Vasundhra

I Corps
I Corps
Active	1958 – Present
Country	Pakistan
Allegiance	Pakistan Army
Type	Corps
Size	50,000 approximately (though this may vary as units are rotated)
HQ/Command Control Headquarter	Mangla, Mirpur District, Azad Kashmir
Nickname(s)	I Strike Corps, Mangla Corps
Colors Identification	Red, white and yellow;
Anniversaries	1 July 1957
Engagements	Indo-Pakistani War of 1965; Indo-Pakistani War of 1971; Indo-Pakistani War of 1999; 2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff
Decorations	Military Decorations of Pakistan Military
Commanders
Corps Commander	; Lt. Gen. Ayman Bilal Safdar
Chief of Staff	; Brig. Zulfiqar
Notable; commanders	General Pervez Musharraf; Lt Gen Bakhtiar Rana; Lt Gen Irshad Ahmed Khan; Lt Gen Ghulam Mustafa; Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmad; Lt Gen Mohammad Aslam Shah ; Lt Gen Shamsur Rahman Kallu; Lt Gen Tariq Khan ; Lt Gen Umar Farooq Durrani
Insignia
War Flag

The I Corps, also known as I Strike Corps, of the Pakistan Army is headquartered in Mangla, Azad Kashmir Territory of Pakistan. Known as I Strike Corps, it is one of two strike corps within its ten-manoeuvre Army corps. The I Strike Corps is one of the oldest and major formations of Pakistan Army.

Active in Indo-Pakistan wars, the I Strike Corps subordinated administrative units played an integral role in Kargil war, and also served in current War in North-West Pakistan. Its current Corps-Commander is Lieutenant General Ayman Bilal Safdar .^[2]

History[edit]

The corps headquarters was raised in Abbottabad in 1958.^{[citation needed]} Lt Gen Azam Khan was its first commander. It was the first Pakistani corps ever to take to the field.

1965 War[edit]

During the 1965 war, the corps was one of two corps in action. It commanded all Pakistani troops north of Lahore and in Kashmir. During this time however, because of the sheer number of formations under its command, (8 divisions), it was found easier to split the formations into corps level task forces, as a result in the 1965 war it acted essentially as a Field Army.

1971 war[edit]

I Corps began the 1971 war with a force of two divisions forward supported by an armoured brigade, holding the Shakargarh salient.^[3] 15th Infantry Division was on the left side of the corps' frontage around Sialkot, 8th Infantry Division on the right east of the Degh Nadi, and 8th Armoured Brigade in support. Further back, but titularly part of the corps, was Pakistan's Army Reserve North of 6th Armoured Division and 17th Infantry Division. India planned a major attack in the sector, managed by I Corps, but when the war broke out, the lead Indian formation, 54th Infantry Division only managed to advance a few kilometres – a total of 13 kilometres (8 mi) in two weeks of operations.

Meanwhile, while the Indian attacks went on, the reserve formations did little. 6th Armoured Division remained near Pasrur waiting for orders, while 17th Infantry Division had significant detachments sent off to 23rd Infantry Division on the left and IV Corps on the right.^[4]

Yet the fighting in Shakargarh, while ultimately successful as the Indian aims were thwarted, resulted in 8th Armoured Brigade's heavy loss of armour and some territory was also lost.^[5] As a result, its commander, Lt Gen Irshad Khan, was recommended for court martial and dismissal; this was ultimately not carried out.

Structure[edit]

The corps has not been in action since 1971, though its subordinate units have served on the Line of Control and the war on terror, on secondment to other formations. Its ORBAT is:

Structure of I Corps
Corps	Corps HQ	Corps Commander	Assigned Units	Unit Badge	Unit HQ
I Corps	Mangla	Lt. Gen. Ayman Bilal Safdar	6th Armoured Division		Gujranwala
			17th Infantry Division		Kharian
			37th Infantry Division, Kharian		Kharian
			Independent Infantry Brigade		U/I Location
			Independent Armoured Brigade		U/I Location
			Independent Artillery Brigade		U/I Location
			Independent Air Defence Brigade		U/I Location
			Independent Signal Brigade		U/I Location
			Independent Engineering Brigade		U/I Location

List of corps commanders[edit]

#	Name	Start of tenure	End of tenure
1	Lt Gen Azam Khan	July 1957	1958
2	Lt Gen Bakhtiar Rana	1958	1966
3	Lt Gen Abdul Hamid Khan	1966	March 1969
4	Lt Gen Tikka Khan	March 1969	August 1969
5	Lt Gen Attiqur Rahman	August 1969	February 1970
6	Lt Gen Irshad Ahmed Khan	February 1970	1972
7	Lt Gen Abdul Ali Malik	1972	1974
8	Lt Gen Azmat Baksh Awan	1974	March 1976
9	Lt Gen Ghulam Hassan Khan	March 1976	March 1980
10	Lt Gen Ijaz Azim	March 1980	April 1981
11	Lt Gen Shah Rafi Alam	April 1981	April 1982
12	Lt Gen Shamsur Rahman Kallu	April 1982	April 1986
13	Lt Gen Mohammad Aslam Shah	April 1986	May 1988
14	Lt Gen Zulfikar Akhtar Naz	May 1988	May 1992
15	Lt Gen Khalid Latif Mughal	May 1992	October 1995
16	Lt Gen Pervez Musharraf	October 1995	October 1998
17	Lt Gen Saleem Haider	October 1998	September 1999
18	Lt Gen Tauqir Zia	September 1999	April 2001
19	Lt Gen Ghulam Mustafa	April 2001	April 2002
20	Lt Gen Javed Alam Khan	April 2002	April 2006
21	Lt Gen Sajjad Akram	April 2006	April 2008
22	Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmad	April 2008	April 2010
23	Lt Gen Mohammad Mustafa Khan	April 2010	October 2010
24	Lt Gen Tariq Khan	October 2010	October 2014
25	Lt Gen Mian Mohammad Hilal Hussain	October 2014	September 2015
26	Lt Gen Umar Farooq Durrani	September 2015	April 2017
27	Lt Gen Azhar Saleh Abbasi	April 2017	October 2018
28	Lt Gen Nadeem Zaki Manj	October 2018	November 2019
29	Lt Gen Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood	November 2019	September 2022
30	Lt. Gen. Ayman Bilal Safdar	September 2022	Till Date

References[edit]

^ "Azhar Abbasi promoted, posted as Mangla Corps Commander". pakobserver.net. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.
^ "Appointments in army: Lt Gen Asim Munir new DG ISI". thenews.com.pk. 10 October 2018.
^ Gill, An Atlas of the 1971 India-Pakistan War, NESA (NDU), p.48
^ Gill, p.49
^ Brian Cloughly, A History of Pakistan Army

External links[edit]

GlobalSecurity.org, Global Security Website about the I Corps
This shows the Formations Insignia

[1] ^ "Azhar Abbasi promoted, posted as Mangla Corps Commander". pakobserver.net. Archived from the original on 10 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2019.

[2] ^ "Appointments in army: Lt Gen Asim Munir new DG ISI". thenews.com.pk. 10 October 2018.

[3] ^ Gill, An Atlas of the 1971 India-Pakistan War, NESA (NDU), p.48

[4] ^ Gill, p.49

[5] Brian Cloughly, A History of Pakistan Army

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Vasundhra

Thursday, April 13, 2023

I Corps (Pakistan)