BOOKS THAT ONE MUST READ

why the west succeeded and the east failed

2012-01-05T22:21:00.000-08:00

An article by the brilliant ex civil servant and intellectual Mr Khalid Aziz.

I have the honour to be his friend.

We in Pakistan have a tradition of conspiring against talent and substance.
I asked my friend Major Imran Aslam to compare the west with the east in a single sentence as he had returned from higher studies in the UK .
This is how Imran Aslam summed it up below---

The West succeeded because they recognise the best in a man and groom him. In the third rate east , specially Islamic world , they identify the best in a man and then they destroy the best that a man has and make sure that the worst characters become presidents , prime ministers and army chiefs !

Agha.H.Amin

Imagining a different future
THE next phase that the wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan are entering is likely to usher in another deadly period of counter-terrorism operations and intense manoeuvring between the US, Russia, China and Iran. This will take place against the backdrop of a mounting economic and security crisis in Pakistan, which is bound to create further tension. Meanwhile, Afghanistan has to find a way out of its security dilemma. This underlines the need to provide that country with the resources needed to fund its security liabilities. The success of the policy to transfer security responsibilities to indigenous Afghan forces will depend largely on the external resources — some $6-8bn annually — made available to Afghanistan. Given the financial crisis prevailing in the West, it is questionable whether these funds will or can be made available. In this situation, the obvious solution for Afghanistan would be to reconcile with the Afghan Taliban, and this may also provide the boost needed by the Qataris to bring the Taliban in from the cold. The re-shaping of Central Asian foreign policies under Russian sponsorship is squeezing the US at a time when it needed support for the northern supply route to function smoothly as a replacement for the southern route, now frozen by Pakistan. It is thus clear that another strategic re-designing is occurring which will once again affect the destiny of the Pushtun. And therefore, it is essential that they make the right choices; otherwise, another phase of bloodletting awaits them. Why is it that the Pushtun react to challenges in a violent mode, rather than with sagacity? It would appear that the revenge aspect contained in Pushtunwali (the Pushtun code of social conduct) has a lot to do with it. Abdul Ghaffar Khan, amongst the most respected and astute Pushtun reformers, once commented that: "The Pathans were inclined to be violent and their violence was directed against their own kith and kin; against their closest relations. They were like smouldering embers, always ready to flare up and inflict harm and injury on their own brethren. One of their worst characteristics was their habit of revenge. They badly needed to change their anti-social customs, to check their violent outbursts and to practice good behaviour." In the 19th century, the British recognised this Pushtun penchant for violence and used it for protecting India against any threat from the northwest: Fata`s Pushtun were to be their first line of defence. To obtain the tribes` commitment to this design, the region and its population were to be kept under-developed so that migration would be discouraged: it would make no sense to have a strategic barrier that was unpopulated. Accordingly education, health, skill-development and other services, such as were promoted in the rest of India, were not extended to this region; no legal or political reforms were undertaken in the context of the Pushtuns of Fata and what is now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. To create a legal framework that would keep the tribesmen in ossification, the British devised the clever fiction that although the tribal territory was a part of India, it was not a part of British India. With this one master stroke, they abandoned the tribal areas and, in terms of political reform, even the erstwhile NWFP. As one researcher put it, "Unlike the other provinces of British India, where reforms were introduced, the NWFP was neglected and intentionally governed through `special ordinances`. The main aim of the colonial government in impeding the pace of reform was to discourage the local inhabitants from demanding an equal status for their province." The Pushtuns were thus placed in a strategic ditch constructed around the castle that was British India. The people learned to live under the shadow of the draconian Frontier Crimes Regulation, under which provisions such as Section 38 permitted the killing or punishing of the members of a proscribed tribe without any process of formal judicial review. Basic human rights were and are denied and the system of high courts does not have full jurisdiction in Fata and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. This is the result of Pakistan`s insistence on maintaining the formerly colonial design by retaining Article 247 in the constitution. Is it surprising, then, that the region covered by this article is also the one where insurgency remains endemic? Those who have been abused will obviously abuse in return when the opportunity arises. Should we, then, be surprised at what is happening to Pakistan? Following US intervention in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks, a new wave of slaughter became anchored in national and international military narratives. Pushtuns in Pakistan and Afghanistan have become playthings in the hand of soldiers. The time has now come for Pushtuns to wake up and stop allowing themselves to be mistreated. However, this will happen only if they re-create themselves and change the discourse of being touted as a `brave` and `honourable` people. They need to acquire, instead, a reputation for being wealthy and enterprising, a task that will require effort but can be done. The Pushtun can, as a people, focus their lives differently to create an order where young women don`t become widows and where towns flourish instead of resembling graveyards. This is possible if tribal elders play a role in this respect and the military machines leave the region as soon as possible. The presence of armed forces invites a violent response from the Pushtun; if we Pakistanis haven`t learnt this basic dynamic of the Pushtun, then we must pay the price for continuing insecurity. In brief, the Pushtun must stop being pawns in the politico-military operations in their region. The Pushtun need to embrace life and shun death — and this can only be achieved through peace.
Posted by Khalid Aziz 6th Dec 2012 The Pashtuns Agha.H.Amin Let the pictures speak as the first part of this summing up of a sad chapter of history ! When I started preparing for my first major bid in Afghanistan " Naghlu-Kabul" Electric transmission line I went for pre bid survey on Kabul Lataband Road.The locals all Pashtuns told us that they were paid 100 USD per tower for destroying a pylon in Soviet Afghan War ! Extremism is a very Pakistani export to all neighbouring countries. Off course the US was also a monster in this situation as were the Pakistanis who were the US vassals.In course of my 8 years in Afghanistan I discovered that major damage of Afghan war was in Pashtun belt as it was closer to Pakistan and it was easier to logistically support the characters destroying pylons. As I travelled north I discovered that the north was literally undamaged as it was farther away from Pakistan ! I leave it for experts in Pashtun history to judge whether Pashtun area was damaged in order to keep Pashtuns backward or it was a coincidence ! It would be wrong to brand a Pashtun as a born lunatic ! The greatest poets in the sub continent starting from Nawab Shefta Khan Bangash ,Josh Malihabadi Afridi Akhtar Sheerani and Ahmad Faraz were Pashtuns ! Indeed the most progressive Afghans and Pakistanis have been Pashtuns ! Without Aslam Watanjar the indomitable Paktiawal or without Said Gulabozai the Saur Revolution may have totally failed in Afghanistan ! My dear Zazi lady friend from Khost smoke the maximum joints and drank more vodka than any man that I met in Afghanistan and preferred being intimate with the curtains open ! It would be correct to term Pashtuns as victims of geography , of being divided in two states , being regarded as a political threat by non Pashtuns in both Pakistan and Afghanistan ! Being more adventurous and brave than any race in the region , thanks to geography , historical circumstances and I hate to say some racial factors ! The Pashtuns were thus regarded as cannon fodder by Iranians, Mughals,Turks ,Sikhs ,British and Pakistanis and a useful reason to remain in Afghyanistan by the USA ! When the German Kaiser wanted a revolt against British in India the only ones who cameto rise in revolt were thetribal Pashtuns ! A Pashtun tribe Afridi is the only tribe in history where the British Emperor awarded a Victoria Cross to one cousin and the German Kaiser the Iron Cross to the other cousin ! Both fighting in the same area ! The Mughals imported Iranians against Pashtuns and were ultimately betrayed by the Irianians when the Marathas and Nadir Shah attackedthe Mughals. The backbone of Nadir Shahs armys were the Abdali Pashtuns ! The best Mughal army soldiers apart from Uzbeks were Pashtuns ! Yet this race was regarded by fear and apprehension and throughout history used to fight proxy wars ! Just because it was though politically dangerous that they remained free and grew politically and economically ! There is no denying that a Pashtun is formidable in any role ,be it a leftist Khalqi or a Taliban ! This is so because he is brought up to be totally committed to an idea that he believes in ! This may be an anthropological or sociological explanation ! A Safi or a Zadran or a Kharoti is formidable reagrdless of the fact that he is Rahmatullah Safi with the ISI or a Watanjar who was a die hard leftist or a Gulabozai who was Afghanistans best Interior Minister and yet polled the highest number of votes from Khost in 2005 Elections. My friend a pro Pakistan Pashtun to the core heading an ISI sector confessed that even the best dogs used in dog fight are bred in Pashtun areas ! It may be ironically symbolic but true. My personal observations indicate that the Pashtuns were regarded as cannon fodder to be used in Kashmir and Afghanistan by the Pakistani establishment . Thus ironically while the most progressive section in Afghan socoety were Pashtun Khalqis without whom there would have been no leftist coup in Afghanistan ,the Pashtuns suffered the most in Afghan war and the non Pashtuns gained the most , politically and economically ! Demography is cruel ! It is devastating and Pakistans demography is changing ! Karachi is the largest Pashtun city in the world and we are at a watershed when Pashtuns may not be manipulated any longer the way they have been manipulated in the past ! As they say the wheel turns in history ! -- What was wrong with Assessment of Officers and Military Training-Pakistan Army and What continues to be wrong till to date as research indicates *Click on scanned pages pictures to enlarge* Major Agha H Amin (Retired) http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011 http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857 http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE Complete article for page above on -- http://www.scribd.com/doc/27384291/Intangible-Forces-Behind-a-Military-Manoeuvre-an-Examination-of-the-Clausewitzian-Model-of-Military-Leadership Also see the military interviews conducted by this scribe with senior Pakistani officers to see role of sycophancy and unrealistic training and assessment in Pakistan Army specially interviews of Major Gen Tajammul and Brig Z.A Khan http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals Selection and Assessment of Commanders in Pakistan Army-Pakistan Army Journal-Citadel-Command and Staff College These articles published in military journals of Pakistan Army endeavour to subject the highly defective system of assessment of officers to criticism despite strict censorship. One must add that some discussion became possible in the army only after 1988 when General M.A Baig took over . In the Zia era , with intellectual honesty buried and hypocrisy and sycophancy being hallmark of the army for 12 long years (1976-88) this was impossible. After 1998 once Brigadier Riaz took over as DG ISPR the situation improved. Three editors of Pakistan Army Journal were outstanding , all in succession , i.e Colonel I.D Hassan (a chronic bachelor and very cereberal and well read) , Lieutenant Colonel Syed Ishfaq Naqvi (outstanding) and Lieutenant Colonel Syed Jawaid Ahmad (soft spoken but bold as far as publishing articles and extremely knowledgeable). In the command and staff college there was Lieutenant Colonel Ashraf Saleem (later lieutenant general) , Lieutenant Colonel Tariq Khan (now lieutenant general) and Lieutenant Colonel Ahsan Mahmood (now major general) , all three were well read and had a high intellectual calibre particularly Tariq Khan. After these three the pedants came and pedants and the conformists off course are in preponderance ! I would say the assessments that I made in faulty and fallacious assessment of military commanders continue ! If Tariq Khan ما شاء الله became a three star it was a triumph of destiny over a thoroughly rotten system ! ما شاء الله ما شاء الله ما شاء الله But then we must remember that Moses survived in Pharohs palace and finally overcame the Pharoah ! This unfortunate country Pakistan needs a Moses , a man who purges this rotten country ! If not , then I dont have the least doubt that Pakistan will be destroyed ! It will cease to exist as a country ! This is my conviction ! This country Pakistan has no soft solutions ! WHEN ORDERS SHOULD BE OBEYED AND WHEN DISOBEYED OR MODIFIED AS SEEN IN MILITARY HISTORY-MARCH 1991 http://www.scribd.com/doc/27648037/Orders-and-Obedience On the first page a question is raised " if selection and assessment system in an army is realistic" . There was a big question mark in 1991 when I wrote this , it remained when I retired in December 1993 because the army then was run on whims and likes and dislikes and no one bothered how good an officer was in real command and intellectual ability ! I fear that the large gaps and question marks remain to date ? The very Kargil operation proves that an overambitious man with myopic strategic vision like Musharraf can rise to the highest ranks ,shamelessly abandons bodies of soldiers and then proclaim Kargil as his greatest success ! One could see an ambitious man in him in 1993 , who was obsessed with self projection ! I had asked Lieuenant Colonel Ashraf (then CO 46 Field and my platoon commander in PMA , also GSO 1 , 14 Division what he thought of Musharraf his brother gunner officer .Ashraf an outstandingly honest and straight man hailing from Kalar Saidan near Pindi stated " what can you make of a man who uses generator of his locating unit for his house " http://www.scribd.com/doc/40295974/Resolution-Cardinal-Command-Virtue No one in kargil had the courage to point out that the operation was a wild gamble ! Brigadier Simon confided that that General Tauqir Zia was against it but then Tauqir Zia never gave his dissent ? PROBLEM WITH MILITARY TRAINING , MILITARY EXERCISES AND ASSESSMENT OF OFFICERS http://www.scribd.com/doc/40295974/Resolution-Cardinal-Command-Virtue A real soldier in the peacteime environment of jee hazoori and yes man ship hardly has any chance of being promoted ! True in 1992 when I wrote this and true today ! Can Pakistan afford this ? PROBABLY IN OUR SCENARIO A QUALITY TERMED AS LOYALTY , WHICH IN REALITY IS DOCILITY AND OVERCONFORMITY IS HIGHLY VALUED !AND LOYALTY OF A PERSONAL NATURE IS SHEER INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY ! http://www.scribd.com/doc/40295974/Resolution-Cardinal-Command-Virtue Complete article " Resolution-Cardinal Command Virtue" as published in the Pakistan Army Journal June 1992 may be downloaded from the following link--- http://www.scribd.com/doc/40295974/Resolution-Cardinal-Command-Virtue WHY ASSESSMENT OF OFFICERS QUALITIES IS OF CARDINAL IMPORTANCE http://www.scribd.com/doc/27384291/Intangible-Forces-Behind-a-Military-Manoeuvre-an-Examination-of-the-Clausewitzian-Model-of-Military-Leadership http://www.scribd.com/doc/27384291/Intangible-Forces-Behind-a-Military-Manoeuvre-an-Examination-of-the-Clausewitzian-Model-of-Military-Leadership http://www.scribd.com/doc/27386132/Plain-as-Well-as-Subtle-Aspects-of-Military-Decision-Making http://www.scribd.com/doc/27386132/Plain-as-Well-as-Subtle-Aspects-of-Military-Decision-Making http://www.scribd.com/doc/27386132/Plain-as-Well-as-Subtle-Aspects-of-Military-Decision-Making http://www.scribd.com/doc/27386132/Plain-as-Well-as-Subtle-Aspects-of-Military-Decision-Making http://www.scribd.com/doc/22460733/The-Armoured-Thrust-Article-Based-on-Experiences-as-an-Umpire-with-a-tank-regiment-in-December-1993 http://www.scribd.com/doc/22460733/The-Armoured-Thrust-Article-Based-on-Experiences-as-an-Umpire-with-a-tank-regiment-in-December-1993 For letters as sent to the staff college including the above one see the following link- http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal For letters as published in various military journals see the following link-- http://www.scribd.com/doc/28266915/Letters-to-Editor-as-Published-After-Censorship-in-Pakistan-Army-Journal-and-Citadel THE ABOVE ARTICLES MAY BE DOWNLOADED IN COMPLETE FROM FOLLOWING LINKS:--- http://www.scribd.com/doc/27648037/Orders-and-Obedience http://www.scribd.com/doc/40295974/Resolution-Cardinal-Command-Virtue http://www.scribd.com/doc/27384291/Intangible-Forces-Behind-a-Military-Manoeuvre-an-Examination-of-the-Clausewitzian-Model-of-Military-Leadership http://www.scribd.com/doc/27386132/Plain-as-Well-as-Subtle-Aspects-of-Military-Decision-Making http://www.scribd.com/doc/40295974/Resolution-Cardinal-Command-Virtue Historical Proof of the argument presented above War Performance had nothing to do with promotion to higher ranks in Pakistan Army Major Agha H Amin (Retired) Altaf Gauhar Ayub's close confidant inadvertently proves this fact once he quite uncharitably, and for reasons, other than dispassionate objective historical considerations, described Yahya as one " selected…in preference to some other generals, because Yahya, who had come to hit the bottle hard, had no time for politics and was considered a harmless and loyal person". Major General Abrar, who had proved himself as the finest military commander, at the divisional level, at least by sub continental standards, was sidelined and ultimately retired in the same rank! Lieutenant Colonel Nisar of 25 Cavalry who had saved Pakistan's territorial integrity from being seriously compromised at a strategic level at Gadgor on the 8th of September 1965 was sidelined. Lieutenant Colonel Nisar of 25 Cavalry who had saved Pakistan's territorial integrity from being seriously compromised at a strategic level at Gadgor on the 8th of September 1965 was sidelined. This may be gauged from the fact that at the time of outbreak of the 1971 War Nisar although promoted to brigadier rank, was only commanding the Armoured corps recruit training centre, a poor appointment for a man who had distinguished himself as a tank regiment commander in stopping the main Indian attack. A man whose unit's performance was described by the enemy opposing him as one "which was certainly creditable because it alone stood between the 1st Indian Armoured Division and its objective"23 was considered by the Pakistani General Headquarters pedantic officers as fit only to command a recruit training centre while one who was instrumental in failure of the main Pakistani intelligence failure as DMI was promoted to Major General rank and trusted later with the command of Pakistan's 1 Corps with disastorous results ! Brigadier Qayyum Sher who had distinguished himself as a brigade commander in 10 Division area in Lahore was also not promoted! Qayyum Sher was one of the few brigade commanders of the army who had led from the front. Major General Shaukat Riza who rarely praised anyone had the following to say about Sher's conduct while leading the Pakistan army's most important infantry brigade counter attack on Lahore Front as a result of which the Indian 15 Division despite considerable numerical superiority was completely thrown off balance. Shaukat stated that "Brigadier Qayyum Sher, in his command jeep, moved from unit to unit and then personally led the advance, star plate and pennant visible. This was something no troops worth their salt could ignore". But the Army's Selection Boards ignored Qayyum Sher once his turn for promotion came! Qayyum Sher did well in war and was awarded the Pakistani D.S.O i.e. the HJ! But war performance or even performance in peacetime training manoeuvres was, and still is, no criteria for promotion in the Pakistan Army! Qayyum retired as a brigadier, remembered by those who fought under him as a brave and resolute commander, who was not given an opportunity to rise to a higher rank, which Qayyum had deserved, more than any brigadier of the Pakistan Army did. Brigadier Nisar of 25 Cavalry who was praised by Indian historians as outstanding in delaying battle in Shakargarh as commander of changez Force was also sidelined because he was not close to Tikka Khan and company and did not possess Zias mastery of art of sycophancy and appeasement of seniors ! It was typical of Pakistan Army that Brigadier Rahimuddin who did not join his brigade in Chamb on pretext of martial law duty was promoted to general rank while Nisar who fought both the 1965 and 1971 wars exceedingly well sidelined ! In 1965 Nisar by his singular action at Gadgor had literally saved Pakistan ! But promotion in Pakistan Army had nothing to do with war performance or real soldiering ! Pathetic ! Interestingly Brigadier Irshaad heading the military intelligence in 1965 and guilty of Pakistan Armys greatest intelligence failure of 1965 i.e disregarding a genuine report that Indian Armoured division was in kashmir , dismissing it as a deception plan , was promoted to two and three star after the war .He played hell with Pakistans 1 Corps in 1971 War ! Major General Sarfaraz whose conduct as GOC was outstanding in 1965 War was not promoted because his ability was regarded as a threat by Ayub Khan ! Brigadier Tajammul Hussain Malik was praised as an outstanding commander by a person no less than the Indian opponent of his Major General lachman Singh . A special commission was appointed by Indian Army to study Tajammuls brigade actions ! The tragedy is that all starting from Liaquat Ali Khan sidelined officers with outstanding war performance ! The first being the elevation of Ayub Khan to army chief with a proven record of tactical timidity in Burma ! Ayub Khan ,Tikka Khan and Bhutto sidelined the best officers of 1971 ! Tajammul was sidelined because he was not a pathetic sycophant with no war record like Zia ul Haq ! This is a man whose war performance was so outstanding that the Indians appointed a high level commission to study his epic brigade battle at Hilli where he literally repelled a division plus! His direct Indian opponent Major General Lachman Singh praised him as an outstanding and very brave man in his book Indian sword penetrates East Pakistan ! But the Pakistani selection boards criterion for promotion was certainly not war performance ! Major General Abdul Ali Malik noted by Major General Fazal i Muqeem for launcjing the most ill planned and failed counter attacks of 1971 War in Shakargarh Bulge was promoted to three star rank after the war ! General K.M Arif who had no war record in 1971 and no command experience beyond a brigade command for few months was promoted to two three and four star rank ! Brigadier Ameer Hamza who conducted a brilliant brigade offensive battle at Sulaimanke was similarly sidelined as a Lieutenant General whereas many others who had no war record in 1971 war as brigade commanders became corps commanders ! Major General Tajammul Hussain Malik in an interview with this scribe in September 2001 summed up these promotions in the following words:-- The peculiarity about these promotions was that except for Jahanzeb Arbab, who had been superseded earlier because of having been found guilty of embezzlement of huge amount of money while in East Pakistan by a Court of Inquiry, headed by Major General M H Ansari but continued to remain in an officiating Command of a Division with the rank of a Brigadier for nearly two years upto as late as February 1976 when he was promoted to the rank of a Major General, all others were those who were on staff in GHQ. Major General Iqbal was doing as Chief of General Staff, Major General Sawar Khan was Adjutant General, Major General Chishti was Military Secretary and Major General Ghulam Hassan was Director General Military Training. The Division Commanders that is to say myself, Major General Akhtar Abdur Rehman, Major General Fazal e Raziq, Major General Mateen, Major General Ch Abdur Rehman, Major General Jamal Said Mian, Major General Amir Hamza (DG Civil Armed Forces), Major General Wajahat Hussain (Commadant Staff College) were all superseded." General Zia ul Haq had seen my conduct during the Division Commanders conferences expressing my view very candidly. He, therefore, thought that he would not be able to control me. He selected a team of 'yes men' who were more docile and prepared to accept his command without any hesitation." Even the normal and highly defective ACR system in the army was disregarded in promotions. Thus while Major General Tajammul had been graded as "OUTSTANDING", as a Brigadier, in his last Annual Confidential Report and again as a Division Commander was graded "Above Average" by the then Corps Commander Lieutenant General Aftab Ahmad Khan, his contemporaries Lieutenant General Faiz Ali Chisti and Late General Akhtar Abdur Rehman were adjudged on the lower side of the "Average" grade were promoted to three star rank .Chishti in 1976 and Akhtar Abdul Rahman in 1977-78. Tajammul Hussain thus well summed up Pakistan Armys tradition of promotions when he stated:-- "In our Army, Field Marshal Ayub Khan since he became Commander-in-Chief in 1951, made sure that only those people were promoted to higher ranks, who proved their personal loyalty to him rather than loyalty to the state. He did so because he had the ambitions of becoming the Head of State from the very beginning. As I said before, he had a contempt for the politicians and with the passage of time he went on getting extension of his tenure till he finally took over in Oct 1958. From amongst the senior officers anyone who expressed his opinion against the Army indulging in politics was immediately retired. Some of the very capable generals who had passed out from Sandhurst were superseded when General Musa was appointed Commander-in-Chief. Now that he is dead, it is not proper for me to pass any remarks against him but I have no hesitation in saying that he was a typical Gorkha Soldier, who had learnt to obey the command of their superiors whether right or wrong. The junior officers following examples of the seniors, had also learnt that perhaps sycophancy, rather than professional capabilities, was the only criteria for attaining the higher command. Exceptions are always there, but as a general practice many good officers who would have become very good Generals could not go beyond the rank of Lieutenant Colonel because they were intellectually and professionally far superior to their seniors and always expressed their views without any hesitation whenever and wherever required. Commanders who attain the higher ranks through following the path of sycophancy soon crumble in the face of danger and cannot stand the test of battle fatigue. That has been an inherent weakness in our Army, which perhaps continues till today. I had not intimately known General Zia before he became the Chief of the Army Staff but from his conduct during the Divisional Commanders Conferences, he appeared to me an incompetent and low grade officer. In one of the Division Commanders promotion conferences, I even saw him sleeping with his mouth open. He surpassed all limits of sycophancy when meeting the Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. While in uniform, he used to bow when shaking hands with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. I remember my old Brigade Commander, Brigadier Hayat, with whom I served as his Brigade Major, once told me that he had written in Major Zia ul Haq's ACR when he served under his command, "Not fit to go beyond the rank of a Major". It is an irony of fate that a person of such a calibre had ruled Pakistan for a long period of eleven years till he was finally killed in an air crash." There is no second opinion possible about how Pakistan Army suffered because of military rule.Thus Major General Fazal Muqeem Khan in an officially sponsored book admitted this cardinal fact when he wrote :-- "We had been declining according to the degree of our involvement in making and unmaking of regimes. Gradually the officer corps, intensely proud of its professionalism was eroded at its apex into third class politicians and administrators. Due to the absence of a properly constituted political government, the selection and promotion of officers to the higher rank depended on one man's will. Gradually, the welfare of institutions was sacrificed to the welfare of personalities. To take the example of the army, the higher command had been slowly weakened by retiring experienced officers at a disturbingly fine rate. Between 1955 and November 1971, in about 17 years 40 Generals had been retired, of whom only four had reached their superannuating age. Similar was the case with other senior ranks. Those in the higher ranks who showed some independence of outlook were invariably removed from service. Some left in sheer disgust in this atmosphere of insecurity and lack of the right of criticism, the two most important privileges of an Armed Forces officer. The extraordinary wastage of senior officers particularly of the army denied the services, of the experience and training vital to their efficiency and welfare. Some officers were placed in positions that they did not deserve or had no training for" The tradition continued till to date.Lieutenant General Mahmood and Usmani with all their drawbacks was far superior to Generals Aziz Yusuf and Ahsan Saleem Hayat promoted to four star rank but sidelined because feared as more resolute and thus dangerous ! It would be actually comical to match these two groups at all ! Usmani was so upright that he risked his career twice as a brigadier and major general when he took a righteous stand with his direct superiors Malik Saleem Khan in Karachi and Mumtaz Gul at Peshawar ! It is no secret that had Yusuf or Ahsan Saleem Hayat been commander 10 Corps in place of Mahmud on 12 October 1999 , Musharrafs coup would have failed ! Perhaps that was the key selection criterion for both ! Lack of resolution ! But that's what Pakistan is all about ! A Conspiracy against originality and boldness ! An undoubted failure ! Pakistan has no short of talent and military genius but our military system is a conspiracy against talent originality and boldness.Below is an article of this scribe published in Daily Nation summarising whats wrong with Pakistan Army published :--- http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN-A-WRITERS-PERCEPTIONS-FROM-2001-TO-2011 http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971-PRINTING-ENABLED-Do-acknowledge-to-the-author http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal http://www.scribd.com/doc/23150027/Pakistan-Army-through-eyes-of-Pakistani-Generals http://www.scribd.com/doc/23701412/War-of-Independence-of-1857 http://www.scribd.com/doc/22107238/HISTORY http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE A.H Amin http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN -- A.H Amin http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN

Major General Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan and Battle of Phillora

2012-01-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

Major General Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan and Battle of Phillora

Mustafa Kamal Pasha and Indian and Pakistan Army

2011-11-12T06:40:00.001-08:00

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

SELECT SCANS FROM THE CLASSIC BIOGRAPHY OF MUSTAFA KEMAL ATATURK " GREY WOLF" AND AN ARTICLE THAT I WROTE ON HIM PUBLISHED IN DAILY NATION LAHORE IN 2002.

IT WAS IN 1977-78 WHEN I READ GREY WOLF FOR THE FIRST TIME

Lieutenant General Tariq Khan

2011-09-22T22:47:00.001-07:00

Lieutenant General Tariq Khan-A Soldier of Substance

Agha.H.Amin

I first heard of Lieutenant Tariq Khan in 1978 . We were having dinner with one Colonel Sikandar Hayat Durrani who earlier had been my fathers second in command in the 105 Engineer Battalion in 1976-77.Sikandar had again joined my father in Lahore as a battalion commander , while my father was commanding the corps engineers.

Colonel Sikandar Hayat Khan belonged to an illustrious family of Durrani Pashtuns from Dheri Zardad a village on the Kabul river in Charsadda.He had also been an year or so junior to my uncle at the Cadet College Hassan Abdal.Durrani was married to sister of Begum Nasim Wali Khan.

Durrani was extremely excited that young officers attending a course at the School of Infantry and Tactics had thrashed Quetta Police en masse for having misbehaved with an officer under the leadership of one Lieutenant Tariq Khan who was had earlier passed out as the top gentleman cadet with the sword of honour from 55 PMA Long Course.

The incident stayed in my mind .

ما شاء الله

Battalion Senior Under Officer Tariq Khan receives the Sword of Honour from Chairman Joint Chief General Sharif , another extremely upright officer-

ما شاء الله

Officers and Appointments 55 PMA Long Course

BSUO Tariq Khan fourth from left

I joined the Pakistan Military Academy in Many 1981 and passed out in March 1983 being commissioned in 11 Cavalry , which incidentally was the parent unit of General Tariq Khans father Colonel Nawabzada Azmat Khan.

My faher recollected that his uncle Squadron Leader Rahmat Khan was a test pilot at Drigh Road Airbase in 1964-68 where my father was the Garrison Engineer.

My first encounter with Captain Tariq Khan was in the armour basic course where he was an instructor.His second in command was Captain Mohammad Khalid my very close friend and regimental officer from 11 Cavalry .Although I did not do the course properly I was deeply impressed with Captain Tariq Khans professionalism and uprightness.Captain Khalid (Tanga) too held him in very high esteem.

I again served with Captain Tariq Khan while he was in the 4 Cavalry at Multan from September 1986 to May 1988.He was a perfectionist in all matters and his gunnery standards were very high.In March 1987 he objected to being a conducting officer at the wedding of Major General Hameed Guls daughter.This was a time when sycophancy and appeasement was at its height in the army.

Tariq Khan is known for taking stands on matters of principle and fear of forfeiture of material factors or loss of fear of loss of advancement in worldly rank has never deterred him.This actually has been the hall mark of his personality throughout his military career.

I did not meet Captain Tariq Khan after 1988 but we stayed in correspondence and Colonel Tariq Khan was instrumental in getting three of my articles in the Command and Staff College Quettas Citadel Journal in 1997 and 1998.He was then the Chief Editor of the journal.

I had found the armys higher command system in my article anachronistic and unworkable and had suggested army command type headquarters

.My idea was that the Citadel will not have the guts to publish such a point of view.However to my surprise the article was published although Tariq Khans successor editor did add the caveat that my ideas about army command system were controversial !

I sent him my book Pakistan Army till 1965 and he wrote a very interesting reply .

In 2004 I permanently shifted to Afghanistan. My route of exit and entry was the Khyber Agency and I saw that the Frontier Corps known as FC was severely demoralised.Desertions were rising and Mohmand Rifles had literally evaporated.

It was at this time that I learned from many officers that now Major General Tariq Khan reversed the cycle and through his leadership restored the morale of the FC by leading from the front.

ما شاء الله

He had been promoted major general in 2006 and commanded an armoured division in Multan and later the 14 infantry division in South Waziristan leading Operation Zalzala against the militants.

On 1 October 2010 he was promoted to the rank ofLieutenant General and appointed Corps Commander Mangla.

ما شاء الله

When I called upon him in September 2009 I found him the same Captain Tariq Khan that I knew in 1988 in Multan.This was inspiring beacuse most officers become arrogant and snobbish on getting general officer rank.

General Tariq Khan-ما شاء الله led from the front and participated in more than 65 operations in the FATA region of Pakistan.This was the main reason why the FCs morale was restored.

He commanded 35000 sq kms of the total 48000 kms of the conflict Zone in the ongoing Low Intensity war in Pakistans FATA region.

When NATO aircrafts arbitrarily attacked an FC checkpost and killed three FC troops it was Major General Tariq Khan who was most instrumental in closing the border with Afghanistan.

This bold action literally brought the US and the NATO to their knees.

As a consequence of this action , a joint inquiry was conducted at Bagram Airbase under stewardship of FC DIG Brig Usman who presided over the court.

Thus Major General Tariq Khans role was crucial in obtaining a public and an international apology from the US which has never done so since the second world war. Pakistan got compensation for the causalities and put procedures in place to secure the border.

His daughter is married to his nephew, Faris Khan. Faris is a civil engineer in California.

General Tariq Khan is a keen hunter and has traversed the entire breadth of Pakistans border areas.

General Tariq Khans daughter is a very active journalist and has attacked the US perception in the Tribunal as a regular columnist. She is also quoted in the Monterrey Institute, her articles have been published in the Post Graduate Naval College in defence of Pakistan.

As citizens of this unfortunate country we pray that men like Tariq Khan rise to the top.Only good captains can take us out of this fomidable strategic storm in which we are caught.I think this is the time in the history of this country where too little time is left and we are in the critical time span in our history.One false step and we are gone !

As the adage goes that the wind and the waves is on the side of the ablest navigators.

AFGHAN PLAN TO RESCUE Z.A BHUTTO FROM PINDI JAIL

2011-09-18T21:33:00.001-07:00

My Dear General

God Bless You

Agha

On Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 9:29 PM, Naveed Tajammal wrote:

Agha jee,with a full salute to your
ideological - devotion,however is it not late in time to propagate the red star.

this is with reference to,aims and objectives of what was the final programme,

of this,lot,incidently when later we landed in the sahiwal jail,please find out on this lead,

who the fellow was,a man introduced himself as a colonel,i forget his name, from afghan aviation,his story was that ,he had been delegated the duty to fly in a small plane land near rawalpindi,a crack team was to release,ZAB,from the old pindi,jail,and he was to fly him out,the operation was a failure,he was caught with his plane,and later afterwards,going through the agencies,ended here,after the alzulfiqar hijacking,bus loads of prisoners on a rainy night left.sahiwal jail,the exchange,my father and my name too was also in the same list,

and were told to pack up,my father refused to leave.this colonel too went back.

regards.

Naveed Tajammal,

This mail is in sequence to mail below,the link why i thought his story had a element of truth,when we had been sent to bury ZAB, it was done,under extreme precautions, we had been briefed,and necessary steps taken by SSG and Airforce,and ofcourse by us,at Garhi kudhda bux,we had been told that,the Afghan govt and col Qaddafi had plans to hijack the body of ZAB,in transit,so the burial and its filming,must be done ASP.this was 1979.

remember the first date,was night 30th march,1979,later it was done on night 3/4th april.

The ssg contingent left,with supporting helicopters after the body had been handed over,as per the drill.
As did airforce jets overhead.

Naveed Tajammal,

Subject: PAKISTAN CANNOT HAVE SUCH GREAT MEN-WHY WE ARE SO HOPELESS

THIS IS OUR HISTORY IN ONE PICTURE-OUR SHAMELESS HISTORY

SAUR INQILAB-AFGHANISTAN
The Saur Revolution of April 1978 was an inspiring event in history !

My hero in this was off course the man who made it all possible !

Major Aslam Watanjar the indomitable tankist who played hell with Daud Khans presidential palace !

It was Aslam Watanjars bold action of April 1978 that inspired me to join Pakistan Armys tank corps in 1981 !

We all saw the illegitimate usurper Zia as an illegitimate man who had no business to be there !

We are human beings and just because a man was the army chief we did not have to regard him as onewhen he was in reality an illegitimate usurper !

Watanjar may have been an Afghan by birth but he was greater than that ! He was a hero who transformed a country and removed an arbitrary president ! We identified with his actions of April 1978 ! From where he was was not material or relevant !

We saw Aslam Watanjar as a revolutionary and a hero !

As Pakistans illegitimate military junta of that time was isolated and a pariah state it invented Jihad to get US Dollars ! What is propagated as Jihad was all about US Dollars !

I had the great honour of meeting my hero Jagran Watanjar in 1995-96.

He died in 2000 and is buried in Oddessa ! May God Bless his soul !

Later I met many Khalqis and Parchamis inAfghanistan .

A Parchami Colonel who was a dare devil pilot of Mig 21 and Sukhoi 5

http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN-THIS-BOOK-CAN-BE-PRINTED-FROM-THIS-SITE

Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --
Albert Einstein !!!

ELUSIVE DAWN: FAIZ AHMED FAIZ - A PEOPLES POET

2011-09-16T20:19:00.001-07:00

FROM MR PERVEZ FATAH

ELUSIVE DAWN: FAIZ AHMED FAIZ - A PEOPLES POET

Edited by: Mohsin Zulfiqar & Fabbeh Husein

Published by Kala Sangam and Faiz Centenary National Organising Committee UK

ISBN: 970-0-9535373-4-1

Paperback, Illustrated, 390 pages

£14.99 or €17.50

Available from:

Kala Sangam, St Peters House, 1 Forster Square, Bradford BD1 4TY

Telephone: 01274 303340, e-mail: info@kalasangam.org

Review

`Elusive Dawn – Faiz Ahmed Faiz – A peoples Poet` is published to remember, honour and mark the end of centenary celebrations of Faiz Ahmed Faiz across the globe during 2011.

'Elusive Dawn' offers kaleidoscopic reflections and heartfelt reminisces on Faiz Ahmed Faiz. Poets, friends, admirers, academics and activists fondly remember an ordinary loving and peaceful human through whom greatness lived passionately. There are fascinating and new understandings of the man in this book.

This publication is a manifestation of the collective respect to Faiz by organizations and individuals. Organisations included the Progressive Writers Association, Faiz Ghar, Faiz Centenary National Organising Committee UK, South Asian People`s Forum, Communist Party of Britain, Indian Workers Association and Kala Sangam. The individuals include well known poets, friends, admirers, academics, filmmakers, politicians, writers and activists amongst others.

The book spans over six sections.

Section One consists of published and unpublished articles that give the reader an insight into Faiz as a poet and person. Contributors include Progressive Writers Association, Afsan Chowdhry, Helen Goodway, Ikramul Haq and Huzima Bokhari, Rakhshanda Jalil, Javaid Ahmad Lone, Ali Mir and Raza Mir, Gopi Chand Narang and Gauher Raza.

Section Two contains Faiz`s biographical material.

Section Three presents a European dimension to understanding Faiz in his `self-exile` times. Contributors include M.H. Askari, Syed Baddruddin Beider, George Fischer, Fabbeh Husein and Mohsin Zulfiqar. Section Four offers the reader a selection of 100 Urdu poems with translations in English to allow access to a wider community. Section Five outlines a fascinating chronology of Faiz`s life. Section Six includes a comprehensive bibliography to enable the reader to undertake further inquiry into Faiz and his contributions to humanity.

'Elusive Dawn', the book, asks us all to re-assess and re-evaluate Faiz in the present political milieu in order to mainstream his vision. He is as relevant today as he was in the past. What can be more relevant than love, peace and solidarity! We appreciate that many left intellectuals in the world, including Faiz, looked in the 1930s and 1940s toward the Soviet Union as a source of human progress, virtue, and human rights. The demise of Soviet Union in the 1990s had disillusioned many with the idea of Communism. However, the economic exploitation of vast masses of humanity has not stopped yet. Therefore the struggle against oppression is bound to continue and Faiz will live through the engagement of others now and beyond.

The book asserts the need to continue to humanize rather than deify Faiz to enroll the ordinary. We need to see Faiz paradoxically as both an ordinary and a great human being to anthemise his vision for freedom, equality, solidarity and justice. We say long live to the struggle and to the memory of Faiz.

Review by Professor Nazir Tabassum

Best regards
Pervez Fateh
Secretary - Faiz Centenary National Organising Committee UK

www.faizcentenary.org http://uk.faizcentenary.org
Cell: +44 (0)795 854 1672
E-mail: pervezf@yahoo.com

__._,_.___

My Life and Loves-Frank Harris

2011-09-10T11:55:00.001-07:00

It was 1975 at the age of 14 when I first read My Life and Loves by Frank Harris.

What struck me most were his extremely graphic decsriptions of Cunnilingus.

My rating:

add to my books

My Life and Loves (Literary Classics)

by Frank Harris

3.45 · rating details · 38 ratings · 6 reviews

A punch in the face of the puritanism and conservatism he raged against, "My Life and Loves" is the highly-charged, erotic autobiography of Frank Harris (1856-1931), an Irish writer and editor who founded "Pearson's Magazine" in the United States (1914-1918). When first published, the book elicited hostile criticism because of its blunt and frank detail of Harris' sexual exploits, beginning in his childhood. A biographer of Oscar Wilde and Shakespeare, Harris fought the U.S. government and postal service over the content of his publications - battles included in "My Life and Loves" along with Harris' blunt, colourful depictions of his sexual exploits with willing Victorian Age debutantes. "My Life and Loves" remains a landmark in erotic literature, as relevant and provocative today as it was when first privately printed in Paris.(less)

Paperback, 360 pages

Published November 19th 1999 by Prometheus Books (first published 1908)

more details...edit details

Frank Harris

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other people named Frank Harris, see Frank Harris (disambiguation).

Frank Harris by Alvin Langdon Coburn.

Frank Harris (February 14, 1856 – August 27, 1931) was a British-born, naturalized-American author, editor, journalist and publisher, who was friendly with many well-known figures of his day. Though he attracted much attention during his life for his irascible, aggressive personality, editorship of famous periodicals, and friendship with the talented and famous, he is remembered mainly for his multiple-volume memoir My Life and Loves, which was banned in countries around the world for its sexual explicitness.

[hide]

[edit]Life

Frank Harris was born James Thomas Harris in Galway, Ireland, February 14, 1856 of Welsh parents^{[citation needed]}. At the age of 12 he was sent to Wales to continue his education as a boarder at the Ruabon Grammar School in Denbighshire, a time he was to remember later in My Life and Loves. Harris was unhappy at the school and ran away within a year.

He later invented a card game he called Dirty Banshee. The art on the cards showed satyrs and goddesses coupling variously.^[1]

Emigrating to the US in late 1869, he studied at the University of Kansas. In 1878 he married Florence Ruth Adams, who died the following year. Returning to England in 1882, Harris first came to general notice as the editor of a series of London papers including the Evening News, the Fortnightly Review and the Saturday Review, the last-named being the high point of his journalistic career, with H. G. Wells and George Bernard Shaw as regular contributors.

Harris returned to New York during World War I. From 1916 to 1922 he edited the U.S. edition of Pearson's Magazine. Pearson's has been described as "Probably second in fame to The Strand Magazine, which it imitated ... a heavily romantic publication"^{[citation needed]}. Married three times, Harris died in France on August 27, 1931, of a heart attack.

Harris became an American citizen in April, 1921. In 1922 he traveled to Berlin to publish his best-known work, his autobiography My Life and Loves (published in four volumes, 1922–1927). It is notorious for its graphic descriptions of Harris's purported sexual encounters and for its exaggeration of the scope of his adventures and his role in history. A fifth volume, supposedly taken from his notes but of doubtful provenance, was published in 1954, long after his death.

Harris also wrote short stories and novels, two books on Shakespeare, a series of biographical sketches in five volumes under the titleContemporary Portraits and biographies of his friends Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw. His attempts at playwriting were less successful: only Mr. and Mrs. Daventry (1900) (which was based on an idea by Oscar Wilde) was produced on the stage.

Just after his death a biography written by Hugh Kingsmill (pseudonym of Hugh Kingsmill Lunn) was published.^[2]

[edit]Legacy and cultural references

The "Frank Harris Publishing Company" was founded in New York in the mid-to-late 1920s to promote and distribute his works in America.Esar Levine, whose Harris collection is housed at Princeton University, was one of his employees and disciples.

[edit]Portrayal on Stage, Film and Television

Harris appeared as a character in the play Oscar Wilde, written by Leslie & Sewell Stokes, at the Fulton Theatre, New York, 1938, starringRobert Morley in the title role.

The feature film Cowboy (1958) is an adaptation of the semi-autobiographical novel My Reminiscences as a Cowboy. Harris is played by Jack Lemmon.

He is seen as a minor character in The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) played by Paul Rogers.

On television, Harris was played by Leonard Rossiter in a 1978 BBC Play of the Week: Fearless Frank, or, Tidbits From The Life Of An Adventurer.

Harris was also featured in an episode of The Edwardians (1972) played by John Bennett.

He is a character in the 1997 Tom Stoppard play The Invention of Love, which deals with the life of A. E. Housman and the Oscar Wilde trials.

He appears as a close friend of Oscar Wilde in the award-winning play by Moisés Kaufman: Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde.

He appears in the first episode of the 2001 miniseries The Infinite Worlds of H. G. Wells, rejecting a story from Wells for being too long and too preposterous.

Harris appears as a vampire in Kim Newman's 1992 novel Anno Dracula, as the mentor and vampire sire of one of the novel's main characters.

[edit]Select bibliography

The Bomb (1908). His first novel.
Oscar Wilde, His Life and Confessions (1916).
My Life and Loves, complete (1922).
The Short Stories of Frank Harris, a Selection (1975). Edited by Elmer Gertz; a representative collection

[edit]References

^ The People's Almanac Presents The Book of Lists. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell. 1978. p. 325. ISBN 0-553-11150-7.
^ Kingsmill, Hugh (1932). Frank Harris. London: Jonathan Cape. pp. 254.

Frank Harris (1975) by Philippa Pullar.
Frank Harris (1970) by Robert Brainard Pearsall. New York: Twayne Publishers. In Twayne's English Authors Series. LCC 74-120526, Dewey 828.9/H314p.
The Playwright and the Pirate, Bernard Shaw and Frank Harris: A Correspondence (1982), edited and with an introduction by Stanley Weintraub. The Pennsylvania State University Press.

[edit]External links

Biography portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Frank Harris

Major General Abrar Hussain ,HJ,MBE

2011-09-09T22:02:00.001-07:00

Major General Abrar Hussain ,HJ,MBE was an outstanding officer of pre 1947 British Indian Army and Pakistan Army.

Born at Lucknow in on 2nd September 1918,Abrar hailed from a landed family (Talukdar Family).

Educated at La Martniere School , Colvin Talukdars Colleges and Allahabad University Abrar was a graduate of University of Allahabad.

He joined the Indian Military Academy Dera Dun and was commissioned on 31 July 1940 in 2nd Battalion of 10th Baluch regiment presently 7 Baluch of Pakistan Army.

Abrar saw action in Malaya and at Singapore where he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Japanese.

He was offered a commission in the Indian National Army by the Japanese which he refused .

He was then sent along with Gurkhas and used for forced coastal assault mine breechings by the Japanese in their attacks on Pacific Islands.His conduct again was exemplary and at time of Japanese surrender he was discovered by a relieving Australian force on New Britain Island in the Pacific in December 1945.

Abrar was declared an MBE (Member of British Empire ) for his exemplary and most gallant conduct.

In 1947 he opted for the Pakistan Army.

He commanded the 17 Baluch and also served as Military Secretary.

In 1964 he was promoted major general and tasked to upgrade the 100 armoured brigade into 6 Armoured Division.

Abrars conduct as 6 Armoured Division Commnader was outstanding and he was awarded the Hilal i Jurrat.

Ironically despite outstanding war performance Abrar was sidelined and not promoted to three star rank by General Yahya Khan with whom he had some professional differences.

He was not promoted and sent to the command and staff college as commandant in 1968 from where he asked for retirement disgusted with the ham handed manner in which he had been treated.

Interestingly the Pakistani DMI Irshaad and Brigadier AAK Niazi were promoted to three star rank.Irshaad had been a failure as DMI and again proved a failure as commander 1 Corps.

He settled in Rawalpindi into civilian life and tragically suffered a stroke in 1975 as a a result of which he was partially paralysed.

He died in 1992.

General Abrar , Hayauddin and Pirzadas wives were sisters I am told.Abrar did not have any male issue.

His younger brother Brigadier Nur Hussain was a director of the ISSI .

Sadly long after his death his true role in Pakistani military history was recognised only in 2003 when a book of his war despatches was published by the Pakistani GHQ.

It is an irony of Pakistani military history that some other generals who perhaps were far more dashing than Abrar like Major General Eftikhar Khan are unrecognised till today because they belonged to a minority sect.

Others like Tajammul Hussain Malik and Akbar Khan are recognised because they were rebels against a rotten Pakistani government

For a scientific examination of how promotions were and are done in Pakistan Army see the article below--

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Assessment of Officers and Military Training-Pakistan Army

What was wrong with Assessment of Officers and Military Training-Pakistan Army and What continues to be wrong till to date as research indicates

Click on scanned pages pictures to enlarge

Major Agha H Amin (Retired)

Selection and Assessment of Commanders in Pakistan Army-Pakistan Army Journal-Citadel-Command and Staff College

These articles published in military journals of Pakistan Army endeavour to subject the highly defective system of assessment of officers to criticism despite strict censorship.

One must add that some discussion became possible in the army only after 1988 when General M.A Baig took over .

In the Zia era , with intellectual honesty buried and hypocrisy and sycophancy being hallmark of the army for 12 long years (1976-88) this was impossible.

After 1998 once Brigadier Riaz took over as DG ISPR the situation improved.

Three editors of Pakistan Army Journal were outstanding , all in succession , i.e Colonel I.D Hassan (a chronic bachelor and very cereberal and well read) , Lieutenant Colonel Syed Ishfaq Naqvi (outstanding) and Lieutenant Colonel Syed Jawaid Ahmad (soft spoken but bold as far as publishing articles and extremely knowledgeable).

In the command and staff college there was Lieutenant Colonel Ashraf Saleem (later lieutenant general) , Lieutenant Colonel Tariq Khan (now lieutenant general) and Lieutenant Colonel Ahsan Mahmood (now major general) , all three were well read and had a high intellectual calibre particularly Tariq Khan.

After these three the pedants came and pedants and the conformists off course are in preponderance !

I would say the assessments that I made in faulty and fallacious assessment of military commanders continue !

If Tariq Khan became a three star it was a triumph of destiny over a thoroughly rotten system !

But then we must remember that Moses survived in Pharohs palace and finally overcame the Pharoah !

This unfortunate country Pakistan needs a Moses , a man who purges this rotten country !

If not , then I dont have the least doubt that Pakistan will be destroyed ! It will cease to exist as a country ! This is my conviction !

This country Pakistan has no soft solutions !

If Pakistan has to survive it will have to go through night and blood ! And the blood of the elite !

WHEN ORDERS SHOULD BE OBEYED AND WHEN DISOBEYED OR MODIFIED AS SEEN IN MILITARY HISTORY-MARCH 1991

On the first page a question is raised " if selection and assessment system in an army is realistic" .

There was a big question mark in 1991 when I wrote this , it remained when I retired in December 1993 because the army then was run on whims and likes and dislikes and no one bothered how good an officer was in real command and intellectual ability ! I fear that the large gaps and question marks remain to date ? The very Kargil operation proves that an overambitious man with myopic strategic vision like Musharraf can rise to the highest ranks ,shamelessly abandons bodies of soldiers and then proclaim Kargil as his greatest success ! One could see an ambitious man in him in 1993 , who was obsessed with self projection ! I had asked Lieuenant Colonel Ashraf (then CO 46 Field and my platoon commander in PMA , also GSO 1 , 14 Division what he thought of Musharraf his brother gunner officer .Ashraf an outstandingly honest and straight man hailing from Kalar Saidan near Pindi stated " what can you make of a man who uses generator of his locating unit for his house "

No one in kargil had the courage to point out that the operation was a wild gamble ! Brigadier Simon confided that that General Tauqir Zia was against it but then Tauqir Zia never gave his dissent ?

PROBLEM WITH MILITARY TRAINING , MILITARY EXERCISES AND ASSESSMENT OF OFFICERS

A real soldier in the peacteime environment of jee hazoori and yes man ship hardly has any chance of being promoted ! True in 1992 when I wrote this and true today ! Can Pakistan afford this ?

PROBABLY IN OUR SCENARIO A QUALITY TERMED AS LOYALTY , WHICH IN REALITY IS DOCILITY AND OVERCONFORMITY IS HIGHLY VALUED !AND LOYALTY OF A PERSONAL NATURE IS SHEER INTELLECTUAL DISHONESTY !

WHY ASSESSMENT OF OFFICERS QUALITIES IS OF CARDINAL IMPORTANCE

THE ABOVE ARTICLES MAY BE DOWNLOADED IN COMPLETE FROM FOLLOWING LINKS:---

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27648037/Orders-and-Obedience

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27384291/Intangible-Forces-Behind-a-Military-Manoeuvre-an-Examination-of-the-Clausewitzian-Model-of-Military-Leadership

http://www.scribd.com/doc/27386132/Plain-as-Well-as-Subtle-Aspects-of-Military-Decision-Making

http://www.scribd.com/doc/40295974/Resolution-Cardinal-Command-Virtue

Historical Proof of the argument presented above

War Performance had nothing to do with promotion to higher ranks in Pakistan Army

Major Agha H Amin (Retired)

Altaf Gauhar Ayub’s close confidant inadvertently proves this fact once he quite uncharitably, and for reasons, other than dispassionate objective historical considerations, described Yahya as one " selected…in preference to some other generals, because Yahya, who had come to hit the bottle hard, had no time for politics and was considered a harmless and loyal person".

Major General Abrar, who had proved himself as the finest military commander, at the divisional level, at least by sub continental standards, was sidelined and ultimately retired in the same rank!

Lieutenant Colonel Nisar of 25 Cavalry who had saved Pakistan’s territorial integrity from being seriously compromised at a strategic level at Gadgor on the 8th of September 1965 was sidelined.

Lieutenant Colonel Nisar of 25 Cavalry who had saved Pakistan’s territorial integrity from being seriously compromised at a strategic level at Gadgor on the 8th of September 1965 was sidelined. This may be gauged from the fact that at the time of outbreak of the 1971 War Nisar although promoted to brigadier rank, was only commanding the Armoured corps recruit training centre, a poor appointment for a man who had distinguished himself as a tank regiment commander in stopping the main Indian attack. A man whose unit’s performance was described by the enemy opposing him as one "which was certainly creditable because it alone stood between the 1st Indian Armoured Division and its objective"23 was considered by the Pakistani General Headquarters pedantic officers as fit only to command a recruit training centre while one who was instrumental in failure of the main Pakistani intelligence failure as DMI was promoted to Major General rank and trusted later with the command of Pakistan’s 1 Corps with disastorous results !

Brigadier Qayyum Sher who had distinguished himself as a brigade commander in 10 Division area in Lahore was also not promoted! Qayyum Sher was one of the few brigade commanders of the army who had led from the front.

Major General Shaukat Riza who rarely praised anyone had the following to say about Sher’s conduct while leading the Pakistan army’s most important infantry brigade counter attack on Lahore Front as a result of which the Indian 15 Division despite considerable numerical superiority was completely thrown off balance. Shaukat stated that "Brigadier Qayyum Sher, in his command jeep, moved from unit to unit and then personally led the advance, star plate and pennant visible. This was something no troops worth their salt could ignore".

But the Army’s Selection Boards ignored Qayyum Sher once his turn for promotion came! Qayyum Sher did well in war and was awarded the Pakistani D.S.O i.e. the HJ!

But war performance or even performance in peacetime training manoeuvres was, and still is, no criteria for promotion in the Pakistan Army! Qayyum retired as a brigadier, remembered by those who fought under him as a brave and resolute commander, who was not given an opportunity to rise to a higher rank, which Qayyum had deserved, more than any brigadier of the Pakistan Army did.

Brigadier Nisar of 25 Cavalry who was praised by Indian historians as outstanding in delaying battle in Shakargarh as commander of changez Force was also sidelined because he was not close to Tikka Khan and company and did not possess Zias mastery of art of sycophancy and appeasement of seniors !

It was typical of Pakistan Army that Brigadier Rahimuddin who did not join his brigade in Chamb on pretext of martial law duty was promoted to general rank while Nisar who fought both the 1965 and 1971 wars exceedingly well sidelined !

In 1965 Nisar by his singular action at Gadgor had literally saved Pakistan ! But promotion in Pakistan Army had nothing to do with war performance or real soldiering ! Pathetic !

Interestingly Brigadier Irshaad heading the military intelligence in 1965 and guilty of Pakistan Armys greatest intelligence failure of 1965 i.e disregarding a genuine report that Indian Armoured division was in kashmir , dismissing it as a deception plan , was promoted to two and three star after the war .He played hell with Pakistans 1 Corps in 1971 War !

Major General Sarfaraz whose conduct as GOC was outstanding in 1965 War was not promoted because his ability was regarded as a threat by Ayub Khan !

Brigadier Tajammul Hussain Malik was praised as an outstanding commander by a person no less than the Indian opponent of his Major General lachman Singh .

A special commission was appointed by Indian Army to study Tajammuls brigade actions !

The tragedy is that all starting from Liaquat Ali Khan sidelined officers with outstanding war performance ! The first being the elevation of Ayub Khan to army chief with a proven record of tactical timidity in Burma !

Ayub Khan ,Tikka Khan and Bhutto sidelined the best officers of 1971 ! Tajammul was sidelined because he was not a pathetic sycophant with no war record like Zia ul Haq ! This is a man whose war performance was so outstanding that the Indians appointed a high level commission to study his epic brigade battle at Hilli where he literally repelled a division plus! His direct Indian opponent Major General Lachman Singh praised him as an outstanding and very brave man in his book Indian sword penetrates East Pakistan ! But the Pakistani selection boards criterion for promotion was certainly not war performance !

Major General Abdul Ali Malik noted by Major General Fazal i Muqeem for launcjing the most ill planned and failed counter attacks of 1971 War in Shakargarh Bulge was promoted to three star rank after the war !

General K.M Arif who had no war record in 1971 and no command experience beyond a brigade command for few months was promoted to two three and four star rank !

Brigadier Ameer Hamza who conducted a brilliant brigade offensive battle at Sulaimanke was similarly sidelined as a Lieutenant General whereas many others who had no war record in 1971 war as brigade commanders became corps commanders !

Major General Tajammul Hussain Malik in an interview with this scribe in September 2001 summed up these promotions in the following words:--

The peculiarity about these promotions was that except for Jahanzeb Arbab, who had been superseded earlier because of having been found guilty of embezzlement of huge amount of money while in East Pakistan by a Court of Inquiry, headed by Major General M H Ansari but continued to remain in an officiating Command of a Division with the rank of a Brigadier for nearly two years upto as late as February 1976 when he was promoted to the rank of a Major General, all others were those who were on staff in GHQ.

Major General Iqbal was doing as Chief of General Staff, Major General Sawar Khan was Adjutant General, Major General Chishti was Military Secretary and Major General Ghulam Hassan was Director General Military Training.

The Division Commanders that is to say myself, Major General Akhtar Abdur Rehman, Major General Fazal e Raziq, Major General Mateen, Major General Ch Abdur Rehman, Major General Jamal Said Mian, Major General Amir Hamza (DG Civil Armed Forces), Major General Wajahat Hussain (Commadant Staff College) were all superseded.”

General Zia ul Haq had seen my conduct during the Division Commanders conferences expressing my view very candidly. He, therefore, thought that he would not be able to control me. He selected a team of ‘yes men’ who were more docile and prepared to accept his command without any hesitation.”

Even the normal and highly defective ACR system in the army was disregarded in promotions.

Thus while Major General Tajammul had been graded as “OUTSTANDING”, as a Brigadier, in his last Annual Confidential Report and again as a Division Commander was graded “Above Average” by the then Corps Commander Lieutenant General Aftab Ahmad Khan, his contemporaries Lieutenant General Faiz Ali Chisti and Late General Akhtar Abdur Rehman were adjudged on the lower side of the “Average” grade were promoted to three star rank .Chishti in 1976 and Akhtar Abdul Rahman in 1977-78.

Tajammul Hussain thus well summed up Pakistan Armys tradition of promotions when he stated:--

“In our Army, Field Marshal Ayub Khan since he became Commander-in-Chief in 1951, made sure that only those people were promoted to higher ranks, who proved their personal loyalty to him rather than loyalty to the state.

He did so because he had the ambitions of becoming the Head of State from the very beginning. As I said before, he had a contempt for the politicians and with the passage of time he went on getting extension of his tenure till he finally took over in Oct 1958.

From amongst the senior officers anyone who expressed his opinion against the Army indulging in politics was immediately retired. Some of the very capable generals who had passed out from Sandhurst were superseded when General Musa was appointed Commander-in-Chief. Now that he is dead, it is not proper for me to pass any remarks against him but I have no hesitation in saying that he was a typical Gorkha Soldier, who had learnt to obey the command of their superiors whether right or wrong. The junior officers following examples of the seniors, had also learnt that perhaps sycophancy, rather than professional capabilities, was the only criteria for attaining the higher command.

Exceptions are always there, but as a general practice many good officers who would have become very good Generals could not go beyond the rank of Lieutenant Colonel because they were intellectually and professionally far superior to their seniors and always expressed their views without any hesitation whenever and wherever required.

Commanders who attain the higher ranks through following the path of sycophancy soon crumble in the face of danger and cannot stand the test of battle fatigue. That has been an inherent weakness in our Army, which perhaps continues till today.

I had not intimately known General Zia before he became the Chief of the Army Staff but from his conduct during the Divisional Commanders Conferences, he appeared to me an incompetent and low grade officer.

In one of the Division Commanders promotion conferences, I even saw him sleeping with his mouth open.

He surpassed all limits of sycophancy when meeting the Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. While in uniform, he used to bow when shaking hands with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

I remember my old Brigade Commander, Brigadier Hayat, with whom I served as his Brigade Major, once told me that he had written in Major Zia ul Haq’s ACR when he served under his command, “Not fit to go beyond the rank of a Major”. It is an irony of fate that a person of such a calibre had ruled Pakistan for a long period of eleven years till he was finally killed in an air crash.”

There is no second opinion possible about how Pakistan Army suffered because of military rule.Thus Major General Fazal Muqeem Khan in an officially sponsored book admitted this cardinal fact when he wrote :--

"We had been declining according to the degree of our involvement in making and unmaking of regimes. Gradually the officer corps, intensely proud of its professionalism was eroded at its apex into third class politicians and administrators. Due to the absence of a properly constituted political government, the selection and promotion of officers to the higher rank depended on one man’s will. Gradually, the welfare of institutions was sacrificed to the welfare of personalities. To take the example of the army, the higher command had been slowly weakened by retiring experienced officers at a disturbingly fine rate. Between 1955 and November 1971, in about 17 years 40 Generals had been retired, of whom only four had reached their superannuating age. Similar was the case with other senior ranks. Those in the higher ranks who showed some independence of outlook were invariably removed from service. Some left in sheer disgust in this atmosphere of insecurity and lack of the right of criticism, the two most important privileges of an Armed Forces officer. The extraordinary wastage of senior officers particularly of the army denied the services, of the experience and training vital to their efficiency and welfare. Some officers were placed in positions that they did not deserve or had no training for"

The tradition continued till to date.Lieutenant General Mahmood and Usmani with all their drawbacks was far superior to Generals Aziz Yusuf and Ahsan Saleem Hayat promoted to four star rank but sidelined because feared as more resolute and thus dangerous ! It would be actually comical to match these two groups at all ! Usmani was so upright that he risked his career twice as a brigadier and major general when he took a righteous stand with his direct superiors Malik Saleem Khan in Karachi and Mumtaz Gul at Peshawar !

It is no secret that had Yusuf or Ahsan Saleem Hayat been commander 10 Corps in place of Mahmud on 12 October 1999 , Musharrafs coup would have failed ! Perhaps that was the key selection criterion for both ! Lack of resolution ! But that’s what

Pakistan

is all about !

A Conspiracy against originality and boldness ! An undoubted failure !

Pakistan has no short of talent and military genius but our military system is a conspiracy against talent originality and boldness.Below is an article of this scribe published in Daily Nation summarising whats wrong with Pakistan Army published :---

--
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61839666/Indo-Pak-Wars-A-Pictorial-History

http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN

Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --
Albert Einstein !!!

Letters to the Command and Staff College Quetta on Indo Pak Military Matters

2011-09-04T20:39:00.001-07:00

FOR COMPLETE LETTERS WRITTEN TO COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE QUETTA FROM 1991 TO 1998 SEE THE FOLLOWING--

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22455178/Letters-to-Command-and-Staff-College-Quetta-Citadel-Journal

FOR LETTERS AS THEY WERE PUBLISHED SEE THE FOLLOWING----

http://www.scribd.com/doc/28266915/Letters-to-Editor-as-Published-After-Censorship-in-Pakistan-Army-Journal-and-Citadel

FOR ARTICLES OF AGHA H AMIN PUBLISHED BY THE CITADEL JOURNAL OF COMMAND AND STAFF COLLEGE QUETTA AND PAKISTAN ARMY JOURNAL SEE THE FOLLOWING LINKS

http://www.scribd.com/doc/22457862/Military-Decision-making-and-leadership

FOR JAVED HASSANS ROLE IN KARGIL OPERATION SEE---

http://indopakmilitaryhistory.blogspot.com/2011/01/kargil-war.html

TO READ COMPLETE LETTER CLICK ON THE PICTURE OF LETTER BELOW.

NOTE--THESE LETTERS MAY NOT HAVE BEEN PUBLISHED UNLESS LATE BRIGADIER ARSHAD MIAN IQBAL DEAR FRIEND AND COMRADE,BRIGADIER MUNAWAR RANA AND LIEUTENANT GENERAL ASHRAF SALEEM, LIEUTENANT GENERAL TARIQ KHAN AND LIEUTENANT COLONEL SYED JAWAID AHMAD AEC NOT BEEN THE EDITORS OF CITADEL

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why the west succeeded and the east failed

Imagining a different future

Major General Sahibzada Yaqub Ali Khan and Battle of Phillora

Mustafa Kamal Pasha and Indian and Pakistan Army

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk

Lieutenant General Tariq Khan

AFGHAN PLAN TO RESCUE Z.A BHUTTO FROM PINDI JAIL

SAUR INQILAB-AFGHANISTAN

ELUSIVE DAWN: FAIZ AHMED FAIZ - A PEOPLES POET

My Life and Loves-Frank Harris

My Life and Loves (Literary Classics)

Frank Harris

Contents

[edit]Life

[edit]Legacy and cultural references

[edit]Portrayal on Stage, Film and Television

[edit]Select bibliography

[edit]References

[edit]External links

Major General Abrar Hussain ,HJ,MBE

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Assessment of Officers and Military Training-Pakistan Army

Letters to the Command and Staff College Quetta on Indo Pak Military Matters