The Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers is a military administrative and the engineering staff

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

of the

Pakistan Army The Pakistan Army (, ), commonly known as the Pak Army (), is the Land warfare, land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. The president of Pakistan is the Commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the army. The ...

. The Corps of Engineers is generally associated with the civil engineering works,

dams A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, ...

canals Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow u ...

, and

flood protection Flood management or flood control are methods used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters. Flooding can be caused by a mix of both natural processes, such as extreme weather upstream, and human changes to waterbodies and ru ...

, it performs and leads variety of

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

in the country as part of its nation-building mission. The Corps of Engineer is commanded by the Engineer-in-Chief who acts as an army's chief

topographer Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary scienc ...

, and advises the Army GHQ on matters of civil engineering and construction. As of 2023, the current Engineer-in-Chief is Lt-Gen. Kashif Nazir.

History

The engineering arm of the Pakistan Army was commissioned as an administrative branch when it was partitioned from the former

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

's Royal Indian Engineers in 1947. The

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

and

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

engineer group laid the foundation of establishing the engineering arm of the Pakistan Army. From 1947 till 1956, the engineering arm was known as "''Royal Pakistan Engineers''" since it was under the royal patronage, with many British officers serving in the engineering arm. In 1956, Royal Pakistan Engineers changed its designation to the Corps of Engineers. From 1947–69, the Corps of Engineers were an instrument for Pakistan Army to engage in building massive infrastructure, dams, canals, roads, and variety of other important public works projects as part of its nation-building mission. The education and training for the personnel to be commissioned in the corps of engineer is provided at the Military College of Engineering (MCE). The Corps of Engineers is commanded by the Engineer-in-Chief (E-in-C), usually at active-duty three-star rank,

Lieutenant-General Lieutenant general (Lt Gen, LTG and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages, where the title of lieutenant general was held by the second-in-command on the battlefield, who was normall ...

, who serves as the chief topographer and principle engineer in advising the Army GHQ and the

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan () (abbreviated as GoP), constitutionally known as the Federal Government, commonly known as the Centre, is the national authority of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, a federal republic located in South Asia, con ...

on important matters on civil engineering, construction, surveys, and topography.

Current units

1 Engr (Yakta Sappers) 2 Engr (ICHDEIN)(Makran Sappers)(1803) 3 Engr (Behtreen) 4 Engr (Jurrat o Istaklaal) 5 Engr (Laraka Panja)(VC)(King George V's Own)(1799) 6 Engr (The Mighty Six) 7 Engr (Sath Har Dum Sath) 8 Engr 9 Engr 10 Engr 11 Engr (The Builders) 12 Engr (Shaheen) 13 Engr 14 Engr (As Sabiqoon) (Honour dignity pride) (Re builders of NWA) 16 Engr (Al Muqadim) 18 Engr (Dheshat) 19 Engr (Chaghai Sappers) 20 Engr (Hama Tan Tyar Sappers) 21 Engr 22 Engr 23 Engr ( Kashmir Sappers) 24 Engr ( Surkhroo) 25 Engr (The Strikers) 26 Engr (Desert Sappers) 35 Lt Br Bn Engr (EL MECHILI)(The ARMOUR Bourne) 55 IND Fd Coy 62 Engr (Allah Ho) 100 Engr 101 Engr (Khunjrabees) 102 Engr (Quaid Sappers) 103 Engr (Allah O Akbar) 104 Engr (The Star Fighter Brigade) 105 Engr (Unthak Sappers)(Skardu 1967) 106 Engr 107 Engr (Tigers of KKH) 108 Engr 109 Engr (Al Azb Sappers) 122 Fd Coy Engr 129 Fd Coy Engr 151 Pioneer Bn 173 Engr (Paka 71) 174 Engr (Pioneers of KKH) 176 Engr (Ek So chehatar Sab Se Behter) 177 BR Engr (The Chronicle of Tayyar Barq Raftar) 313 Assault Engr (Al Badr Sappers) 314 Assault Engineer Battalion (FAL Mugheerat) "By stallions that charge with panting breath, And hooves that spark the fiery death, They raid at dawn with thunderous pace, Stirring dust in wild embrace, They storm into the heart of foe Amid the clash and battle roar." 316 Mechanised Engr 474 Engr 477 ASGE (Army Survey Group Engineers) 495 Engr 518 Engr (The Zone Seizures) 630 EOD (Daring Saviours) 662 Engr 752 CT Engr

Public works

The Corps of Engineers has been commissioned by the

to undertake massive civil engineering projects by designing and building the

Karakoram Highway The Karakoram Highway (, ), also known as the KKH, National Highway 35 (), N-35, and the ChinaPakistan Friendship Highway, is a National Highways of Pakistan, national highway which extends from Hasan Abdal in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab p ...

which, in

1960s in Pakistan Year 196 ( CXCVI) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Dexter and Messalla (or, less frequently, year 949 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 196 for this ye ...

, was the largest public works initiative in the country that connected the

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

across the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

mountain range, through the

Khunjerab Pass Khunjerab Pass (; ; ) is a mountain pass in northern Pakistan that lies at an elevation of above sea level. It is located in the Karakoram and holds a significant strategic position on the northern border of Pakistan, specifically in the Gilg ...

, at an altitude of as confirmed by both

SRTM The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) is an international research effort that obtained digital elevation models on a near-global scale from 56th parallel south, 56°S to 60th parallel north, 60°N, to generate the most complete high-resol ...

and multiple

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

readings. During the Kashmir earthquake in 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 Gilgit (; Shina language, Shina: ; ) is a city in Pakistani-administered Gilgit-Baltistan, Gilgit–Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region.The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kas ...

and

Muzaffarabad Muzaffarabad (; , IPA: ʊzəfːərɑːbɑːd is a city in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kashmir dispute ...

as well as

Azad Kashmir Azad Jammu and Kashmir (), abbreviated as AJK and colloquially referred to as simply Azad Kashmir ( ), is a region administered by Pakistan as a nominally self-governing entitySee: * * * and constituting the western portion of the larger ...

. 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 A deluge is a large downpour of rain, often a flood. The Deluge refers to the flood narrative in the biblical book of Genesis. Deluge or Le Déluge may also refer to: History *Deluge (history), the Swedish and Russian invasion of the Polish-L ...

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. The Corps mission has been extended with time passes, and is renowned to have designed, construct, and built the GHQ, ammunition plants, regional army headquarters, as well as supporting the nuclear weapons program related national defense's weapons laboratories and its related test sites.

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pakistan Army Corps Of Engineers E E E E Military engineer corps