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The Londoner
This blog deals with issues relating to politics, Geopolitics, Finance, Banking and anything which interests me.
Pakistan Army - How True Is The Statement That Pakistan Army Is Punjabi Dominated?
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January 11, 2010
By Sikander Hayat
I am writing the following lines to refute the biggest fallacy associated with
Pakistan Army that it is actually a Punjabi Army which takes care of the interests of the
Punjab and does not take care of the other federating units. It is outright false and wrong to say such a thing because from the time of
Pakistani independence 14 Generals have commanded Pakistan Army. Out of these 14 Generals 2 were
British, 4 were
Pakhtun, 1 was
Hazara, 1 was Baloch, 1 was a Rajput, 3 were Mohajir and 2 were Punjabi.
In 64 years after independence, Pakistan has been ruled by 4 Generals for 32 years. These Generals are General Ayub Khan (9 years), General Yahya Khan (3 years), General Zia Ul Haq (11 years) and General Pervez Musharaf (9 years). Not a single one of these Generals was a Punjabi. So much for the myth of a Punjabi dominated army.
Here is the list of all the Generals who have lead the Pakistan Army:
1. General Sir Frank Walter Messervy was born in 1893 in Trinidad to British parents. He was commissioned in the Indian Army in
1913 and later joined 9 Hudson’s Horse, India in 1914. When Pakistan achieved independence in 1947, he enjoyed a singular honour to serve as a First Commander in Chief of Pakistan Army from 15 August 1947 to 10 February 1948.
2. General Sir Douglas David Gracey was British and was born on 3 Sept 1894. He was commissioned in British Army and served in both the First and Second World Wars. He is the second Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan, holding this office from 11 February 1948 to 16 January 1951.
3. General Muhammad Ayub Khan was an ethnic Pakhtun. He was born on 14 May 1907. He was selected for Royal Military Academy Sand Hurst in 1922 and got commission on 2nd Feb 1928. He joined the 1st Battalion of the 14 Punjab regiment , later known as 5 Punjab Regiment. He was made Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Army on January 17, 1951, succeeding General Sir Douglas Gracey, thus becoming the first native Pakistani General to hold this prestigious position.
4. General Muhammad Musa was born on 20 Nov 1908. He was born in a Hazara Shia Muslim family in Quetta, he was from the Sardar family of the Hazara tribe in Balochistan, Pakistan.He got commission from Indian Military Academy in Dehradun on 1st Feb 1935. He was posted to the 6th Royal Battalion, the 13th Frontier Force Rifles as a Platoon Commander in 1936. He served with distinction in the Pakistani Army and rose to the rank of the commander in chief of Pakistan Armed Forces on 1st April 1957 and held the office till 17 Sept 1966.
5. General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan was born in Chakwal in 1917, to an ethnic Shia Muslim Qizilbash family of Persian descent who could trace their military links to the time of Nader Shah. He was, however, culturally Pakhtun. He got commission in British Army on 15 Jul 1939.He became Chief of Army Staff on 18 Sep 1966 and held this office till 20 Dec 1971.
6. General Gul Hassan was born on 9 June 1921. He was a Sunni Pakhtun born in Quetta. He got Commission on 22nd Feburary 1942. He commanded 1 Armed Division and remained CGS before he was appointed acting C-in-C on 20 December 1971. He was appointed C-in-C on 22 January 1972 till his retirement on 3rd March 1972.
7. General Tikka Khan was a Narma Rajput and was born on 7 Jul 1915.He was a graduate of the Indian Military Academy at Dehradun, and was commissioned on 22 Dec 1940. General Tikka Khan was Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff from 3rd March 1972 to 1st March 1976.
8. General Zia-ul-Haq was a Mohajir and was born in Jalandhar in India on 12 September 1924. He was commissioned in the British Army on 12 May 1943. At Pakistan's independence, he joined the Pakistani Army as a major. He got trained in the United States 1962–1964 at the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. On 1 April 1976, he was appointed Chief of Army Staff.
9. General Mirza Aslam Beg was a Mohajir and was born in Azam Garh, British India on 2 August 1931 and got commission in Pakistan Army on 23 August 1952. He was made Chief of Army on 17 August 1988 and remained in the office till 1 August 1992.
10. General Asif Nawaz Janjua was a Rajput and was born on 3 January 1937. He was selected for Royal Military Academy Sand Hurst and got commission on 31 March 1957. He was made Chief of Army Staff from 1991 to 1993.
11. General Abdul Wahid Kakar was a Pakhtun of Balochistan province and was born on 20 March 1937 and got commission on 18 October 1959. General Wahid Kakar is remembered for starting the Shaheen Nuclear Missile Project. He was made Chief of Army Staff on 12 January 1993 and held the office till 12 January 1996.
12. General Jehangir Karamat was a Punjabi who got commission on 14 October 1961. General Karamat is a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, U.S.A. He was made Chief of the Army Staff on 12 January 1996 and held the office till 7 October 1998.
13. General Pervez Musharraf is a Mohajir and was born on August 11, 1943 in Delhi, British India). He got commission from
PMA kakul on 19 April 1964. In 1998 he was promoted to General and took over as the Chief of Army Staff and he had been holding this office till November 2007.
14. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is a Punjabi who commissioned from Paksitan Military Academy, Kakul in Baloch Regiment in 1971. General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani is graduate of Fort Benning (USA), Command and Staff College Quetta, Command and General Staff College Fort Leavenworth (USA), Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies, Hawaii (USA), and National Defence College Islamabad.
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2. Baloch Soldiers In Pakistan Army – A Step In The Right Direction
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