3 New Army Commands

[fatman17]

Gen P.Musharraf was planning to create 3-new army commands (north, central and south) to be headed by 4-star generals
what happened to this plan? has it been put in cold-storage or will it be announced after he has been elected as president for a new 5-yr term?

 

[blain2]

Based on what I have heard, post Ahsan Saleem Hayat, they will die a quick death even though personally I think its a good idea as 9 Corps are quite a lot for one HQ to manage.

 

[AgNoStiC MuSliM]

^^^Any particular rationale/advantages for the Army preferring to retain the existing organizational structure, or is it a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

 

[sparten]

There is already a S Command in Quetta.

 

[blain2]

Actually there are already 3 commands (Northern, Central and Southern).

Based on what I know as far as the challenges with this split is that if there are no direct troops under your command, the post remains ineffectual (something that poses a problem for the Pakistani Joint Chiefs of Staff as well). The regional commands are commanded by 3 star generals (Lt Gens) but right under them you have Corps that are also commanded by Lt Gens. So there are some problems with having the appropriate hierarchy in the regional Army commands that provide for appropriate seniority and authority to the regional commanders over Corps Commanders.

I am not sure as to what the solution is, but we may start seeing 4 star generals (as in the US Army's regional commands) leading these 3 commands. The challenge at that point becomes the hierarchy between the regional commands and the CoAS. So this has to be worked out among many other issues like logistics and planning for each regional command. It will take a while for the RCs to shape up if the PA sticks with the idea.

 

[blain2]

^^^Any particular rationale/advantages for the Army preferring to retain the existing organizational structure, or is it a case of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it"?

The current challenge is that we have way too many Corps to be commanded, coordinated between and run by one HQ (GHQ). The alternate of splitting up the commands is a very expensive one thus PA has often thought about it and then postponed it. Having regional commands in the long term will help trim the fat and optimize the usage of resources while cutting back on wastage.

Thus far PA has not fought a war with more than 1 Corps (in 71 we only have one Corps commander) so challenges will arise in the future. I believe the Indian posturing in 2002, Cold start doctrine and our reaction to it has something to do with this revival of regional commands.

 

[CaptainKidd]

But current commander of southern command is a three star Gen.
Lieutenant General Khalid Shamim Wyne

 

[blain2]

But current commander of southern command is a three star Gen.
Lieutenant General Khalid Shamim Wyne

I agree. I am just pointing out some issues that have cropped up in the past. Eventually there may be further re-structuring.