Pakistan's army ranks 7th in the world in terms of military personnel. Over the history of this country, it has more than once become the force that overthrew the democratically elected government and brought representatives of its high command to power.
Pakistan Army: Founding
After the division of British India in 1947, this country received at its disposal 6 tank regiments, as well as 8 artillery and infantry regiments. At the same time, independent India got a much more powerful army. It included 12 tank, 21 infantry and 40 artillery regiments.
In the same year, the Indo-Pakistani war was unleashed. Kashmir has become a bone of contention. This area, which was territorially assigned to India during the initial partition, was of great importance for Pakistan, as it provided water resources to its main agricultural region, the Punjab. As a result of UN intervention, Kashmir was divided. Pakistan got the northwestern regions of this historical principality, and the rest of its territory went to India.
The Kashmir War showed that the armedforces need to be nationalized. The fact is that at the time of gaining independence by British India, most of their commanding staff were British. After partition, some of them ended up in the Pakistani army. During the armed conflict, British officers on both sides did not want to fight against each other, so they sabotaged the execution of orders from their superiors. Seeing the danger in this state of affairs, the government of Pakistan has done a lot to provide its army with professional personnel from representatives of local tribes and peoples.
History before 1970
In 1954, the United States and Pakistan signed a bilateral agreement on mutual military assistance in Karachi. As a result of this agreement, as well as a similar document regarding relations with Great Britain, the country received significant amounts of financial and military assistance.
In 1958, the Pakistani army staged a bloodless coup that brought General Ayub Khan to power. Under his rule, tensions with India continued to rise, and skirmishes on the border became more frequent. In the end, in 1965, the Pakistani army launched Operation Gibr altar, the purpose of which was to capture the Indian part of the former historical province of Kashmir. It turned into a full-scale war. In response to the invasion of its territory, India launched a large-scale counteroffensive. It was stopped after the intervention of the UN, whose mediation led to the signing of the Tashkent Declaration. This document marked the end of the war without anyterritorial changes on both sides.
War in East Pakistan
In 1969, as a result of the uprising, Ayub Khan resigned his post and transferred power to General Yahya Khan. Along with this, a war for independence began in Bangladesh. India took the side of the Benagles. She led her troops into East Pakistan. As a result, in December 1971, 90,000 soldiers and civil servants surrendered to the Indian army. The war ended with the formation of a new state in East Pakistan called Bangladesh.
1977-1999
In 1977, the Pakistani army staged another coup d'état, as a result of which the leadership of the country passed to General Mohammed Zia-ul-Haq. This politician did not fulfill his promise to hold democratic elections within 90 days. Instead, he ruled Pakistan as a military dictator until his death in a plane crash in 1988.
The last armed coup in the history of the country took place in 1999. As a result, the Pakistani army overthrew the democratically elected government for the fourth time, which led to the introduction of economic sanctions against the country. They remained in force almost throughout the reign of General Pervez Musharraf.
Fighting terrorism
After September 11, 2001, Pakistan became an active participant in the elimination of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. In particular, the command of the Armed Forces sent 72,000 soldiers to seizemembers of these organizations who fled from Afghanistan.
The war against terrorists is still one of the main tasks facing the Pakistani army.
Suppression of the uprising in Balochistan
In 2005, the Pakistani army was forced to fight the separatists. They took place on the territory of Balochistan. The rebels were led by Nawab Akbar Bugti, who demanded greater autonomy for the region and compensation for the resources exported from there. In addition, dissatisfaction was caused by insufficient funding for the region. As a result of the special operations of the special forces of Pakistan, almost all the leaders of the Baloch were physically destroyed.
War with the Taliban
The Pakistan Army, whose weapons are presented below, has been forced to wage trench warfare with an internal enemy for many years. Its opponent was the Taliban. In 2009, the confrontation entered the phase of an active offensive, which bore fruit. The Taliban suffered heavy losses and were forced to abandon their fortified forts. South Waziristan was the first to be liberated. Then the battles for Orakzai began, during which the Taliban lost more than 2,000 fighters.
Armaments and numbers
As already mentioned, the Pakistani army ranks 7th in the world in terms of the number of soldiers and officers. Its number is approximately 617 thousand people, and there are about 515,500 more in the personnel reserve.
The armed forces are made up of volunteers, mostly males, who have reached the age of 17. There are also women soldiers in the Pakistan Navy and Air Force. At the same time, annually in the countrymilitary age reaches more than 2,000,000 people.
Pakistan's ground forces use a wide range of weapons, consisting of 5745 armored vehicles, 3490 tanks, as well as 1065 self-propelled and 3197 towed artillery pieces. The country's Navy consists of 11 modern frigates and 8 submarines, while the Air Force is armed with 589 helicopters and 1,531 aircraft.
Comparison of the armies of India and Pakistan
The Hindustan Peninsula is one of the most densely populated and militarized places on the planet. The regular Indian army currently has 1,325,000 men, almost twice as many as the Pakistani army. The T-72, T-55, Vijayanta and Arjun tanks are in service. The air force fleet is equipped with Su-30MK, MiG-21, MiG-25, MiG-23, MiG-27, Jaguar, MiG-29, Mirage 2000 and Canberra combat aircraft. The Navy operates the Hermes aircraft carrier, several submarines, frigates, destroyers, and corvettes. In addition, the main striking force of the Indian army is the missile forces.
Thus, Pakistan is inferior to its permanent enemy both in terms of the number of weapons and their power.
Now you know what the Pakistan Army is famous for. The Parade of the Armed Forces of this country is an extremely interesting and colorful spectacle, which is definitely worth watching at least in the recording.
