Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers
The Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers, (Urdu: ﺁرمى انجنيرينگ كور; Army Engineering Core), is an active military administrative staff corps, and a major science and technology command of the Pakistan Army.[2] Although the Corps is generally associated with dams, canals and flood protection, it performs variety of public works for the Government of Pakistan, only if it is ordered by the civilian Prime minister.[2]
Besides the performing and undertaking the combat and military engineering operations, the Corps operates major engineering organizations such as the Military Engineering Service (MES), the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering and the Survey of Pakistan.[2] The Corps is commanded by a three-star general— a Lieutenant-General— who is designated as the Engineer-in-Chief, served as the Chief Army Topographer (CAT) and consult and guide the Chief of Army Staff in the important concerning matters of science and technology.[1] The current Engineer-in-Chief and current commander of the Corps of Engineers is Lieutenant-General Khalid Asghar.[1]
Initially part of the Indian Army Corps of Engineers which dates back to 1780, but it came in its modern form on 14 August 1947, following the birth of Pakistan.[2] As for its war performances, the Corps took active military participation in the 1965 war, the 1971 war, the 1999 war, the 2001 standoff and the current operations as of 2000s.[2] In the 1960s, the Corps designed the Karakoram Highway, at that time, one of its largest project that connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass, at an altitude of 4,693 m or 15,397 ft as confirmed by both SRTM and multiple GPS readings.[3][4]
During the Kashmir earthquake of 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 and Muzaffarabad as well as the Kashmir Province. 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 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.[2] The Corps mission has been extended with time passes, and is renowned to have designed, construct, and built the Combatant Generals' Headquarters (GHQ), ammunition plants, army cantonments, as well as Kahuta Project and its related research facilities.[2][5]
References
- 1 2 3 Our Staff Reporter (16 April 2011). "Major-General Ashfaq Nadeem made Director-General of Military Operations". Dawn News (The Pakistan Army Combatant Generals Headquarter (GHQ), Rawalpindi, Punjab Province: Nawa-i-Waqt Groupand The Nation). p. 1. Retrieved 2010.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 PA, Pakistan Army. "Corps of Engineers". Pakistan Army. Directorate General for Inter-Service Public Relations (ISPR). Retrieved 11 November 2011.
- ↑ Lonely Planet Karakoram
- ↑ Khalid, PA, Brigadier-General Mumtaz. "History of KKH". Pakistan Army Corps of Engineers. Brigadier-General (retired) Khalid Mumtaz, GOC of 158th Engineers Brigade. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
- ↑ Rahman, Shahidur (1999). Long road to Chagai§ The Background. Karachi, Oxford, and Lahore,: Printwise Publications.
