XI Corps (Pakistan)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (November 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

XI Corps
Active	1975–present
Country	Pakistan
Allegiance	Pakistan Army
Branch	Active Duty
Type	Army Corps
Role	Combined arms formation Tactical headquarters element
Size	30,000+ approximately (though this may vary as units are rotated)
HQ/Command Control Headquarter	Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province
Nickname(s)	Peshawar Corps[1]
Colors Identification	Red, white and black
Engagements	Siachen conflict Soviet–Afghan War Indo-Pakistani War of 1999 War in North-West Pakistan
Decorations	Military Decorations of Pakistan Military
Commanders
Corps Commander	Lt Gen Faiz Hameed
Notable commanders	Masood Aslam Fazle Haq Ali Jan Aurakzai
Insignia
Flag of XI Corps

The XI Corps or Peshawar Corps is a corps of Pakistan Army. The XI Corps is the only one corps that is assigned in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province of Pakistan. It is currently stationed in Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtaunkhuwa. The Corps was established and quickly raised in 1975 to support administrative military operational units in the NWFP and Northern Areas. The corps is internationally distinguished for its involvement in Soviet–Afghan War.

Afghan War[]

The start of the Afghan War brought the Corps to prominence. It was given three infantry divisions as well has been given the responsibility of covering the Khyber Pass, one of the two approaches by which the Soviets could attack into Pakistan (the other was the Bolan Pass, guarded by the XII Corps). For more than a decade it held the line against Soviet expansionism.

Kargil War[]

The end of the Cold War affected the Corp immensely. No longer facing a threat on its western flank, the army moved brigades and units away from the XIcorps, with its orientation being changed from a defending the Afghan border, to being a reserve force in Kashmir. The 1999 Kargil War saw the corps enter direct action for the first time and it fought mainly in the Gultari sector of Kashmir, where one of its members, Captain Kernel Sher Khan would be posthumously awarded the highest Pakistani military award Nishan-e-Haider, after being martyred in combat in Indian Kashmir.

War on Terror[]

After September 11 attacks in the United States in 2001 and the subsequent invasion of Afghanistan, the XI Corps became the main Pakistani formation involved in fighting in Waziristan and the North West Frontier in general. It has been reinforced and also commands substantial forces of paramilitary Frontier Corps.

Structure[]

The order of battle of the corps keeps changing, especially in view of its current commitment in the War on terror. During peacetime the XI corps is based in the following areas:

The formations composition has changed on several occasions in the past, and like all formations on the western border it has received reinforcements for the war on terror, however its present composition is thought to be.

Structure of XI Corps
Corps	Corps HQ	Corps Commander	Assigned Units	Formation Badge	Unit HQ
XI Corps	Peshawar	Lt. Gen. Faiz Hameed	7th Infantry Division		Miramshah
			9th Infantry Division		Kohat
			Independent Armoured Brigade		Nowshera
			Independent Engineering Brigade		U/I Location
			Independent Signal Brigade		U/I Location

List of Commanders XI Corps[]

Lieutenant-General	Name	Start of Term	End of Term
	Majeed Malik,	April 1975	March 1976
	Sawar Khan,	March 1976	January 1978
	Fazle Haq,	January 1978	March 1980
	Chaudhri Abdul Majid,	March 1980	April 1984
	Muhammad Iqbal,	April 1984	October 1985
	Mirza Aslam Beg	October 1985	January 1987
	Ahmad Kamal Khan,	January 1987	February 1989
	Rehm Dil Bhatti,	February 1989	September 1990
	Farrakh Khan,	September 1990	August 1991
	Ayaz Ahmad	August 1991	May 1994
	Mumtaz Gul,	May 1994	October 1996
	Saeed uz Zafar	October 1996	March 2000
	Imtiaz Shaheen	March 2000	April 2001
	Ehsan ul Haq	April 2001	October 2001
	Ali Jan Aurakzai,	October 2001	March 2004
	Safdar Hussain,	March 2004	September 2005
	Mohammad Hamid Khan,	September 2005	April 2007
	Masood Aslam,	April 2007	April 2010
	Asif Yasin Malik,	April 2010	December 2011
	Khalid Rabbani,	December 2011	October 2014
	Hidayat Ur Rehman	October 2014	December 2016
	Nazir Ahmed Butt,	December 2016	October 2018
	Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood	October 2018	November 2019
	Nauman Mahmood	November 2019	November 2021
	Faiz Hameed	November 2021

References[]

• Brain Cloughley, A History of Pakistan Army
• Colonel Kaiser Hameed Khan who served in this HQ twice, as a capt during 1983 to 1986 and as Lt Col during 1996 to 1999.

External links[]

• GlobalSecurity.org, Global Security Website about the XI Corps
• This shows the Formations Insignia
• Daily Times - Lt Gen Asif Yasin Malik Takes Over As Peshawar Corps Commander [1]