Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers

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Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers
File:Corps of Engineers logo.png
Ensign of Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers
Founded14 August 1947; 76 years ago (1947-08-14)
Country Pakistan
Branch Pakistan Army
TypeMilitary engineering
RoleCombat engineering
SizeApprox. 65,000 personnel
Part of Pakistan Armed Forces
Garrison/HQGeneral Headquarters (GHQ), Rawalpindi Cantonment, Punjab
Nickname(s)Sappers. Blue Berets
Motto(s)Urdu: روحِ رواں
"The Moving Spirit"[1]
Colours  
Anniversaries6 September (Defence Day)
Engagements/Civil Operations
See list:
WebsitePakistan Army − Engineers
Commanders
Colonel CommandantLieutenant General Moazzam Ijaz
Engineer-in-ChiefLieutenant General Moazzam Ijaz
Command Sergeant MajorGeneral Mansoor Ali
Notable
commanders		Lt Gen M. Anwar Khan
Lt Gen Zahid Ali Akbar
Lt Gen Javed Nasir
Gen Ziauddin Butt
Lt Gen Sajjad Ghani

The Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers, (Urdu: ﺁرمى انجنيرينگ كور; Army Engineering Corps), is an active military administrative staff corps, and a major science and technology command of the Pakistan Army.[2] Although the Corps is generally associated with dams, canals and flood protection, it performs variety of public works for the Government of Pakistan, only if it is ordered by the Prime Minister.[2]

Besides the performing and undertaking the combat and military engineering operations, the Corps operates major engineering organizations such as the Military Engineer Service (MES), the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and the Survey of Pakistan.[2] The Corps is commanded by a three-star general— a Lieutenant-General— who is designated as the Engineer-in-Chief, served as the Chief Army Topographer (CAT) and consult and guide the Chief of Army Staff in the important concerning matters of science and technology.[3] The current Engineer-in-Chief and current commander of the Corps of Engineers is Lieutenant General Moazzam Ijaz.[3]

History

Initially part of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers which dates back to 1780, the Corps of Engineers came in its own on 14 August 1947, following the birth of Pakistan.[2] At that time, the organisation was named "The Royal Pakistan Engineers", which remained so till March 1956, when Pakistan become a Republic, and its name changed to the "Corps of Engineers".[4]

The partition of British India, led to a share of the British Indian Army units being allotted to Pakistan; amongst these were 34 Engineer units and subunits.[5] The field units were from the Bengal and Bombay groups, roughly two-thirds of the former, and one-third of the latter. The units transferred from the Bengal Group were H.Q. 622 Corps Engineer Group, with 31 Assault Field Company, 33 Parachute Field Squadron, along with 2, 4, 5, 68, 70 and 71 Field Companies, 43 and 322 Field Park Companies and a number of E. & M., Railway and other specialist units.[5] From the Bombay Group, Pakistan received Headquarters 474 Army Engrs, 17 91 and 98 Field Companies, 42 Field Park Company, a troop of 411 Para Field Squadron ex Karachi, and 489 Independent Stores Platoon.[6] The Corps took active military participation in the 1965 war, the 1971 war, the 1999 war, the 2001 standoff and the current operations as of 2000s.[2]

Activities

In the 1960s, the Corps designed the Karakoram Highway, at that time, one of its largest project that connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass, at an altitude of 4,693 m or 15,397 ft as confirmed by both SRTM and multiple GPS readings.[7][8] During the Kashmir earthquake of 2005, the Corps initiated the massive and one of the largest rehabilitation and reconstruction operations in Corps history, rebuilding and redesigning the entire cities of Gilgit and Muzaffarabad as well as Azad Kashmir. Its speedy rehabilitation operation was completed in record time and the entire city was rebuilt in 2008. As more recently, the Corps undertook the intensive rehabilitation and reconstruction operations in deluge in southern parts as well as recent earthquake in Western parts.

Since its inception, the Corps has built extensive military and civilian infrastructure of Pakistan Armed Forces as well as Pakistan Government, ranging from building bridges, dams, military regional headquarters and civil corporate architectural buildings.[2] The Corps mission has been extended with time passes, and is renowned to have designed, construct, and built the GHQ, ammunition plants, army cantonments, as well as Kahuta Project and its related research facilities.[2][9]

References

  1. ^ "PAKISTAN ARMY". www.pakistanarmy.gov.pk. Archived from the original on 30 October 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g PA, Pakistan Army. "Corps of Engineers". Pakistan Army. Directorate General for Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR). Retrieved 11 November 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Major-General Ashfaq Nadeem made Director General Military Operations". The Nation (Pakistan). 16 April 2011. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  4. ^ "Corps of Engineers". Pakistan Army web portal. Government of Pakistan. Archived from the original on 5 July 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
  5. ^ a b Sandes, E. W. C. (1956). The Indian Engineers 1939–47. Kirkee: Institution of Military Engineers.
  6. ^ Rego, CJ (2012). Cradle of Valour - The History of the Regimental Centre of The Bombay Sappers. Headquarters Bombay Engineer Group and Centre.
  7. ^ Lonely Planet Karakoram Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ Khalid, PA, Brigadier Mumtaz. "History of KKH". Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. Brigadier (retired) Khalid Mumtaz, Commander of 158th Engineers Brigade. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  9. ^ Rahman, Shahidur (1999). Long road to Chagai§ The Background. Karachi, Oxford, and Lahore: Printwise Publications.

External links

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