Pakistan Military Academy

Pakistan Military Academy, also referred to by its acronym PMA, is an officers training centre located near Kakol village in the city and district of Abbottabad, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Established in October 1947, it is the sole service academy in Pakistan tasked with training cadets to serve as army officers. For educational training, the institution is accredited by NUST. To become an officer, cadets undergo a demanding two-year military training program. The Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) plays a crucial role in providing training to Gentlemen Cadets (Officer Cadets) from the Pakistan Army as well as from Allied countries. The academy consists of four training battalions and 16 companies. PMA holds great significance internationally, as it hosts approximately 2,000 invited guests from more than 34 countries each year. Several close allies of Pakistan choose to send their own cadets and officers to PMA to receive top-notch training in modern military doctrine. This reflects the academy's reputation as a premier institution for military education and training. Former COAS General Raheel Shareef, inaugurated 4th Pakistan Battalion in PMA on October 10, 2016. Before the dissolution of British India in 1947, the location had initially been used as the premises of a Physical Training and Mountaineering School of the British Indian Army, on the site of a vacant POW camp set up in 1902 for just a few months for prisoners from the Boer War, and later it became a dwelling-operating space 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. He selected the vacant location at Kakul for a military academy. He determined that the PMA would be organized based upon the model established by Sandhurst and requested a regimental sergeant major from the Brigade of Guards to help with training.