Pakistani Security Forces: Difference between revisions

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'''Pakistan's security forces''' are composed of a regular military, a paramilitary [[Frontier Corps]], [[Inter-Services Intelligence]], and police organizations. The structure reflects a concern with very different threats: major conventional and potentially nuclear warfare with India, guerilla movements in disputed or tribal territories, and [[counterterrorism]] in the main provinces of the country.
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'''Pakistan's security forces''' are composed of a regular military, several paramilitary organizations that will report to a new National Counter Terrorism
Authority (NACTA), [[Inter-Services Intelligence]], and police organizations. The structure reflects a concern with very different threats: major conventional and potentially nuclear warfare with India, guerilla movements in disputed or tribal territories, and [[counterterrorism]] in the main provinces of the country.


==Regular military==
==Regular military==
The conventional forces comprise an Army (includes National Guard), Navy (includes Marines and Maritime Security Agency), and Pakistan Air Force (Pakistan Fiza'ya). UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has maintained a small group of peacekeepers since 1949; India does not recognize Pakistan's ceding historic Kashmir lands to China in 1964; India and Pakistan have maintained their 2004 cease fire in Kashmir and initiated discussions on defusing the armed stand-off in the Siachen glacier region;
The conventional forces comprise an Army (includes National Guard), Navy (includes Marines and Maritime Security Agency), and Pakistan Air Force (Pakistan Fiza'ya).  
<ref name=CIAFact>{{citation
<ref name=CIAFact>{{citation
  | contribution = Pakistan, Military
  | contribution = Pakistan, Military
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  | author = [[Central Intelligence Agency]]
  | author = [[Central Intelligence Agency]]
  | url = https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html}}</ref>
  | url = https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/pk.html}}</ref>
===Regular military===
===Regular military===
===Counterinsurgency===
===Counterinsurgency===
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  | url = http://www.cfr.org/publication/19660/realigning_pakistans_security_forces.html}}</ref>
  | url = http://www.cfr.org/publication/19660/realigning_pakistans_security_forces.html}}</ref>


==Paramilitary==
Paramilitary forces are of varying quality. The most effective are the Pakistan Ranger commands in [[Punjab Province|Punjab]] and [[Sindh Province]]s; the Frontier Corps in the [[Northwest Frontier Province]] and [[Baluchistan Province]] are less so. <ref name=ISPU>{{citation
| title = ISPU: Police and Law Enforcement Reform in Pakistan
| author= [[Hassan Abbas]]
| date = April, 2009
| publisher = Institute for Social Policy and Understanding
| url = http://www.ispu.org/files/PDFs/ISPU%20-%20Police%20Reforms%20in%20Pakistan%20Report.pdf}}</ref>
A new development is having them report to a National Counter Terrorism
Authority (NACTA), to be headed  inspector general of police,
Tariq Pervez. President Zardari asked for funding for NACTA on March 28, 2009; the assumption is that there will be considerable foreign assistance, and incentive pay for the counterterrorism personnel.<ref name=Reuters2009-03-28>{{citation
| Zeeshan Haider
| title = Pakistan’s Zardari hails US Strategy Review
| journal = Reuters
| date = March 28, 2009 | url = http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSISL478252}}</ref>


==Police==
==Police==
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| date = May 5, 2009
| date = May 5, 2009
}}pp. 4-6</ref>
}}pp. 4-6</ref>
<ref name=ISPU>{{citation
==External==
| title = ISPU: Police and Law Enforcement Reform in Pakistan
===Peace operations===
| author= [[Hassan Abbas]]
There has been a small UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) since 1949.
| date = April, 2009
| publisher = Institute for Social Policy and Understanding
| url = http://www.ispu.org/files/PDFs/ISPU%20-%20Police%20Reforms%20in%20Pakistan%20Report.pdf}}</ref>
==References==
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|2}}

Revision as of 21:50, 12 August 2009

Pakistan's security forces are composed of a regular military, several paramilitary organizations that will report to a new National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), Inter-Services Intelligence, and police organizations. The structure reflects a concern with very different threats: major conventional and potentially nuclear warfare with India, guerilla movements in disputed or tribal territories, and counterterrorism in the main provinces of the country.

Regular military

The conventional forces comprise an Army (includes National Guard), Navy (includes Marines and Maritime Security Agency), and Pakistan Air Force (Pakistan Fiza'ya). [1]

Regular military

Counterinsurgency

Counterinsurgency strategists, who think in population-centric rather than enemy-centric terms, are looking at strengthening the Pakistani security forces to operate in a more effective way. This hardly represents a consensus within the Pakistani government, when President Asif Ali Zardari said, in May 2009, Pakistan needed to develop its capabilities and required more military aid,[2]. Also in May, Pakistani Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kiyani said "[E]xcept for very specialized weapons and equipment and [advanced] technology, no generalized foreign training is required," [3] and outside input would be counterproductive.

This is a major conflict for U.S. policymakers. C. Christine Fair of the RAND Corporation said "Pakistan's army does not want to become a counterinsurgency force." [4]

Paramilitary

Paramilitary forces are of varying quality. The most effective are the Pakistan Ranger commands in Punjab and Sindh Provinces; the Frontier Corps in the Northwest Frontier Province and Baluchistan Province are less so. [5]

A new development is having them report to a National Counter Terrorism Authority (NACTA), to be headed inspector general of police, Tariq Pervez. President Zardari asked for funding for NACTA on March 28, 2009; the assumption is that there will be considerable foreign assistance, and incentive pay for the counterterrorism personnel.[6]

Police

Pakistan is facing a grave threat from a variety of insurgent and terrorist groups. So far, the army has been the principal U.S. partner in contending with a variety of insurgent and terrorist threats in the tribal areas, the Northwest Frontier Province, and elsewhere.[7]

External

Peace operations

There has been a small UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) since 1949.

References

  1. Central Intelligence Agency, Pakistan, Military, The World Factbook
  2. "War to be extended beyond Swat, says Zardari", The News (Pakistan), May 18, 2009
  3. "Counter-insurgency training facilities developed: Kayani", Daily Times (Pakistan), May 17, 2009
  4. Realigning Pakistan's Security Forces, Council on Foreign Relations, June 18, 2009
  5. Hassan Abbas (April, 2009), ISPU: Police and Law Enforcement Reform in Pakistan, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding
  6. "Pakistan’s Zardari hails US Strategy Review", Reuters, March 28, 2009
  7. C. Christine Fair (May 5, 2009), From Strategy to Implementation: The Future of the U.S.-Pakistan Relationship, House Foreign Affairs Committee, CT-330pp. 4-6