‘Being a friend of the United States is like living on the banks of a great river. The soil is wonderfully fertile, but every four or eight years the river changes course, and you may find yourself alone in a desert’. Pakistan’s Army Chief and President General Muhammad Zia ul Haq to CIA director William Casey,…
August 04 was the fifth death anniversary of Safwat Ghayur. An army officer who met Safwat first time described him as “a lean man, with loosely fitted clothes, a hint of pattas (a pushtu word for hair coming down over the neck) peeping out from behind his beret, with a swagger in his gait, a…
Since 2002, the Pakistan army is involved in a rapidly evolving struggle against terrorism. When the first shots of this new war were fired, the Pakistan army was neither trained nor prepared for the conflict. Confusion, complacency and utter incompetence at all levels gave an upper hand to the extremists all over the country. First,…
Brian Cloughley’s A History of Pakistan Army is the fourth edition of a book originally written in 1999. This edition adds many new chapters especially tenures of General Pervez Musharraf and General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. The author is one of few foreigners with long association with some senior Pakistani officers going back to early 1980s…
Four weeks ago, veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an account of the killing of Osama bin Laden (OBL) in London Review of Books. Hersh disputes official versions of Pakistan and United States and claims a massive cover up. Hersh is a well known investigative journalist and his two most important works were uncovering of…
Major General ® Ihtisham Zamir Jafri passed away in Combined Military Hospital (CMH) Rawalpindi on 04 May, 2015. He was admitted to hospital after suffering burns from an unfortunate accident at home. Ihtisham was a fine officer and gentleman well liked by his peers. Ihtisham was from Rawalpindi and alumni of Military College Jhelum and…
“What has to be done for the country has to be done”. Major General Naseerullah Khan Babar In 1922, Prince of Wales Royal Indian Military College (RIMC) was established at Dehra Dun to provide education to Indians mirroring British public schools. RIMC was established to provide education and training to Indian boys to qualify them…
We cannot afford to confine Army appointments to persons who have excited no hostile comment in their careers …. This is a time to try men of force and vision and not to be exclusively confined to those who are judged thoroughly safe by conventional standards’. Prime Minister Winston Churchill to Sir John Dill, Chief…
‘The desire to gain an immediate selfish advantage always imperils their ultimate interests. If they recognize this fact, they usually recognize it too late’. Reinhold Niebuhr There is never a dull moment in Pakistan and whenever a new circus comes to the town everybody asks if the show is put by amateurs or it is…
Ashok Nath’s book Izzat is an encyclopedic work on the history of cavalry regiments of India and Pakistan. The title of the book Izzat roughly translated as honor in English is the most appropriate single word description of the Indian army including cavalry. Honorable East India Company (HEIC) welded Indians of different religions and ethnicities…
