From 1947 With Pakistan
Upon the Partition of India in 1947, the division was one of two allocated to Pakistan.
The 7th Infantry Division is currently being commanded by Major General Ghayur Mahmood.
The Division first saw action during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1948, where it fought and captured some territory in the Poonch sector.
In the intervening years, the formation became part of the Pakistan Army's strategic reserve. At the outbreak of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, the Peshawar Division was commanded by a native Peshawarite; Major General Yahya Khan. In it, the Golden Arrow's were the lead division of the Operation Grandslam, where they and two divisions which had been placed under the division's command managed to achieve the most dramatic breakthrough of the war when they defeated the Indian formations in front of them, capturing the district of Chamb, and pushed up to a position 6 km beyond Jammu City, by the end of hostilities. Its commander, General Yahya Khan would be awarded the Hilal-e-Jurat for this achievement.
During Black September in 1970 the Jordanian Government asked the Pakistan Government to assist in putting down the Palestinian uprising. The Peshawar Division was dispatched to Jordan where it would be placed under the command of the Pakistani attaché; Muhammad Zia ul-Haq (later President of Pakistan, and would restore order and government control in Jordan.
6 years later, during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971 the Peshawar Division would once again be called into action. Once again Pakistan's strategic reserve, along with 1st Armoured Division, would not see action as a unit but many of its sub-units would enter combat in various sectors.
The formation would go overseas for the third time in its history (and for the second time as a Pakistani division) when it deployed with two brigades to Saudi Arabia for the 1991 Gulf War.
It would be the better part of a decade, before the formation would get the call to arms again, but when it came it was at the highest battlefield of the world, and several units would serve in that area. In 1999 during the Kargil War, the division was sent as a reinforcement to the Gultari area.
After 9/11, and the United States led invasion of Afghanistan, the Golden Arrows would be called into a period of almost continuous action in difficult and mountainous terrain, carrying out operations in Waziristan and the North West Frontier Province (now called: Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa), against Al-Qaeda and Taliban escaping from Afghanistan. Most of the Al-Qaeda operatives have been captured by elements of this formation.
Under its corps headquarters, XI Corps, the Division is now taking part in the 2009 South Waziristan offensive.
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