Cadet College Muzaffarabad is one of the prestigious institutes of Azad Jammu & Kashmir. It is a universally acknowledged truth that ‘Rome was not built in a day, dream of having a Cadet College in Muzaffarabad division was seen by visionary and educated people back in 2001, and 2002. During the Musharaf regime, Sardar Anwar Khan had to take oath as the new President of the Azad State of Jammu & Kashmir. After, oath taking, he had to take oath as the Chief Scout of the state. Chief Commissioner of Scout Association is responsible to give oath to the Chief scout of Azad State of Jammu & Kashmir. In 2003, Mrs. Zubaida Jalal the then Minister of Federal Education was also Chief Commissioner of Scout Association of Pakistan. She visited Azad State for the first time in April 2003. She was welcomed by the Educational institutions of Azad State by hanging her banners and panaflexes along the road from Kohala Bridge till Muzaffarabad city.

On reaching Muzaffarabad, Federal Minister stayed in the State guest house. During her stay at the state guest house she met with Public delegations, local people demanded for allocation of special seats for students of AJ&K in Scout Cadet College Batrasi, they also briefed her about the education system of Muzaffarabad, and told her that there was no Cadet College in Muzaffarabad division. On 16th April 2003, she visited different educational institutes of Muzaffarabad. On 17th April 2003, in the oath-taking ceremony of the President of AJ&K, as the Chief Scout of AJK in the auditorium of Azad Kashmir University Muzaffarabad, she praised the scouts of Muzaffarabad for their efforts and respect they gave her during her visit, during her address she said “Establishment of a Scout Cadet College in Muzaffarabad on demand of locals is gist from my side instead of allocating some limited seats in scout Cadet College Batrasi. After the ceremony she was offered tea break by Mr. Raja Abdul Qayyum Khan, which she accepted. While going back to Islamabad in Chattar Kallas, she stayed at his residence and had a tea break. During tea break she pointed towards the location, where Cadet College was later built, and she said if that place could be donated for Cadet College. In a nutshell, Federal Government accepted the demand and notified the establishment of Scout Cadet College Muzaffarabad, the then Prime Minister of AJ&K Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan (Late) announced formally the establishment of Scout Cadet College Muzaffarabad. The then Secretary Colleges Raja Muhammad Arif directed Raja Zafar Iqbal, planning officer to prepare and submit PC-1 of the College.

Requisite land was under the control of Agriculture department of AJ&K. To solve the issue of land requisition Raja Abdul Qayyum Khan, met with the then Minister of agriculture department AJ&K, Syed Mumtaz Ali Gillani, local people were taken into confidence. Raja Abdul Waheed Fitrat, Assistant Education Officer of constituency, was appointed as estate officer, and Raja Abdul Majeeb-Ur-Rehman, PT Chattar Kallas boy high school was appointed as assistant estate officer. Furthermore, three peons from boys high school Chattar Kallas, Barsala and Musa Kharian were also deputed.

Federal Government had to pay funds for the construction of Cadet College and land had to be provided by Government of AJ&K. PC-1 for funding and land requisition was prepared and submitted in 2004. In 2004 the Prime Minister of AJ&K (Sardar Sikandar Hayat Khan (Late) laid the mile stone of the College.

Raja Muhammad Arif Khan, the then  Secretary higher education, was appointed first project director and Raja Zafar Iqbal Khan ,the then planning officer, was appointed as Admin Officer, and Raja Majeeb-Ur-Rehman was appointed  and posted as first security officer of the College. After relinquishing Raja Muhammad Arif Khan as PD Cadet College, the then DPI Colleges AJ&K Professor Muhammad Rafique Khan assumed the charge as the new project director of the College.

Meanwhile, government of AJ&K advertised the posts of ‘project director, Admin Officer and all other required staff’, unfortunately owing to Earthquake 2005 this process remained suspended. After the death of Mr. Professor Muhammad Rafique Khan then divisional director Colleges, Mrs. Shehla Waqar assumed the charge of the new project director of the College. In 2007 through a proper selection board, Brigadier (Retired) Muhammad Zareen Khan was appointed as the project director of the College. It is pertinent to mention here that rest of the PDs who served since 2003 were on deputation, Brigadier (Retired) Muhammad Zareen Khan was first project director, who was appointed properly as the project director of the College.

Land requisition became an issue after earthquake of 2005, as government wanted to shift Capital of AJ&K in Chattar Kallas, resultantly, new survey was conducted in Barsala for land requisition for Cadet College Muzaffarabad.

As shifting of the College project and requisition of land on a new place further delayed the timely completion of project. It was because of the unceasing and untiring efforts of project director Brigadier (Retired) Muhammad Zareen Khan, SI (M) and efforts of the then Corps Commander Headquarters 10 Corps Rawalpindi, Lieutenant General Mohsin Kamal (Late), plan of shifting Cadet College to a new place was cancelled.

Project director expedited the work and solved the issue of land requisition through is concerted efforts. Though he faced resistance, he managed to acquire the land “409 Kanals” and boundary wall was also constructed.

Unfortunately, Federal Government could not further support the project owing to financial deficit in the country and it was decided to depute a government person as a PD of the project and shift the financial burden to government of AJ&K also. Consequently, Malik Israr Chief Engineer AJ&K was deputed as new project director of the College in 2013. Before he could complete the planning to move ahead, he was replaced by a new project director Chief Engineer PWD, (from 2013 to 2017), after his term, EXN highway Mr. Tahir Summy assumed the charge of new PD of the College.

In November, 2017, Brigadier (Retired) Muhammad Azeem Khan, Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military), Tamgha-i-Basalat was appointed as the first Principal of the College. He served as the Principal of the College from November 2017 to November 2019. He initiated different pending projects and through his concerted efforts he recruited 9x faculty members and rest of the required staff.

In November, 2019 his term come to end, and College remained working without any Principal till February 2020. Meanwhile, DPI Colleges Professor Dr. Abdur-Rehman Khawaja assumed the charge as a Principal.

On 21 February 2021, Brigadier (Retired) Dr. Manzoor Ahmed Abbasi, Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military) assumed the charge as the Principal of the College. After his joining he made his marks as the Principal and expedited all pending projects i.e. he interviewed fourth entry of the College, and made the circumstances favourable for calling first ever BOG meeting of the College. Resultantly on 18 May 2021, BOG first meeting was convened. Pending contracts for the construction of Hostel-III, landscaping of the College, razor wire of the boundary wall, decoration of auditorium, construction of MT parking and installation of water filtration plant and water supply for the College were given to contractor and they are under construction. Moreover, 10x faculty members were recruited through a rigorous process. Readers can have a question regarding the name of the College initially, it was Scout Cadet College but in 2007, Brigadier (Retired) Muhammad Zareen Khan got it notified as Cadet College Muzaffarabad instead of Scout Cadet College. With the blessing of Almighty 5th entry will join the College in April 2022.Thanks to all successive Governments to extended all possible support to uplift the standard of this institute.