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XII Corps
XII Corps
	Badge of XII Corps
Active	1984; 40 years ago
Country	Pakistan
Branch	Pakistan Army
Type	XXX Corps
Role	Maneuver/Deployment oversight.
Size	~45,000 approximately; (Though this may vary as units are rotated)
HQ/Garrison	Quetta Cantonment, Balochistan, Pakistan
Nickname(s)	Quetta Corps; Southern Command
Colors Identification	Red, white and black;
Anniversaries	1985
Engagements	Balochistan Conflict First Balochistan conflict; Second Balochistan conflict; Third Balochistan conflict; Fourth Balochistan conflict; Fifth Balochistan conflict; Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts 2001-2002 Indo-Pakistani standoff; 2024 Iran–Pakistan border skirmishes Operation Marg Bar Sarmachar; Afghanistan–Pakistan border skirmishes 2017 Afghanistan-Pakistan border Skirmishes; Afghanistan conflict Soviet war in Afghanistan; War in Afghanistan; War on Terror NATO logistics during the War in Afghanistan (2001–2021);
Decorations	Military Decorations of Pakistan Military
Commanders
Commander	Lt-Gen. Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan
Notable; commanders	General K.S. Wynne; General Abdul Waheed; Lt-Gen. Sarfraz Ali ; Lt-Gen.Asif Ghafoor

The XII Corps is a field corps of the Pakistan Army currently headquartered in Quetta, Balochistan in Pakistan.^[4]

With reserves, paramilitary, and other military formations supporting the XII Corps, the corps has an area of responsibility of Balochistan and oversees its mission of responsibility to protect as an army's regional formation in Pakistan's security apparatus known as the Southern Command.^{: 309–311}^[3]

History

Formations and war service

The Afghan and Iranian immigration to Pakistan and the Afghan Army's military raids in Chaman prompted the Army GHQ to form and raise the military formations to guard its western borders in 1984.^: 64^[5] The XII Corps was raised with its HQ in Quetta Cantonment as Lt-Gen. K.K. Afridi becoming its first commander in 1985.^[4]^[6] Its military engagement has been limited to the Balochistan conflict, which it mainly tackles through the Frontier Corps (paramilitary) and local police department.^[4]^[7]

Syed Zakir Ali Zaidi served as the corps commander in 1987-89. After handing over the corps to his successor he became president of the National Defence University, from 1 August 1989 to18 June 1990.^[8]

Similar to the V Corps in Sindh, the XII Corps has an area of expertise in desert warfare, and oversees security operations together with the local law enforcement, mechanized divisions guarding the nation's desert and dune ranges, and paramilitary to ensure the national defenses of the Pakistan.^: 311^[3]

Together with the air force units, naval bases, marines camps, paramilitaries, army reserves, and air forces ranges, the XII Corps forms and leads the major regional formation in Pakistan's security spectrum known as the Southern Command.^[7]^{: 309–311}^[3]

Structure

The XII Corps has not seen military action against the Indian Army (east) nor the Afghan National Army (west) but tackled counterinsurgency time to time which led to the troop rotations based on the strategic calculations.^[4] The XII Corps has receives reinforcement in its missions on war on terror and is based on the known information publicly available:

Structure of XII Corps
Corps	Corps HQ	Corps Commander	Assigned Units	Unit HQ
XII Corps	Quetta	Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan	33rd Infantry Division	Khuzdar
			41st Infantry Division	Quetta
			44th Light Infantry Division	(Gwadar)
			Independent Infantry Brigade	(Turbat)
			Independent Armoured Brigade	(Khuzdar)
			Independent Infantry Brigade	(Gwadar)
			Independent Engineer Brigade	U/I Location
			Independent Signal Brigade	U/I Location

List of Commanders XII Corps

Lieutenant-General	Rahat Naseem Ahmed Khan	November 2023
	Asif Ghafoor	August 2022	November 2023
	Sarfraz Ali	December 2020	August 2022
	Muhammad Waseem Ashraf	September 2019	December 2020
	Asim Saleem Bajwa	September 2017	September 2019
	Aamer Riaz	October 2015	September 2017
	Nasser Khan Janjua	September 2013	October 2015
	Alam Khattak	October 2011	September 2013
	Javed Zia	April 2010	October 2011
	Khalid Shameem Wynne	April 2007	April 2010
	Shahid Hamid	September 2003	October 2004
	Abdul Qadir Baloch	October 2001	September 2003
	Mushtaq Hussain	October 1999	October 2001
	Tariq Pervaiz	May 1997	October 1999
	Saranjam Khan	1995	May 1997
	Zia Ullah Khan	January 1993	1995
	Abdul Waheed Kakar	August 1989	January 1993
	Syed Zakir Ali Zaidi	May 1987	August 1989
	Khushdil Khan Afridi	1985	May 1987