History of the Pakistani Navy
• History of the Pakistani Air Force
• Pakistan and weapons of mass destruction

[edit]Notes

1. ^ "Ranking of military and civilian police contributions to the UN Operations accessdate=2007-04-16".
2. ^ Herodotus; Aubrey De Sélincourt (trans.) (1954). Herodotus: the Histories. Harmondsworth, Middlesex; Baltimore: Penguin Books. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
3. ^ Plutarchus, Mestrius; Bernadotte Perrin (trans.) (1919). Plutarch's Lives. London: William Heinemann. pp. Ch. LXII. ISBN 0674991109. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
4. ^ Plutarchus, Mestrius; Bernadotte Perrin (trans.) (1919). Plutarch's Lives. London: William Heinemann. pp. Ch. LXIII. ISBN 0674991109. Retrieved 2007-11-27.
5. ^ "History books contain major distortions". Daily Times.
6. ^ "The Mughal Legacy: The Golden Age of Northern India, 1526-1858".
7. ^ ^a b Heath, Ian; Michael Perry (2005). The Sikh army 1799-1849. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. pp. 3. ISBN 1841767778.
8. ^ Steinbach, Henry (1846). The Punjaub, being a brief account of the country of the Sikhs. London: Smith, Elder. pp. 9–14.
9. ^ Edwardes, Herbert B. (1851). A year on the Punjab frontier in 1848-49. London: Richard Bentley.
10. ^ ^a b c Talbot, Ian. "Pakistan: A Modern History". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
11. ^ Hussein, Retired Brigadier Noor. "The Evolution of The Pakistan Army". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
12. ^ Nigel Kelly, The History and Culture of Pakistan, pg. 98, ISBN 1 901458 67 9
13. ^ Nigel Kelly, The History and culture of Pakistan, pg. 143-144, ISBN 1 901458 67 9
14. ^ Shahid M. Amin, Pakistan's Foreign Policy: A Reappraisal, pg. 44, ISBN 0-19-579801-5
15. ^ "" Rise of Pakistan army"". Retrieved 2007-01-24.
16. ^ Yeager, Chuck. "Yeager : An Autobiography". Retrieved 2006-04-03.
17. ^ "Indo-Pakistan War of 1965". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
18. ^ ^a b "Pakistan Air Force". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
19. ^ Weizman, Ezer. "On Eagles' Wings: The Personal Story of the Leading Commander of the Israeli Air Force". Retrieved 2006-04-03.
20. ^ ^a b "Wars fought by PAF". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
21. ^ BBC, News page. "Pakistan risks new battlefront". Retrieved 2006-04-08.
22. ^ "Balochistan insurgency". Retrieved 2007-01-24.
23. ^ "1979: Deposed Pakistani PM is executed". Retrieved 2007-01-25.
24. ^ "1State and Pakistan Economy II". Retrieved 2007-01-25.
25. ^ Federation of American Scientists, (FAS). "The Pressler Amendment and Pakistan's Nuclear Weapons Program". Retrieved 2006-04-08.
26. ^ News, Village Voice. "Why do they hate us?". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
27. ^ Amnesty International file on Afghanistan URL Accessed March 22, 2006
28. ^ ^a b BBC, News Page. "Analysis: Who are the Taliban?". Retrieved 2006-04-08.
29. ^ Online, Human Rights Watch. "PAKISTAN'S SUPPORT OF THE TALIBAN". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
30. ^ Easen, Nick. "Siachen: The world's highest cold war". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
31. ^ , Cost of Conflict Between India and Pakistan, ISBN 81-88262-05-6
32. ^ "COUP IN PAKISTAN". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
33. ^ "Clinton Embarks on Visit to Pakista". Retrieved 2006-04-10.
34. ^ afp.google.com, Zardari wins Pakistan presidential election: officials
35. ^ news.bbc.co.uk, Bhutto's widower wins presidency
36. ^ nytimes.com, Zardari Is Elected Pakistan’s President
37. ^ "Who will strike first", The Economist, December 20, 2001.
38. ^ "India to withdraw troops from Pak border", Times of India, October 16, 2002.
39. ^ "Pakistan to withdraw front-line troops", BBC, October 17, 2002.
40. ^ http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/pakistan-played-major-role-in-ltte-defeat-sources/63044/on
41. ^ http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/pakistan-played-major-role-in-ltte-defeat-sources/63044/on
42. ^ David Montero (2006-06-22). "Killing scares media away from Waziristan". Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
43. ^ "Pakistan attacks Waziristan compound". Al Jazeera. 2006-03-16. Retrieved 2008-08-25.
44. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090611/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan_turning_point
45. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5946916.ece
46. ^ Zahid Hussain in Islamabad and Michael Evans, Defence Editor. "US airstrike kills 11 Pakistani soldiers in 'cowardly and unprovoked attack'". Times Online. Retrieved 2008-10-19.
47. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "The Pakistan Army In Service Of Peace". Retrieved 2006-04-10.

[edit]Further reading

• Brian Cloughley (2001). A History of the Pakistan Army. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-579507-5.
• Stephen P. Cohen (1998). The Pakistan Army. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-577948-7.
• Jessica Stern and Hassan Abbas (2004). Pakistan's Drift Into Extremism: Allah, The Army, And America's War On Terror. M.E. Sharpe.ISBN 0-7656-1497-9.
• Gul Hassan Khan (1994). Memoirs of Lt. Gen. Gul Hassan Khan : (The Last Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army) (The Last Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-577447-7.