Northern Area Command

The Northern Area Command, also known as Force Command Northern Areas [FCNA], is headquatered at Gilgit. Flying above the main gate of the headquarters, the FCNA flag is orange with the command formation sign on the center (a black disk with a silver snow leopard salient issuing from the fly edge of the disk). After 1999 it has apparently functioned as the equivalent of a Corps command. Some sources report that the Force Commander Northern Areas is the equivalent of a Division, and is subordinate to X Corps, while most sources agree that as of early 2002 it was an independent Corp-equivalent command reporting directly to the Army headquarters.

Sources differ as to the composition of the command, with some reporting one division and four independent brigades, while others sugges a total of five independent brigades. Apparently, as of early 2001 it was reported that the 7 Infantry division from Mardan was moving from the command of XI Corps in Peshawar to the command of Northern Areas Command, possibly to a location opposite Kargil in Kashmir.