History of formation of Pakistan Armed Force                       

he Pakistani Military was first formed at the time of achieving independence parting India in 1947 from British Empire.  The Army, Navy and Air Force were commissioned for the protection of the sovereignty of Pakistan. From the time of its inception, the military played a decisive role in the formation  of national unity and identity and also faced the wars boldly in 1947 and 1965 against India.  [ Army : 550,000 + Navy, 24,000 + Air force, 45,000 + Para MF, 302,000 = 921,000]  As of 2008 about 921,000 people are active in the military with an additional 528,000 people in reserves. The military is now the 7th largest in the world. The Pakistani army deployed 10,000 personnel as peace keeping force in regard to build up the force of United Nations. Before 1947, many of the military officers, who fought in British military in World War II, joined the military of Pakistan giving it professionalism, experience and leadership. Pakistan Army helped the Arab countries in imparting training in Arab- Israeli Wars and in the Gulf War. It has made a record of fighting three wars against India and now heavily engaged in  anti-terrorist operations along the border areas of Afghanistan as an alley of Western force. About 90,000 troops along with its paramilitary forces are involved in the fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda extremists.

China and Pakistan both agreed in the formulation of several defense treaties                                   

Pakistan always considered India as its greatest enemy because loss of any territory to India is a gain of territory to Pakistan. The newly formed Pakistan was more concerned with the increment of the boundary of the state instead of economy of the state and welfare of the people of the state. To counter the Indian military force, Pakistan has build up its friendship with the biggest Asian country China that holds importance and is priceless in terms of common interest and geo-strategic alliance. By the time the friendship has improved a step further and China -Pakistan both agreed in the formulation of several defense treaties. To increase the military strength, China has cooperated with Pakistan in setting up weapon production Centers utilizing modern technology. Now both the countries are actively involved in the joint venture of several projects to enhance each other’s military strength. The projects included JF-17 Thunder fighter aircraft, K-8 Karakorum advance training aircraft, space technology, Al Khalid tank, missiles, and also many other projects. Addition to that the two countries held several military exercises together to enhance cooperation and practical experience between two armed forces. China has invested largely to develop Gwadar, a Deep Sea Port, strategically a very important site.

Pakistan Army enhanced its military strength with the cooperation America

On the one hand Pakistan has increased its relation with the biggest Asian neighbor China; on the other hand Pakistan has successfully enhanced its military cooperation with USA to a great extent after 9/11 to get huge aid and modern weaponry in spite of her nexus with Taliban, Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups. The Chief of Staff Navy, Mike Mullen had paid a visit to Pakistan on Feb.9, 2008 to discuss the security issues with Pakistani military officials.  It accounts how significant is the Pakistan’s military strength and how important is the role of Pakistan in the world of politics. Pakistan government was successful so long in dealing with the Super Power USA under the strain of good or bad relations. The policy of Pakistan government is simple, when relations were good, extract access of Aid Fund, sophisticated weaponry and training but when relations were bad, maintain silence and accept the less what is offered by grace. It surprises to account, that the military aid received by Pakistan during the period of three years before September11, was only about $ 9 million but the aid increased to $ 4.2 billion during the period of three years after 11 September. The Western allied partner France is also actively involved to build an alliance with Pakistan to upgrade defense industry. A number of joint- venture project are in progress, such as, Acosta submarines for the Pakistan Navy, Mirage fighter aircraft for the Pakistan Air Force.

 Pakistan offered the service as Military instructors and trainers to Muslim countries against financial support                                                 

The creation of Pakistan is based on religion as such it tries to maintain a close and cordial relation with Middle East based on shared religion and geography of the region. Because of closer relationship, the bigger Saudi Arabia and the smaller Persian Gulf states gracefully extended their financial support to Pakistan for acquiring military equipment from United States in 1980 and Pakistan on the reverse offered the service as instructors and trainers in Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates since 1960. Arabs have been trained in their home countries as well as in Pakistan by Pakistani pilots and technicians. Pakistan was in strong military relation with Iran as both the countries were in the American camp opposing the Soviet Union and India during the Shah era. During the war in 1965, Iran helped Pakistan by giving free fuel and air-port to Pakistani fighter planes against India. After the Iranian revolution, Pakistan government was the first to recognize the new Iranian government. When the military ties with USA were severed, Pakistan helped the Iranian military by supplying spare parts to the largely American equipped Iranian Military. The relation of Pakistan with Iranian began to deteriorate after Soviet attack in Afghanistan. The arrival of a large number of Sunni foreign fighters in Pakistan caused a tension between Sunni and Shia communities in Pakistan. With the out break of Iraq –Iran War, USA pressurized Pakistan to stop its military aid to Iran. The closing of supplying spare parts, Shia – Sunni conflict, and the support of Iraq, all together annoyed Iran and henceforth, the Iran’s relation with Pakistan continued to decline. After withdrawal of Soviet force from Afghanistan, Taliban came to power with Pakistan’s help. Iran and Taliban almost went to war in 1997 disputing territory and drug trafficking. The situation pushes Iran towards India to improve relation. Of course Pakistan has started to re-build its relation afresh after the overthrown of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and again Pakistan has begun to sell military equipment to Iran. Even Pakistan had acknowledged the transfer of nuclear centrifuges to Iran by A.Q.Khan, although it denied officially having had any knowledge of the transaction. After making a military pact with Turkey, and correlating its Iranian connection, Pakistan had established a bridge among the Muslim countries starting from Iran to Turkey that would have tempted Pakistan to think for a larger new Muslim State in Central Asia. [Pakistan’s Special Service Wing carrying FNF2000 rifles on training at Fort Lewis, Wash, in USA on, July 23, 2007].

 America was helping Pakistan Army in special technique for terror strike against Afghan Taliban: The attack on Wall Trade and Washington had shaken the USA and now for the cause of security America wanted to demolish the terrorist and terrorist centers of Afghanistan with the help of neighbor state Pakistan. America under compulsion has made Pakistan an ally in terror strike against Afghanistan. That was why America was helping Pakistan army in acquiring special technique and special training with advance sophistication in warfare. Therefore the Special Service Group (SSG), an independent commando division force, an elite special operation force, similar to the British Special Air Service or the United States Army Special Force was build up in Pakistan Army, the strength of which is estimated to have been increased from 3 Battalions to 6 Battalions. The Special Service Group Navy (SSGN), an independent commando division force of Navy, an elite special operation force consisting of 700 to 1000 personal is recruited for training and A Special Service Wing (SSG), an independent commando division of Pakistan Air Force, an elite special operation force fielding between 700 to 1000 men in 1 company has been built up.  6.    Pakistan initiated number of joint projects to become self sufficient in aircraft, tank and helicopter production:

By early 2000, Pakistan had taken number of joint projects to become self sufficient in aircraft overhaul, tank and helicopter production. The joint project with China led to the development of Jf-17 Thunder fighter and the Al- Khalid Tank, the joint project with Franc led to the construction of the Agosta 90 B Submarine in 1990-2000. The Al-Khalid Tank is supposed to be an entirely new tank that has been building based on Western designs. It is poised to become the Pakistan Army’s backbone main battle tank from 2012 replacing all obsolete older tanks. 

Pakistan is a Nuclear weapons country capable of delivering air craft and missiles over a considerable long distance. Pakistan is not a signatory to Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty that causes a concern for India as Pakistan always consider India as its enemy in action if not verbally. Some notable observations:  [1. Pakistan is considered as one of the best military academies in Asia and many officer corps from Asian as well as African and Eastern European countries attend Pakistan’s Military Academies. 2. Pakistan Army soldiers are displaying on 23 March, 2008, JF-17 Thunder-during fly small arms on National day Joint Service Parade. 3. MP4s and G3s on display at Defense Expo in Karachi, Pakistan – these guns are produced at Pakistan Ordnance Factory at Wah Cantonment, near Rawalpind.]

To strengthen naval force, Pakistan ordered four F-22P light frigates from China in 2005. In 2006, Pakistan Navy announced its requirement for three attacking submarines of modern technology. The Naval firms of French as well as German are likely to comply with the requirement.    

In Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Indian Navy was in constant threat after the sinking of Indian frigate INS Khuri by the submarine PNS Hangor. The major threat was from the dreaded PNS Ghazi- the only long range submarine. But fortunately for Indian Navy, the Ghazi was sunk in the Bay of Bengal under unexplained circumstances.                         

Role of Pakistani Army in the Power Politics of Pakistan

Since the formation, the Pakistani army is taking part in the administration as well as in the formation of Pakistan government. Taking the advantage of chaos in the different political parties in Pakistan in the formation of government, the Pakistan army repeatedly seized power in the name of stabilizing Pakistan. In 1956, the political turmoil within the ruling party was as such that the speaker of the National Assembly was beaten to death in front of the assembly hall, when General Ayub Khan for the cause of nation agreed to take power and ruled Pakistan under military. General Yahya Khan came to power in 1969 and later in 1977, General Zia ul-Haq took over the power of administration of Pakistan and ruled as a dictator virtually unopposed until his death in 1988. Even though in the intermittent period the democracy prevailed in the country, the political muscle of the military is ever present. General Pervez Musharraf came to power in October 1999 in a bloodless coup overthrowing the elected government led by Nawaz Sharif. In the midst of unrest terrorist groups had been grown up unopposed in different places of Pakistan and to day Pakistan administration is under compulsion agreed to find terms of negotiation with terrorist organization in the Swait region.