Pakistan Army

The Pakistan Army is the land service branch and the largest component of the Pakistan Armed Forces. It was officially established in August 1947 after the Partition of India, formed from the division of the British Indian Army. The president of Pakistan is its supreme commander, and it is led by the Chief of Army Staff, who is typically a four-star general. Its constitutional mission is to defend Pakistan against external aggression and to act in aid of civil power when called upon, and it is divided operationally and geographically into corps. The International Institute for Strategic Studies gave it approximately 560,000 active duty personnel in 2025. The army has fought in three major wars with India, has taken part in United Nations peacekeeping missions, and has conducted operations against insurgents such as Zarb-e-Azb. It has also repeatedly overthrown elected civilian governments, a contested part of its political history.