The XII Corps is a field
corps of the Pakistan Army currently headquartered in
Quetta,
Balochistan in Pakistan.
With
reserves,
paramilitary
A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934.
Overview
Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
, and
other military formations supporting the XII Corps, the corps has an
area of responsibility of Balochistan and oversees its mission of
responsibility to protect as an army's regional formation in Pakistan's security apparatus known as the Southern Command.
History
Formations and war service
The
Afghan and
Iranian immigration to Pakistan and the
Afghan Army's military raids in
Chaman prompted the
Army GHQ to form and raise the military formations to guard its western borders in 1984.
The XII Corps was raised with its HQ in
Quetta Cantonment as Lt-Gen.
K.K. Afridi becoming its first commander in 1985.
Its military engagement has been limited to the
Balochistan conflict
The insurgency in Balochistan () is an ongoing insurgency by Baloch people, Baloch separatist insurgents and various Islamist militant groups against the governments of Iran in the Provinces of Iran, province of Sistan and Baluchestan provinc ...
, which it mainly tackles through the
Frontier Corps (paramilitary) and local
police department.
Syed Zakir Ali Zaidi served as the corps commander in 1987-89. After handing over the corps to his successor he became president of the
National Defence University, from 1 August 1989 to18 June 1990.
Similar to the
V Corps in Sindh, the XII Corps has an area of expertise in
desert warfare, and oversees security operations together with the local law enforcement, mechanized divisions guarding the nation's desert and dune ranges, and paramilitary to ensure the national defenses of the Pakistan.
Together with the air force units, naval bases, marines camps, paramilitaries, army reserves, and air forces ranges, the XII Corps forms and leads the major regional formation in Pakistan's security spectrum known as the Southern Command.
Structure
The XII Corps has not seen military action against the
Indian Army (east) nor the
Afghan National Army
The Islamic National Army (, ), also referred to as the Islamic Emirate Army and the Afghan Army, is the army, land force branch of the Afghan Armed Forces. The roots of an army in Afghanistan can be traced back to the early 18th century when th ...
(west) but tackled counterinsurgency time to time which led to the troop rotations based on the strategic calculations.
The XII Corps has receives reinforcement in its missions on war on terror and is based on the known information publicly available:
List of Commanders XII Corps
See also
*
2022 Pakistan Army helicopter incident
References
Further reading
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Xii Corps (Pakistan)
Corps of the Pakistan Army
Military units and formations established in 1984
Military in Balochistan, Pakistan