Obituary
Major General Zia ul Haq
By
Major Agha H Amin (Retired)
Major General Zia ul Haq , Punjab Regiment left this mortal world for his heavenly abode a few days back .
It is unusual for a cavalry officer to write an obituary of an infantry officer ! But fate brought this scribe and the late general together for some 14 months in Okara Cantonment from September 1992 to November 1993.
I had joined 5 Independent Squadron in Okara Cantonment from the Tank School known as Armour School after having been an instructor at the Tactical Wing and having stood in Armour Officers Mid Career Course.
He was my immediate commanding officer with no colonel or brigadier in between as I was commanding 5 Independent Armoured Squadron which was directly under his command .
I had not known General Zia ul Haq when he was posted to command 14 Division in Okara.
On our first meeting , a visit to my squadron he asked me if there was anything that I wanted in the realm of training.I requested him that the squadron be allowed to proceed to Cholistan for training , since the division was not going for training !
He immediately agreed and off we went to Khairpur Tamewali a place I had fallen in love with in September 1985,the first time I saw that beautiful semi desert ! The Rohi of Sufi poets !
He was known to be a religious man but he never imposed his religious views on anyone !
In early 1993 we started preparing for the corps tank sub caliber firing competition .Major General Zia ul Haq visited the firing ranges where our tanks were practicing.He asked me if he could do anything to assist in our preparations ! I requested him for extra ammunition and he on the spot sanctioned 50,000 rounds !
When my squadron won the corps competition defeating many eminent units of the tank corps ,General Zia was the happiest man in Okara Cantonment !
I requested him that armour should not be in Okara but in Tamewali,Sulaimanke or Bahwalnagar in writing in August 1993.He immediately agreed and intimated the General Headquarters that his divisional armour will be located in Bahawalnagar ! Unfortunately before we could move my independent squadron was converted into the new 14 Lancers and the 14 Lancers officers who came to Okara did their best to stay in Okara rather than Bahawalnagar but Major General Zia ul Haq remained solid as a rock and told them that it was Bahawalnagar where they had to go !
He graded me high in the two annual confidential reports that he gave me and graded me fit for future promotion and command !
However the typical whimsical manner in which third world armies are run , fate had a different direction for this scribe !
Pakistan Army unfortunately after the untimely death of General Asif Nawaz Janjua in January 1993 , suddenly started being run on highly personalized , parochial and whimsical lines ! This fact has been given legality and historical accuracy when a person no less than General Pervez Musharraf recorded the fact in his book stating forthrightly that General Abdul Waheed Kakar was a parochial man with strong biases.
Major General Zia ul Haq left for Quetta to take over Frontier Corps Balochistan as its Inspector General and I received my retirement orders !
I did meet two fellow officers Lieutenant Colonel Majid Hassan , 46th Long Course a great friend and Captain Khurram the Aide De Campe and son in law of late Rao Sikandar Zaman.Both were serving with him in his staff at Quetta .Both the officers who had been serving with him in Okara described him as doing extremely well as IG FC .
I did not see him again after November 1993 but his death still came as a matter of personal grief to me !
This obituary is to record my personal grief for a man who is no relative of mine but one who was honest , forthright , fair and equal with every one in his professional conduct , regardless of the fact that the person in front was a fellow Gujjar of his or not !
I pray with all my strength that Allah may bless his soul and he is granted a place in the paradise !
--
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 !!!
http://www.scribd.com/doc/22151765/History-of-Pakistan-Army-from-1757-to-1971
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21693873/Indo-Pak-Wars-1947-71-A-STRATEGIC-AND-OPERATIONAL-ANALYSIS-BY-A-H-AMIN
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21686885/TALIBAN-WAR-IN-AFGHANISTAN
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/22457862/Pakistan-Army-Journal-The-Citadel
http://www.scribd.com/doc/21952758/1971-India-Pakistan-War
http://www.scribd.com/doc/25171703/BOOK-REVIEWS-BY-AGHA-H-AMIN
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