A Capable Cavalcade of Generals

Columnist Col (Retd) EAS BOKHARI goes down memory lane to talk about generals who were capable and worthy of the rank they wore

I had been toying with the idea of putting my thoughts on paper but it is only when the death of General Shariff that I have been able to collect the thoughts which will be found in the paragraphs that follow:

As I have said above Gen. Irshad (an MI man) - He was DMI during the 1965 War was the GOC in 1968. He had raised and trained the formation. He was highly educated (an MA in English from Govt College Lahore ) - and surely an extremely erudite officer. It was not easy to serve him. He was serious - perhaps too sombre - and they said that whenever he (if ever) laughed - it rained in Quetta. There is lot of truth in this.

He was I should say over meticulous - and needed an 'authority' for everything that was put up to him. This of course is a requirement for any well researched paper. I remember one day while the matter at discussion was the rate of advance of infantry at night (in attack) - he insisted that the authority for this MUST be produced. We dug some old British training instructions from the Command and Staff College to satisfy the General. The first sentence in any formal Court of Inquiry is 'Having been duly warned ------- states'. The authority for the inclusion of this can only be found in the 'Queens Regulations' - and mind you some of this literature is extant in the Pakistan Army.

We had quite a few personal skirmishes - but he somehow tolerated me with a pinch of salt. He became a Corps Commander - and took part in the 1971 War. I am told that he developed some back pain. We met last in a party in Lahore during the marriage of Gen Alam Jan Masud's children. (Gen Alam Jan was one of my cadets in JSPCTS, and had invited me). The General (Irshad) did not know that I was involved in writing for a number of papers - he in fact even refused to recognise me till I introduced myself to him. He had been over impressed by the chemical weapons and told me to write about these. He also invited me for a dinner next day and we talked till late into the night. He told me that he had met Capt Liddel Hart - the great military scientist cum historian and discussed military issues with him. He also sent me a couple of crates of oranges from his ' lands'. It was so gracious of him.

He was replaced by yet another MI man - Gen Nawazish. He was more flamboyant - and had only the right amount of gravity about him. It was easy to work with him. He often took me with him to play tennis in the club in the afternoon. He was a little bulky man and wanted to shed weight. He was a matter of the fact person and had his own ideas about training and staff work. He was jovial and vibrant. I believe he died while in command of 12 Div.

And then of course after a very short period we had yet another GOC. Gen AB Awan was posted (I think from Command and Staff College). A gunner officer he was the pioneer of Air OP in the Pakistan Army - and had seen very little 'grass root' soldiering. I thought he was overeducated for the Army - and he was more suggestive than assertive in his technique of command - a sophisticated person indeed.

I remember one day he asked me if his batman could get pay and rations in Quetta. (His batman belonged to Air OP). Apparently he was not quite aware of the great and wonderful Army arrangement of LRC/LPC which covers all such contingencies. We met later once or twice. He had been our ambassador in Sweden cum Norway. He even helped me out in my retirement to pay for my subscription for the 'Jane's Defence Weekly' - which was so gracious of him. I last met him in Taxila at the HIT Ranges when the MBT 'Al-Khalid' was being launched for the first time. He appeared weak although he had been a champion tennis player and very robust indeed. He was a perfect gentleman. We also worked in 1971 for a short while in GHQ on some contingency plans. This association was not more than a month or so. He was extremely self-effacing notwithstanding his qualifications and military stature. He had been one of the most successful DS in the Staff College during late fifties - and then led the Training Team.

We got yet another Commandant of the Staff College in the formation when Gen Awan left. Gen Shariff was posted in his place. I was told that he was a 'man killer' - and some of the staff members were very scared. He has died recently - and in him I found a knowledgeable and prudent GOC. He was likeable and extremely well read officer. He was a voracious reader - and I had a good rapport with him. He was innovative and hated grooved-thinking. He was not to stay with us for any length of time - and after some time - and before he could really settle down - he was posted to Turkey - (which he apparently did not like as he too did not want to be labelled as a Staff General).

The next change which lasted till such time that I left the formation (and of course there had been a number of officiating arrangements like Brig Ansari - the gunner - and Brig Namazi et al) was Gen Nazar Hussain Shah. He too had been a DS in the Staff College besides being a Military Attache abroad.

His technique of command was more homely - and most confidence giving. He somehow did not like the conventional and the 'army way' of working out problems. He would rather discuss - and convince rather than resort to files and minutes. I think he hated writing too much.

I found something very strange in his methodology of working out military problems with his clairvoyance. He told me that he always slept with a problem (and parameters that affected it) and then in his dreams - and perhaps as a gift from God he got the answer which was always the best answer. I found this happen so in many of the Corps exercises that were held in Quetta which were attended by Gen Attiqur Rahman and Gen Khawaja Wasiuddin. It I thought was a God given potential and was independent of written and formal and at times extremely tiring process of formal appreciation yet it worked.

I occasionally went to the 'Orchard House' (the GOC's residence) - and invariably I found him watering and tending the plants. He also had IG Balochistan Chaudhry Fazal Haq with him in the 'Orchard House'. They usually discussed religious problems - though they were of different religious sects. They also discussed classical Islamic literature. Fazal Haq is still writing for Daily 'Jang' - and the ' Pakistan Observer' Islamabad on these other national and international problems.

I was amazed with Gen Nazar's approach and methodology of tackling a problem. This reminded me the Einsteinian approach where Dr Einstein walked up and down with the problem and toying with his scattered forelock and saying I 'think' (he could not pronounce 'think') till such time that he had solved the issue. Then he was all smiles. The general had the same sort of approach but he had no scraggy hair - and was nearly bald.

He went with the division to East Pakistan - and was one of the few who put up reasonable resistance to Indian incursion. I have not met him since then.

Generals Attique and Wasi were of course two most distinguished officers of the Pakistan Army. Gen Wasi was a gunner and I have had some experience of serving under him. For all his visible harshness he was very kind and considerate. Gen Attiq was a pillar of strength and confidence wherever he went.