Pakistan Military Academy - History

History

Before Partition in 1947, the location had initially been used as the premises of a PT and Mountaineering School of the British Indian Army, on the site of an old POW Camp for prisoners from the Boer War, and later it became the premises of the Royal Indian Army Service Corps. After the division of the old Indian Army between India and Pakistan in 1947, Brigadier Francis Ingall, an officer of the British Indian Army, was selected by the C-in-C India, Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinleck, as first commandant of the Pakistan Military Academy, established at Kakul. He determined to model the Pakistan Academy on Sandhurst and requested a regimental sergeant major from the Brigade of Guards to help with training. He was lucky, too, to have the support of a number of old Indian Army officers who were transferred to the Pakistan Army, among them Lieutenant-Colonel Attiqur Rahman. In spite of facilities which were nowhere near the level of those enjoyed by the Indian Military Academy at Dehra Dun, Ingall won the confidence of his cadets and instructors. When, late in 1947, the dispute over the accession of Jammu and Kashmir led to armed conflict between India and Pakistan, he was able to structure the Academy’s training to enable newly commissioned officers to be immediately effective when they joined units on active service. Ingall was appointed OBE after completing his term as commandant in 1950. What probably gave him more satisfaction was the decision to name Kakul’s central lecture theatre Ingall Hall - though this was not built until many years after he had left. He kept in touch with the academy for the rest of his life, making his last visit in November, 1997 where he said:

On January 25, 1948, "The First Pakistan Battalion” was instituted. This battalion has four companies which were "named after the luminaries of Muslim military history" (e.g., Khalid, Tariq, Qasim, and Salahuddin). In March 1948, the First Battalion "was bestowed with Quaid-e-Azam’s patronage as Colonel-in-Chief, and the most coveted claim “The Quaid-e-Azam’s Own".

Khawaja Nazimuddin gave the Quaid-e-Azam banner to the Pakistan Military Academy on behalf of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah. The Quaid-e-Azam banner is held aloft by the champion company at every passing out parade. "Regimental colours presented in 1950 by Liaquat Ali Khan, the first Prime Minister of Pakistan and the National Standard in 1961 by General Muhammad Musa, the then-Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army, have been some of the honours showered on the Academy, which it has always jealously guarded and kept high in letter and spirit."

The 1965 war led to expansion of the academy, and the second battalion of the academy was created in December 1965. This battalion consisted of four companies, called Ghaznavi, Babur, Aurangzeb, and Tipu. In early 1989, the third battalion of the academy was founded. The third battalion's four companies are Haider, Ubaida, Saad, and Hamza.