Abdul Waheed Kakar

Abdul Waheed Kakar (born 23 March 1937) is a retired senior military officer of the Pakistan Army who served as the fifth Chief of Army Staff, appointed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on 12 January 1993 after the controversial death of his predecessor General Asif Nawaz. Upon the completion of his three-year tenure, Kakar retired in 1996.

Notably, Kakar superseded five senior high ranking army generals with more years of seniority. General Kakar oversaw national general elections, upon securing the resignations of President Ghulam Ishaq Khan and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to resolve the Constitutional crisis in 1993.

Biography

Abdul Waheed Kakar was born into a Pashtun family of the Abdullah Zai (Male Zai), in the Shahābzai Kakar tribe village of Zhob, Balochistan in British India (now, Pakistan) on 23 March 1937. His tribe, Kakar, originally hailed from Zhob, Baluchistan in Pakistan, and was fluent in Pashto. His family later had migrated to North and eventually found a way to be settled in Peshawar.

His uncle, Abdur Rab Nishtar, was listed as one of the founding fathers of Pakistan who would later serve as the Governor of Punjab as well as serving as the President of Pakistan Muslim League. He joined the Pakistan Army in 1956, and was directed to attend the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul where he was expected to pass out from the academy in 1958 but was held back for a 6-month term. Eventually, Waheed gained commission in the Frontier Force Regiment in 1959 as a 2nd-Lt.

His combat duty witnessed the military actions in Chawinda in Sialkot Punjab in Pakistan against the Indian Army during the conflict with India in 1965. In 1971, Major Kakar served as the brigade major of an independent infantry stationed at the Sulemanki sector, and fought against the Indian Army. His combat duty during the actions of both wars served his reputation as did scenes of major battles in the respective wars. Upon returning from Canada, he continued his education when he was selected to attend the National Defence University (NDU) where he studied and attained graduation in War studies degree at the Armed Forces War College of the National Defence University.

In 1984, Major-General Kakar was subsequently given the command of the 16th Infantry Division in Quetta as its GOC. In 1989, Lieutenant-General Kakar was posted as field commander of the XII Corps, stationed in Quetta.

Without consulting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan nominated and approved the appointment papers of junior-most Lt-Gen. Kakar to the promotion of senior four-star rank when elevating him as the Chief of Army Staff (COAS).

An Image of General Abdul Waheed Kakar (Head of Pakistan Army) with Field Marshal Sir Charles Guthrie (Head of The British Army) in Great Britain.

The appointment was controversial due to Lt-Gen. Kakar superseding six senior army generals, including: Lieutenant-General Rehem Dil Bhatti, President of National Defence University (NDU). During his tenure, General Kakar was instrumental in securing the government funding for the Shaheen project developed under the PAEC's scientists.

In September 1995, General Abdul Waheed Kakar played a crucial role in sustaining democracy by having discovered a plot by a group of army officers headed by Major-General Zahirul Islam Abbasi, acting in complicity with the Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami a militant group, to assassinate him and Benazir Bhutto, to capture power. After his retirement, he never appeared in public and lives a very quiet life in Rawalpindi. In the military, he was popular among his colleagues as a flamboyant rider and a mountaineer.

His reception as an army chief was hailed and celebrated by the Pashtuns nationalists when Mahmood Achakzai, then-MNA, reportedly remarked in the news media in 1993: "This is not a General from the Sandhurst colonial brand. I welcome an enlightened man from the rigid mountain ranges of Loralai. He has the professional skills for improving the war performance of the Pakistan Army. But more than that, he is intelligent enough to comprehend politics and will promote the democratic process. General Waheed is not a religious extremist."

Awards and decorations

Nishan-e-Imtiaz (Military)

(Order of Excellence)Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military)

(Crescent of Excellence)Sitara-e-Basalat (Star of Valour)Sitara-e-Harb 1965 War (War Star 1965)Sitara-e-Harb 1971 War (War Star 1971)Tamgha-e-Jang 1965 War (War Medal 1965)Tamgha-e-Jang 1971 War

(100th Birth Anniversary of Muhammad Ali Jinnah)

1976Hijri Tamgha (Hijri Medal)

1979Tamgha-e-Jamhuriat (Democracy Medal)

1988Qarardad-e-Pakistan Tamgha (Resolution Day

Golden Jubilee Medal)

1990Order of Military Merit Grand Cordon

(Jordan)

Foreign Decorations Foreign AwardsThe Order of Military Merit