The Northern Light Infantry Regiment (NLI) is a

light infantry Light infantry refers to certain types of lightly equipped infantry throughout history. They have a more mobile or fluid function than other types of infantry, such as heavy infantry or line infantry. Historically, light infantry often foug ...

regiment A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation. In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscript ...

in the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ) is the land service branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The roots of its modern existence trace back to the British Indian Army that ceased to exist following the Partition of British India, which occurred as a result ...

, based and currently headquartered in

Gilgit Gilgit (; Shina: ; ur, ) is the capital city of Gilgit–Baltistan, Pakistan. The city is located in a broad valley near the confluence of the Gilgit River and the Hunza River. It is a major tourist destination in Pakistan, serving as a ...

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

. Along with other forces of the

Pakistani military The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are ...

, the NLI has the primary responsibility of conducting ground operations in the interest of defending the strategically-important territory of Gilgit−Baltistan, a Pakistani-controlled region that constitutes part of

Kashmir Kashmir () is the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term "Kashmir" denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal Range. Today, the term encompas ...

, which has been

disputed Controversy is a state of prolonged public dispute or debate, usually concerning a matter of conflicting opinion or point of view. The word was coined from the Latin ''controversia'', as a composite of ''controversus'' – "turned in an opposite d ...

between Pakistan and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

since 1947. The NLI draws a majority of its recruits from native

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

present in the nearby mountainous areas who are reportedly less prone to altitude sickness and the cold temperatures that characterize high-altitude mountain warfare, allowing the regiment to conduct its duties optimally. The Northern Light Infantry is best known for the extensive assistance and training it provided to the Afghan mujahideen (with backing from the

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

and

ISI ISI or Isi may refer to: Organizations * Intercollegiate Studies Institute, a classical conservative organization focusing on college students * Ice Skating Institute, a trade association for ice rinks * Indian Standards Institute, former name of ...

) during the

Soviet–Afghan War The Soviet–Afghan War was a protracted armed conflict fought in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. It saw extensive fighting between the Soviet Union and the Afghan mujahideen (alongside smaller groups of anti-Soviet ...

Formation

The Northern Light Infantry has its origins in the Gilgit Scouts raised by

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in 1913 for defending the

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Kashmir, the northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered ...

's northern frontier. The Scouts, along with rebels in the

Jammu and Kashmir State Forces Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of , ...

, fought for

on the northern front of the First Kashmir War, conquering important points of interest such as Skardu,

Kargil Kargil ( lbj, ) is a city and a joint capital of the union territory of Ladakh, India. It is also the headquarters of the Kargil district. It is the second-largest city in Ladakh after Leh. Kargil is located to the east of Srinagar in J ...

and Drass (the latter two were subsequently captured by the

Indian Army The Indian Army is the Land warfare, land-based branch and the largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head is the Chief of Arm ...

). In 1949, the Gilgit Scouts were split into two forces, with the wing under the original name 'Gilgit Scouts' designated for internal security operations, and a second wing, named the 'Northern Scouts', designated for major external operations. In 1964, the Northern Scouts were further bifurcated with the raising of the 'Karakoram Scouts' based in Skardu. All three forces were brought together again in 1975, under the banner of the Northern Light Infantry (then a paramilitary force). Following the 1999

Kargil War The Kargil War, also known as the Kargil conflict, was fought between India and Pakistan from May to July 1999 in the Kargil district of Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere along the Line of Control (LoC). In India, the conflict is also referre ...

with India, where the Northern Light Infantry saw extensive combat, the force was converted into a regular

of the

.Northern Light Infantry Regiment (NLI)
, Pakistan Army, retrieved 25 March 2018.
Gilgit Baltistan Scouts, retrieved 6 April 2018. A new paramilitary force was created in 2003 under the name Gilgit−Baltistan Scouts to fill the internal security role of the former Gilgit Scouts.

Status and composition

Upon its founding, the Northern Light Infantry regiment was to function as a

paramilitary force A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

, at par with the

Pakistan Rangers The Pakistan Rangers ( ur, ) are a paramilitary federal law enforcement organization in Pakistan, operating under the authority of the Interior Secretary of Pakistan. Their primary purpose is to secure and defend sites of significance in th ...

and

Frontier Corps The Frontier Corps ( ur, , reporting name: FC), are a group of paramilitary forces of Pakistan, operating in the provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, to maintain law and order while overseeing the country's borders with Afghanist ...

, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Interior and commanded by regular

officers. In 1967 and 1970, two battalions of the NLI were airlifted and deployed to

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...

Sindh Sindh (; ; ur, , ; historically romanized as Sind) is one of the four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the southeastern region of the country, Sindh is the third-largest province of Pakistan by land area and the second-largest province ...

, for internal security duties such as riot control and aiding civil authorities during an election-related period of violence. The regiment's performance during this time earned them a commendation from Field Marshal Ayub Khan. By 1998, the NLI consisted of 20 battalions commanded by a

Major-General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

of the Pakistan Army under the designation of Inspector-General of the NLI, whose office was the Inspectorate-General of NLI reporting to the GOC, X Corps as well as the Pakistani Interior Minister.

Notable operations

Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989)

Following the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

's invasion of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

in 1979, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

launched Operation Cyclone, in which they financed and armed the Afghan mujahideen to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a

Soviet satellite state A satellite state or dependent state is a country that is formally independent in the world, but under heavy political, economic, and military influence or control from another country. The term was coined by analogy to planetary objects orbitin ...

and subsequently threaten Pakistan (a U.S. ally in the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because t ...

). Here, with primarily

Saudi Arabian Saudis ( ar, سعوديون, Suʿūdiyyūn) are people identified with the country of Saudi Arabia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. The Saudis are composed mainly of Arabs and primarily speak a regional dialect ...

and American financing, the Northern Light Infantry trained Afghan mujahideen fighters in Gilgit−Baltistan before sending them back to Afghanistan with

state-of-the-art The state of the art (sometimes cutting edge or leading edge) refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time. However, in some contexts it can also refer to a level ...

armaments to fight the Soviet military.

Siachen Glacier Conflict (1984–2003)

seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with lo ...

of the

Siachen Glacier The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas at about , just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends. At long, it is the longest glacier in the Kara ...

(an area of

that was uninhabited and not controlled by any parties to the Kashmir conflict) in 1984 resulted in the renewal of high-level tensions with

until a mutual ceasefire agreement was brought into effect in 2003. During this period of intermittent fighting in the Siachen conflict, the NLI's 1st battalion performed defence and support work.

Kargil War (1999)

In 1984, Pakistan Army was planning to capture the strategic important front of

. However, India's R&AW detected it in time and subsequently, the Indian Army conducted Operation Meghdoot successfully thereby incurring heavy losses on Pakistan by capturing the Siachen Glacier terrain which proved to be an aggressive step for upcoming days. Pakistan felt humiliated and wanted to revenge and launched several failed operations suffering heavy losses. Lastly after 15 years, In May 1999 Pakistan began operations to occupy key Indian forward posts along the Line of Control (LoC), sparking the

. Initially

denied any involvement in the war. However, later on, it was reported that the

had launched forces exclusively from the Northern Light Infantry during this conflict. These included the 5th,

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second ...

, 8th and 12th battalions in full strength and some elements of the

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * H ...

, 4th, 7th and 11th battalions with the paramilitary

Chitral Chitral ( khw, , lit=field, translit=ćhitrār; ur, , translit=ćitrāl) is situated on the Chitral River in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. It serves as the capital of the Chitral District and before that as the capital of Chitral ...

and Bajaur Scouts, both of the

, deployed for logistical support. Massive Indian counterattack coupled with heavy diplomatic pressure from the

forced Pakistan to begin a withdrawal after months of intense fighting. Pakistani casualties during this conflict, like those of other Indo−Pakistani conflicts, remain disputed and unconfirmed. International sources (such as those from the U.S. Department of Defense) place Pakistani casualties at around 700+. After 11 years, Pakistan officially reported that around 453 of its soldiers were killed during the conflict. PM

Nawaz Sharif Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif (Urdu, Punjabi: ; born 25 December 1949) is a Pakistani businessman and politician who has served as the Prime Minister of Pakistan for three non-consecutive terms. He is the longest-serving prime minister of Pak ...

and some other sources placed the Pakistani casualties figure from 2,700 to 4,000 personnel.

Units

* 3rd Battalion * 6th Battalion * 7th Battalion * 10th Battalion * 12th Battalion * 14th Battalion * 17th Battalion

References

External links

Northern Light Infantry - Pakistan Army website
{{Pakistan Infantry Regiments Infantry regiments of Pakistan Mountain units and formations Military units and formations established in 1999 Military in Gilgit-Baltistan