Frontier Corps | |
---|---|
سرحد واہنی | |
Active | 1878–present |
Country | Pakistan |
Allegiance | Pakistan |
Branch | Paramilitary forces of Pakistan |
Type | Paramilitary |
Role | Law enforcement/Border patrol |
Size | ≈80,000 |
Part of | Ministry of Interior (MoI) Ministry of Defence (MoD) |
Garrison/HQ |
Peshawar, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Quetta, Baluchistan |
Website | http://www.frontiercorps.gov.pk/ (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa) http://www.fcbalochistan.gov.pk (Balochistan) |
Commanders | |
Inspector General, Peshawar | Major-General Shaheen Mazhar Mehmood |
Inspector General, Bln North | Major-General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum |
Inspector General, Bln South | Major-General Sardar Tariq Aman |
The Frontier Corps (Urdu: سرحد واہنی) (reporting name: FC), is an umbrella term for the two provincial auxiliary forces part of the paramilitary forces of Pakistan along the western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and are the direct counterparts to the Rangers of the eastern provinces (Sindh and Punjab). The Frontier Corps comprises two separate organizations: FC NWFP stationed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), and includes the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, and FC Balochistan stationed in Balochistan province. Each subdivision is headed by a inspector general, who is a Pakistan Army officer of at least major-general rank, although the force itself is under the jurisdiction of the Interior Ministry.
With a total manpower of approximately 80,000, the task of the Frontier Corps is to help local law enforcement in the maintenance of law and order, and to carry out border patrol and anti-smuggling operations.
Some of the FC's constituent units such as the Chitral Scouts, the Khyber Rifles, Swat Levies, the Kurram Militia, the Tochi Scouts, the South Waziristan Scouts, and the Zhob Militia have regimental histories dating back to British colonial times and many, e.g. the Khyber Rifles, have distinguished combat records before and after 1947. Khyber Rifles was in fact regularized during the 1965 war and fought with distinction in Kashmir.