Editing Pakistan Armed Forces (section)

===Rank and insignia structure===
{{See also|Army ranks and insignia of Pakistan|Air Force ranks and insignia of Pakistan|Naval ranks and insignia of Pakistan|British heritage of Pakistan}}

As Pakistan became independent, the [[British military rank insignia|British military ranks and insignia]] were initially commissioned by the armed forces as part of a legacy of [[British colonial period|British colonialism]].<ref name="M.E. Sharpe">{{cite book|last1=Brzezinski|first1=Zbigniew|last2=Sullivan|first2=Paige |title=Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States: documents, data, and analysis|date=1996|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|location=Armonk, N.Y.|isbn=978-1-56324-637-1}}</ref> Within a few months of its founding in 1947, the military had inherited all professional qualifications of the British military in India.<ref name="Carnegie Endowment for International Peace">{{cite book|last1=Haqqani|first1=Husain|title=Pakistan between mosque and military|date=2005|publisher=Carnegie Endowment for International Peace|location=Washington, D.C.|isbn=978-0-87003-285-1}}</ref><ref name="United States Government Printing">{{cite book|last1=Nyrop|first1=Richard F.|title=Area handbook for Pakistan|date=1984|publisher=United States Government Printing|isbn=978-0-16-001608-0|page=374}}</ref>

In respect to the [[British Indian Army|British Indian military]], the [[Ministry of Defence Pakistan|Ministry of Defence]] (MoD) authorised the three [[junior commissioned officer]] (JCO) pay grades between the [[enlisted rank]]s and [[commissioned officers]].<ref name="Oxford University Press, 1998">{{cite book|last1=Cohen|first1=Stephen P.|title=The Pakistan Armed Forces: 1998 edition with a new foreword and epilogue|date=1999|publisher=Oxford University Press, 1998|location=Karachi;Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-577948-6|edition=2. impr.}}</ref> The JCO grades are equivalent to the [[Types of Government Servants in Pakistan|civil bureaucracy's pay scales]] for those who rise by promotion from among enlisted recruits. The JCO grades in the Pakistani military are a continuation of the former [[Viceroy of India]]'s commissioned pay grades during the [[British Rule of India|British colonial period]].<ref name="Facts On File">{{cite book|last1=Gerges|first1=James Wynbrandt |title=A brief history of Pakistan|date=2008|publisher=Facts on File|location=New York|isbn=978-0-8160-6184-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xQGwgJnCPZgC&q=pakistani+military+ranks+british&pg=PA120|access-date=5 January 2015|archive-date=5 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230205200137/https://books.google.com/books?id=xQGwgJnCPZgC&q=pakistani+military+ranks+british&pg=PA120|url-status=live}}</ref> Promotion to the JCO, however, remains a lucrative and powerful incentive for the enlisted military personnel; thus, if JCO ranks are ever phased out, it will probably be a slow process.<ref name="Facts On File"/>