Lieutenant General ® Jahandad Khan
Hamid Hussain
Lieutenant General ® Jahandad Khan passed away on February 13, 2011 in Rawalpindi few days after surgery. He was known to his close fellow officers as JD. He had a rewarding military career but he was admired and loved by many for his philanthropic work spanning over two decades.
JD passed out from Pakistan Military Academy (PMA) Kakul in 1951 and commissioned in the Regiment of Artillery. He went through normal command, staff and instructional appointments during his military career. He commanded an infantry division (18th) and after promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General, he was appointed to command the prestigious X Corps in Rawalpindi. He was among the group of general officers who are practical and intelligent but not highly intellectual. Such officers are usually not innovative but get down to the important business of running a well oiled large formation of troops mainly concentrating on operational preparedness of their formation. JD was neither strategic in his thinking nor boisterous but practical in military matters. In his military career, he strictly followed rules and regulations that were sometimes interpreted by those working under him as inflexibility. After retirement from the army, he was appointed Governor of Sindh Province.
He started Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital in Rawalpindi from scratch and devoted all his energies towards this project till the last day of his life. He kept all his strategic skills hidden till his retirement and used it for the development of Al-Shifa Trust Eye Hospital. Various phases were planned decades before their final implementation and now four large state of the art eye hospitals are operating in Rawalpindi, Sukkhur, Kohat and Muzzafarabad. He fully utilized his administrative skills learned during his military career to develop a world class institution for the care of eye diseases in Pakistan.
His military career was like that of many other senior officers but it was his philanthropic work that put him head and shoulders above his fellow general officers. JD was born in a village in Attock district; a major recruiting area for Pakistan army. This rural background was responsible for JD's down to earth personality and simple life style. His demeanor, conversation, dress and food were very simple and he had a touch of typical rural humor.
I met JD first time several years ago through my elder brother Tahir Zafar. Tahir was close to JD and actively involved in affairs related to Al Shifa Hospital. I met JD several times and he was always gracious and courteous. Many a times I took liberties with him and JD being a true officer and gentleman always responded with a smile and a touch of rural humor. I was acting more like a mischievous grandchild taking liberty with grandfather teasing him about some of his love affairs of the youth. We discussed many aspects of his association with late General Zia ul Haq as he served as Corps Commander and governor of Sindh province under Zia. JD and Zia ul Haq got to know each other when they spent significant amount of time together in very unusual circumstances. In 1973, a number of junior officers of Pakistan army were tried by a court martial on charges of planning to over throw Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto's government. Zia was then Major General and President of the Field General Court Marshal set up at Attock fort and JD was the senior member of the court at the rank of Brigadier. In 1976, when Zia became Chief of Army Staff, JD was promoted to the rank of Major General and given command of 18th Infantry division. In 1980, after promotion to the rank of Lieutenant General, JD was appointed Corps commander of Rawalpindi Corps replacing Lieutenant General Faiz Ali Chisti and served at this position until his retirement in 1984. He served as Governor of Sindh from 1984 to 1987.
I pushed him a lot on the issue of Siachin almost to the point of being rude and he patiently and calmly answered looking straight in my eyes. He relinquished charge of Rawalpindi Corps in March 1984 and few weeks later Indian troops showed up on Siachin glacier (this area comes under Rawalpindi Corps). I nagged him a lot about this issue and he protested stating that from corps own resources (some officers are of the view that as usual intelligence agencies were busy in more important matters of national security such as who is sleeping with whom?) they knew about some Indian troop movement and he gave detailed briefing to his successor Lieutenant General Zahid Ali Akbar. He was officer and gentleman of the old school and after giving all the explanation, he said that he was always ready to accept his share of the blame during his career as Corps Commander and Governor for all his errors and omissions. He always stressed that army's internal accountability system was adequate but after my quite grueling 'inquisition' finally relented that a culture of meaningful accountability needs to be introduced in Pakistan army.
I used to share my own bipolar ramblings about Pakistan army with him and he was kind enough to correct, critique and add in brief and to the point one or two liners. During one of our meetings; he asked me 'how you evaluate me and my career?' I said, 'Well Sir; I can visualize you sitting at the Corps Commanders conference with Zia at the head of the table. You simply are nodding your head along with the large group of 'smiling nodders". JD burst into a loud laugh and we had a good time. JD could crack and appreciate a good joke even at his own expense; a trend that is now rarely found among senior brass of Pakistan army.
JD was a good friend of late Major General ® Naseerullah Khan Babar who passed away few weeks earlier. Their friendship went back to their cadet days at military academy. I knew both of them and never thought that I will be writing obituaries (albeit unconventional) of these two good friends just few weeks apart. Babar was member of Pakistan Peoples Party hounded by police with periodic arrest warrants during Zia's rule. JD was then governor of Sindh province. Babar will come to Karachi and go straight to Governors House and have a dinner with his friend. After dinner, he will come outside where police party was waiting at the gate of Governor's House to take Babar to the prison cell. Few years ago, JD and Babar happened to be in New York at the same time for Al Shifa Hospital fund raising dinner. Three of us were sitting at the same table and we had good laughs. I teased both of them with my own anecdotes of Pakistan army and old chums laughed and enjoyed.
In Colonel ® Abdul Qayyum's words, 'sunset years' of an officer are as important as 'sunrise years' and tell us a lot about the true nature of the individual. In my view, by all standards, JD's 'sunrise years' were eclipsed by his 'sunset years'. In addition to his full time passionate management of Al-Shifa after retirement, he was active member of Margalla Study Group (a gathering of retired senior army officers and civil servants) and authored several books. He earned genuine affection and respect from many who came in contact with him when he was tirelessly working for Al-Shifa Hospital. A day before JD was to go for his surgery five days before his death; I sent him an e-mail with an attachment of Frank Sinatra's song 'My Way'. I listened to the song twice in JD's honor before sending it. I'm not sure whether he had a chance to see that e-mail. Knowing him, I'm sure JD in his humorous way may have remarked like late Lieutenant General ® Gul Hassan. During his final days, when Gul was in hospital, his old friend Colonel ® Abdul Qayyum visited him and brought a bouquet of flowers. Gul told Qayyum 'Bloody Chap; you have brought this a little too early'. I'll never know whether I was a little too early or too late. I got text message of JD's death around 4:00 am and that morning listened to the song three times in JD's memory. Goodbye JD. You did it your way and departed with a smile (JD was author of a book titled Depart with a Smile).
My Way
And now, the end is near;
And so I face the final curtain.
My friend I'll say it clear,
I'll state my case, of which, I'm certain.
I've lived a life that's full.
I've travelled each and every highway.
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.
For what is a man; what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The wreckage shows that I took the blows;
And did it my way.
(Listen to this song in Frank Sinatra's voice)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?annotation_id=annotation_657105&v=T6ya7ZRlrEo&feature=iv
Hamid Hussain
February 20, 2011
Defence Journal, March 2011
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