| XII Corps | |
|---|---|
 Badge of XII Corps | |
| Active | 1984; 40 years ago (1984) |
| Country |  Pakistan |
| Branch |  Pakistan Army |
| Type | XXX Corps |
| Role | Maneuver/Deployment oversight. |
| Size | ~45,000 approximately (Though this may vary as units are rotated) |
| HQ/Garrison | Quetta Cantonment, Balochistan, Pakistan |
| Nickname(s) | Quetta Corps Southern Command |
| Colors Identification | Red, white and black |
| Anniversaries | 1985 |
| Engagements | Balochistan Conflict
Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts 2024 Iran–Pakistan border skirmishes |
| Decorations | Military Decorations of Pakistan Military |
| Commanders | |
| Commander | Lt-Gen. Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan |
| Notable commanders | General K.S. Wynne General Abdul Waheed Lt-Gen. Sarfraz Ali Lt-Gen.Asif Ghafoor |
| Maneuver Corps of the Pakistan Army | ||||
|
The XII Corps is a field corps of the Pakistan Army currently headquartered in Quetta, Balochistan in Pakistan.
With reserves, paramilitary, 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, 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 (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:
| Structure of XII Corps | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Corps | Corps HQ | Corps Commander | Assigned Units | Unit HQ |
| XII Corps | Quetta | Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan 
|
33rd Infantry Division | Khuzdar |
| 41st Infantry Division | Quetta | |||
| 44th Light Infantry Division | Gwadar | |||
| Independent Infantry Brigade | Turbat | |||
| Independent Armoured Brigade | Khuzdar | |||
| Independent Infantry Brigade | Gwadar | |||
| Independent Engineer Brigade | U/I Location | |||
| Independent Signal Brigade | U/I Location | |||
List of Commanders XII Corps
Lieutenant-General 
|
Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan | November 2023 | |
| Asif Ghafoor | August 2022 | November 2023 | |
| Sarfraz Ali | December 2020 | August 2022 | |
| Muhammad Waseem Ashraf | September 2019 | December 2020 | |
| Asim Saleem Bajwa | September 2017 | September 2019 | |
| Aamer Riaz | October 2015 | September 2017 | |
| Nasser Khan Janjua | September 2013 | October 2015 | |
| Alam Khattak | October 2011 | September 2013 | |
| Javed Zia | April 2010 | October 2011 | |
| Khalid Shameem Wynne | April 2007 | April 2010 | |
| Shahid Hamid | September 2003 | October 2004 | |
| Abdul Qadir Baloch | October 2001 | September 2003 | |
| Mushtaq Hussain | October 1999 | October 2001 | |
| Tariq Pervaiz | May 1997 | October 1999 | |
| Saranjam Khan | 1995 | May 1997 | |
| Zia Ullah Khan | January 1993 | 1995 | |
| Abdul Waheed Kakar | August 1989 | January 1993 | |
| Syed Zakir Ali Zaidi | May 1987 | August 1989 | |
| Khushdil Khan Afridi | 1985 | May 1987 |
See also
References
- "Bajwa made Quetta corps commander in reshuffle". Dawn.
- "Pakistan Army hands over model village in Mashkai to earthquake survivors". geo.tv.
- ^ Nawaz, Shuja (10 April 2020). The Battle for Pakistan: The Bitter US Friendship and a Tough Neighbourhood. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-5381-4205-9. Retrieved 19 November 2023.
- ^ "XII Corps". www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- Fair, C. Christine (25 April 2014). Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army's Way of War. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-989271-6. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- Alam, Dr Shah (1 July 2012). Pakistan Army: Modernisation, Arms Procurement and Capacity Building. Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 978-93-81411-79-7.
- ^ Rathore, Azad Singh (16 February 2021). Balochistan: The Heights of Oppression. Partridge Publishing. ISBN 978-1-5437-0664-2. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- "President". National Defence University, Islamabad. 1 Dec 2023. Retrieved 30 Oct 2024.
Further reading
- Cloughley, Brian (1999). A History of the Pakistan Army: Wars and Insurrections. Karachi, Sind, Pakistan: Karachi University Press. ISBN 9780195790153.
