Azad Kashmir Regiment

The Azad Kashmir Regiment is one of the six infantry regiments of Pakistan Army. Its Regimental Center is located at Mansar, Attock District, Punjab. The Azad Kashmir Regular Forces, raised in 1947, were not raised by any government order; rather, the regiment "raised itself" when World War II veterans in the valley of Kashmir and the Northern regions of Pakistan took up arms to defend their land from the Indian Army's invasion and occupation of Kashmir of 1948. Bands of armed veterans formed themselves into ad hoc platoons, companies and battalions led by retired officers and NCOs. They gave their units names such as "Bagh Battalion" (the battalion from the town of Bagh), and went to war, fighting with great valour in the 1948 conflict. After cease-fire was declared in Kashmir, these battalions joined together to form the Azad Kashmir Regular Forces (AKRF). The AKRF had its own intake and training structure separate from the Pakistan Army. The AKRF was the military element of the Azad Kashmir Government. Uniforms and rank structures were the same as the Pakistan Army.

Previous colonel commandants of the regiment have included Maj General Sardar Muhammad Anwar Khan, the former President of Azad Kashmir and Lt General Javed Hassan, who as a Maj Gen commanded the Force Command Northern Areas (FCNA) during the 1999 Kargil War and later served as the commander XXX Corps, Gujranwala. [Yaqoob Malik. [http://www.dawn.com/2003/04/05/top13.htm "Armed forces proved their capability: Musharraf"] "Dawn", April 5, 2003] The current Colonel Commandant is Maj Gen Mukhtar Ahmed who took over on 28 September, 2007. [ [http://www.paktribune.com/news/print.php?id=120578 "Maj Gen Mukhtar New Colonel Commandant AK Regiment"] "paktribune.com", 28 September, 2007]

In wartime operations the AKRF was part of the Order of Battle of the Pakistan Army, and all its battalions were part of the 12th Infantry Division (Pakistan) that defended Azad Kashmir.

The Azad Kashmir Regular Forces fought brilliantly in the 1971 war and then in 1972 when the 9th Azad Kashmir Battalion defended Chakpatra and Leepa Valley from a much more vast Indian force composed of several regular battalions. Upon this the Pakistan Army honoured the AKRF by absorbing it into its own ranks and by giving it the status of a Regular Line Infantry Regiment. The AKRF thus became the Azad Kashmir Regiment.

Now battalions of the Azad Kashmir Regiment are stationed all over Pakistan, and have fought in far away places like Somalia, as part of the UN contingent that country.

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