Frontier Corps

A member of the Khyber Rifles circa 1948.

The Frontier Corps was created in 1907 by Lord Curzon, the viceroy of British India, in order to organize seven militia and scout units in the tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan: the Khyber Rifles, the Zhob Militia, the Kurram Militia, the Tochi Scouts, the Chagai Militia, the South Waziristan Scouts and the Chitral Scouts.[2]

The Frontier Corps was led by an "inspecting officer" who was a British officer of the rank of lieutenant colonel. In 1943 the inspecting officer was upgraded to an Inspector General (an officer with the rank of brigadier), and the corps was expanded with the addition of new units—the Second Mahsud Scouts (raised in 1944) and the Pishin Scouts in 1946).[2]

After independence in 1947, Pakistan expanded the corps further by creating a number of new units, including the Thal Scouts, the Northern Scouts, the Bajaur Scouts, the Karakoram Scouts, the Kalat Scouts, the Dir Scouts and the Kohistan Scouts. British officers continued to serve in the Frontier Corps up to the early 1950s. The corps was split into two major subdivisions with FC Balochistan incorporating the Zhob Militia, the Sibi Scouts, the Kalat Scouts, the Makran Militia, the Kharan Rifles, the Pishin Scouts, the Chaghai Militia and the First Mahsud Scouts.[2] In 1975 three of the units: the Gilgit Scouts, the Karakoram Scouts and the Northern Scouts; were merged to form a new paramilitary force called the Northern Light Infantry, which is now a full infantry regiment of the Pakistan Army.[5]

In the mid-1970s, the Pakistani government used FC Balochistan to counter the terrorists in Balochistan and the force is unpopular among some of the local population who associate them with human rights violations and heavy-handed operations. To improve the image of the corps, it has been involved in the construction of schools and hospitals, although as of late 2004, corps installations in the province were being routinely attacked by terrorists.[2]

In the late 1990s, the Frontier Corps played an important role in eliminating opium poppy cultivation from Dir District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.[2]

In 2007, after the collapse of truce agreements between the Pakistani government and local militants, the Frontier Corps, teamed with regular Pakistani military units, conducted incursions into tribal areas controlled by the militants. The effort produced a series of bloody and clumsy confrontations.[6] On August 30, about 250 Pakistani troops, mostly from the Frontier Corps, surrendered to militants without a fight. In early November, most were released in exchange for 25 militants held by the Pakistan Army.[6]

There is a widespread consensus among United States government military and intelligence experts that the Frontier Corps are the best potential military units against the Islamist militants because its troops are locally recruited, know local languages and understand local cultures. The United States provided more than US$7 billion in military aid to Pakistan from 2002 to 2007, most of which was used to equip the Frontier Corps because it is in the frontline of the fight against the Islamist insurgents. From late 2007, the Pakistani government intended to expand the corps to 100,000 and use it more in fighting Islamist militants, particularly Al-Qaeda, after extensive consultations with the U.S. government and an agreement to start a multi-year effort to bolster it including the establishment of a counterinsurgency training centre.[6] The new US Obama policy for Pakistan is seen as a clear victory for the Pakistan Army lobby in the US. The $1.5billion a year aid recently announced with no strings attached will go a long way in seeing that the Frontier Corps stay at the height of their professional abilities due to new equipment and training.

The Corps has also fired occasionally on the U.S.-assisted Afghan Army."[7]

• Perform Border Security duties.
• Assist Army/FCNA in the defense of the Country as and when required.
• Protect important Communication Centers and Routes.
• Undertake Counter Militancy/Criminal/Terrorism Operations on orders.
• Assist Law Enforcement Agencies in maintenance of Law and Order.
• Safeguard important sites and assets

During times of difficulties, the government occasionally gives the FC the power to arrest and detain suspects such as in late 2012[8] and early 2013 when the Prime Minister of Pakistan granted the FC policing powers.[9] These temporary powers can also be extended on the orders or consent of the provincial government or federal government or both.[10]

US DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy with senior Frontier Corps Balochistan officials and Pakistani Government officials right in front of the Afghan-Pakistani border.

The senior command posts of the Frontier Corps are filled by officers seconded from the Pakistan Army for two to three years.[2]

The Scouts Training Academy is in Mirali in North Waziristan.

The Frontier Corps in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is headquartered in Bala Hisar Fort in Peshawar.

The Frontier Corps in Balochistan is headquartered in Quetta and is led by Major General Nadeem Ahmed Anjum. FC Balochistan has a manpower of more than 50,000 troops. The School of Frontier Corps and Training Centre is in Loralai, whereas Battle School Belali is for advanced courses.[2]

The corps is divided into thirty-four local units—-fifteen in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province and nineteen in Balochistan—and are as follows (in order of founding):

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

1. Chitral Scouts (1903)
2. Khyber Rifles (1878)
3. Kurram Militia (1892)
4. South Waziristan Scouts (1900)
5. Tochi Scouts (1894)
6. Mahsud Scouts (1944)
7. Mohmand Rifles
8. Shawal Rifles
9. Swat Scouts
10. Orakzai Scouts
11. Khattak Scouts
12. Dir Scouts (1970)
13. Bajur Scouts (1961)
14. Thal Scouts (1948)
15. Bhittani Rifles (2015)

Frontier Corps Balochistan

1. Zhob Militia (1883)
2. Noshki Militia (1896)
3. Sibi Scouts (1971)
4. Mekran/Makran Scouts(1974)
5. Taftan Rifles (1977)
6. Chaman Scouts (1946)
7. Dalbandin Rifles (2007–08)
8. Maiwind Rifles (1974)
9. Ghazaband Scouts (1977)
10. Bambore Rifles (1977)
11. Loralai Scouts (1977)
12. Qilla Abdullah Scouts (2005)
13. Awaran Militia (2007)
14. Panjgur Rifles (2005)
15. Kalat scouts (1965)
16. Sui Rifles (2011)
17. Chiltan Rifles (2016)
18. Kharan Rifles (1965)
19. Dasht scouts (2018)

Other units also located in Balochistan:

1. School of FC and Training Centre, Loralai (FCTC)
2. IAC SQN
3. Frontier Corps Battle School.
4. SOW (Special Operation Wing - Janinda).

There were a total 80,000 active personnel as of 2008 and additional wings have been raised to meet the security challenges.[11] Frontier Corps units are locally recruited and are officered by Pakistani Army officers.

Frontier Corps checking their new communications equipment donated by the US.

The equipment of the Frontier Corps includes G3, Type 56 & QBZ-95 assault rifles, RPG 7 rocket-launcher, MG3 general-purpose machine gun, various handguns, short range artillery and mortars as well as aviation support, Medium Tanks, APCs and AFVs.

According to former Inspector General FC Major-General Obaidullah Khan Khattak while addressing to students, parents and journalists in a FC sponsored school ceremony in 2012 that more than 22,000 students are getting education in various FC organised Schools and a College in Balochistan. Most of the FC educational institutes are affiliated with Federal board rather than provincial boards in Balochistan. Currently FC funding/governing three schools and a college in Balochistan.

1. Major Pervaiz shaheed FC School & College, Beleli, Quetta. (Ghazaband scouts)
2. Lieutenant Safiullah Shaheed FC school, Noshki. (Chaghi Militia)
3. FC school, Chaman. (Pishin scouts)
4. FC school, Loralai.

• Kharotabad Incident occurred in 2011 in which FC personnel killed five foreigners which were possibly mistaken for militants.
• 2009 Islamabad Frontier Corps post attack which allegedly involved a suicide bomber who attacked an FC post in Islamabad.

• 
  Chitral scouts band. Chitral scouts is one of the oldest unit in Frontier corps.
• 
  Frontier Corps Balochistan soldier (left) and the Afghan Border Police soldier (right) guards at the Friendship Gate Chaman,a border gate at Afghanistan-Pakistan border which is seven km southeast of Spin Boldak, Afghanistan.

• Automatic rifles – 7.62 mm Heckler & Koch/POF G3, 7.62 mm Type 56 (POF made)
• Sub-machine guns – 9 mm Heckler & Koch/POF MP5, 9 mm SMG-PK (POF made)
• Pistols – Glock series, Sigma series
• Sniper rifles – Heckler & Koch/POF PSR-90 (POF made), Steyr SSG 69
• Hand grenades – ARGES 84 (POF made)
• Anti-tank weapons – RPG-7 (POF made) (Rocket Launcher), M40A1 (Recoilless Rifle)
• Machine gun – 7.62 mm Rheinmetall/POF MG3 (POF made)
• Heavy machine gun – 12.7mm Type 54 (POF made)
• Mortars – Various locally produced in use
• Bullet-proof jackets – Various local and foreign types
• Helmets – Modular Integrated Communications Helmet and indigenous helmets locally produced
• NVG goggles
• Utility vehicles – Mohafiz (HIT made), Indus Hilux locally produced

• Law enforcement in Pakistan
• Military history of the North-West Frontier
• War in Waziristan

• Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
• Frontier Corps Balochistan